HSF mounting question

[Guest]

I just got a 1.2 Thunderbird and will be recieving an Alpha PEP66T HSF shortly. The Thunderbird has the little pads on each corner and the bottom of the HSF is flat. I was told by the CoolerGuys that the thermal compound should only be applied to the center crystal portion of the chip during mounting.
Does that mean that the HS is not actually resting on the chip but only making contact via the thermal compound?
My confusion is arising from the fact that the bottom of the HS is huge compared to the tiny size of the crystal and is seems like there should be more contact between the chip and the HS.
I'm real new the HSF/Chip stuff. Any information/advice/experiences you fine people could impart upon me would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Mosh

 

[HolyGrenade]

The center of the cpu is where all the heat is generated. The Heatsink will be in contact with the CPU but the surface is unlikely to be perfectly flat. So, applying Thermal compound removes any airgaps, and also increases the contact area between the cpy and the Heat sink.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[Guest]

So the crystal part of the chip should actually touch the bottom of the HS when placed together? It looks like the cyrstal doesn't rise as high as the corner pads which is why I'm worried (I know they are designed to work together and all but I'm paranoid about burning up my brand new chip)

 

[HolyGrenade]

I'm not too sure if they have to touch. But, As far as I know the compound should be enough to efficiently transfer the heat to the Heat sink (as long as there are no air gaps).

But to be certain, I think you should wait for an answer from one of the other guys.


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[Guest]

HolyGrenade with the instantanious responses!

 

[HolyGrenade]

Well thats how I am, When I'm here that is!


<i><b><font color=red>"2 is not equal to 3, not even for large values of 2"</font color=red></b></i>

 

[Guest]

Speaking from my experiece with socket A processors, it may "look" like the pads are above the cpu, but when your heat sink is on there and it is attached, the pads will compress and there will be heatsink/cpu contact. The posters above were right, the thermal compound helps to fill in the gaps and make better contact between the two. If you have never put a heat sink on a socket A cpu, read up on how to do it, or have a friend that has done it befor help, becuase your first time putting down the heatsink is pretty darn hard. It takes quite a bit of force to get the heat sink down...make sure you apply even force and not force any side down more than the other or you take a chance of damaging the cpu (which is pretty darn easy to do). Have fun and good luck!

Jason

 

[lrmv]

Those round pads are made of some kind of soft rubber, they "shrink" when the HSF is placed and clamped on. The HSF actually rests on the center crystal (which is the actual chip). That's what makes the whole setup so fragile!


<i><font color=purple>Running within specs is the key to a stable computer!</font color=purple></i>