If I switch heatsinks, what will I need to do?

[psy44]

I don't really understand thermal paste, artic silver, thermal pads, shims, etc....I have a stock intel heatsink on my cpu, but I want to exchange it for a Volcano 7+, do I need to do add anything (thermal compound or whatever)?

 

[GAZZA]

Simple answer yes you will need to use some form of thermal compound such as AS3, I'd also check to make sure that there is no residue (probably a heatpad) on your cpu from the old hs/f .
Just clean it off with some alcohol and then add some thermal compound (Artic Silver 3) to the core of the cpu and then attach the Heatsink and you should be good to go.
Just to add make sure the Heatsink fits your mobo correctly.

 

[mastay]

The bottom to a heatsink is not perfectly flat. Therefore, you need something to microcosmic gaps between the HSF and CPU core. If the contact is bad, you CPU fries and stuff. Therefore, you apply either(exclusive) a thermal pad or thermal grease to provide a smooth contact. Pads are cleaner, grease give better temp. You need this.
Shims are for increasing the surface area of the CPU. Mostly a pain though and doesn't do that such. YOu are better off without.
The logical sequence is take the HSF off. Clean off any thermal grease left over on the CPU with alcohol and elbow grease. Put a new layer of grease on(very thin layer-theoretically one molecule thick but don't fret if you can't do that. Just make sure it is thin) Then, attach the HSF on.
Last note, Volcano 7+ realy sucks and the stock intel HSF, at least for the P4, are decent. It won't get you a much better temp/overclock and will drive you crazy with noise. Just my 2 cents though.

 

[everman]

Shims are not for increasing surface area. You place a shim on a chip such as an athlon xp which has the die exposed, as opposed to a P4 with a heat spreader on it. The shim simply helps protect the die from being crushed under the weight of a large heatsink or chipping a corner.

 

[HiTek21]

Don't buy a Volcano 7+ not that good of a heatsink you should go for the Thermalright SK-7 with a YS Tech Adjustable fan or Panaflo L1A fan