Is that a thermal pad on the Core 2 Duo heatsink?

[cardboardbox]

I have no idea what a thermal pad is but the arctic silver website says if I have it on my HSF I need to remove it. I see three gray strips of something on the bottom of my HS... looks like silly putty to me. Is this the thermal pad that I need to remove?

 

[Conky]

Yes, you will have to scrape that stuff off before you apply the Arctic Silver. It's the factory TIM(thermal interface material).

 

[phile]

If you plan to use Artic Silver 5, yes, you must remove those 3 strips of thermal compound from the heatsink.

-phil

 

[River Side]

can't u just let it mix with the new paste you'd put on it?

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: River Side
can't u just let it mix with the new paste you'd put on it?

Umm, no.

 

[cardboardbox]

Originally posted by: phile
If you plan to use Artic Silver 5, yes, you must remove those 3 strips of thermal compound from the heatsink.

-phil

actually its arctic silver 3 that I've had in my closet for years but it still seems to be usable.

thanks for all the quick replies!

 

[Dexion]

Originally posted by: cardboardbox

Originally posted by: phile
If you plan to use Artic Silver 5, yes, you must remove those 3 strips of thermal compound from the heatsink.

-phil

actually its arctic silver 3 that I've had in my closet for years but it still seems to be usable.

Yeah, remove the stock thermal pad, it'll hinder your performance if you have AS3.

AS3 is still good stuff! Saw somewhere on an extensive review some years back that AS3 is not much different than AS5 (2-5% performance difference).. which is negliable for thermal compounds..

 

[phile]

AS3 has a shelf life of 2 years, iirc. Best to get a new tube.

-phil

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: phile
AS3 has a shelf life of 2 years, iirc. Best to get a new tube.

-phil

I used some old AS3 on my build and it's worked just fine on my new Core 2 Duo. I'd have prefered to use something newer but I figured I would use up my old stuff first.

 

[Alisha]

ive seen people across some other forums sticking to the stock thermal pads rather than going for artic silver
unless if you arent going to overclock

 

[River Side]

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: River Side
can't u just let it mix with the new paste you'd put on it?

Umm, no.

Ummm why not?

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: cardboardbox
I have no idea what a thermal pad is but the arctic silver website says if I have it on my HSF I need to remove it. I see three gray strips of something on the bottom of my HS... looks like silly putty to me. Is this the thermal pad that I need to remove?

It's thermal tape not a pad on these heatsinks. Yes you will need to remove it if you require the application of AS5. However i wouldn't bother on a stock heatsink, you might aswell purchase a better heatsink. It's just not worth the effort.

If you do want to remove it, then just acquire some rubbing alcohol. Isopropyl or equivalent, so to make sure you don't leave any residue on the contact surfaces, as this would impede thermal transfer.

 

[elkinm]

Originally posted by: River Side

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: River Side
can't u just let it mix with the new paste you'd put on it?

Umm, no.

Ummm why not?

You want as little stuff between the heatsink and core as possible. The reason you want a TIM is to bridge the small air gaps and imperfections in the surfaces for best contact and heat transfer but you want the minimum amount of compound as even the best TIM is still bad compared to metal. The thinnest TIM or least amount of AS would be best, but if you mix both you are just adding more in between the core and HSF which would be worse then the stock TIM on its own.

If you do take off the stock TIM, make sure you clean the heatsink thoroughly with alcohol or something strong, but without oils. Then maybe even wet-sand the heatsink with Ultra-Fine sand paper to a very smooth mirror finish. Clean the HSF and CPU contact points thoroughly before applying and make sure there is nothing there like oil or fingerprints or lint.
Apply a very thin coat of AS3 in your case, over the CPU core contact point, if you can just see though the coat then it is thin. Then apply the clean heatsink with as little as movement as possible and you should have good clean contact.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: River Side

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: River Side
can't u just let it mix with the new paste you'd put on it?

Umm, no.

Ummm why not?

Because its not the best solution for thermal transfer. Ideally you want the thinnest surface layer as possible. The sole purpose for TIM, is to maintain the largest surface area possible, between two contact materials. The more paste between the two surfaces ends up reducing the heat transfer, and causes a blanket effect. No paste equals air pockets, and due to the lack of perfectly flat surfaces discrepancies are present which reduce the maximum surface area, therefore the pastes purpose is to eradicate these discrepancies and fills in the microscopic gaps between the two contact surfaces.

There was a good picture illustrating my explanation, I?ll see if I can find it. I think it was on the AS website somewhere.

 

[RichUK]

lol, elkinm just beat me to it.