No thermal grease ok?

[evilfud]

Is it ok to just put the heatsink and fan on the CPU with no grease? reason i ask is i got my MB cpu combo came with a coolermaster heatsing/fan but im gonna be buying a bigger better heatsink/fan very soon.but wondered in the meantime could i just use my pc everyday without it being greased?

Thanks for your help.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

You need thermal compound to help the cooler and IHS on the CPU to properly contact for good heat transfer. You might get away with it but if there is no thermal pad on the Cooler, go to radioshack CompUSSR, ect. and get some thermal compound..

 

[evilfud]

will it be easy to just get it off when i switch out the new heatsink/fan?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Depends on what compound it is. Silver based is the most mess to clean up, the generic white stuff will wipe right off though.

 

[Goi]

If your HSF already has a thermal pad stuck on it then you'll be able to use that, provided you don't do any CPU overclocking. Otherwise, just go down to Radioshack and get some generic white goop. Those come off easily with a bit of alcohol.

 

[dennisjai215]

well i've seen the tomshardware video for amd64 chips when u take off hsf they just freeze and shutdown the cpu is fine so its up to u.. i rather be safe and use thermal compound all day

 

[johy99]

Hi,

For Athlon 64 3400+ please use thermal grease (from the generic to the more exotic ones), but not thermal compound. AMD recommends thermal compound only for lidless processors like the Athlon XPs and thermal grease for lidded processors.

Thanks

 

[rgreen83]

Originally posted by: johy99
Hi,

For Athlon 64 3400+ please use thermal grease (from the generic to the more exotic ones), but not thermal compound. AMD recommends thermal compound only for lidless processors like the Athlon XPs and thermal grease for lidded processors.

Thanks

I may be missing something but what are you considering to be the difference between compound and grease, i thought they were two words to describe the same thing in this context?

 

[evilfud]

well i did it already anyways went to radio shack got the cheap crap and when i got home i noticed the heatsink already had a compund on it with a plastic cover on it. but i added some of the cheap stuff anyways.and im currently wondering if its normal for a CPU to run at 18 degrees celcius.

thanks for the replies.

 

[Goi]

Wait, by compound do you mean it's stuck to the heatsink? That sounds like an integrated thermal pad. If so, then please do NOT use thermal grease in conjuntion with it.

18 degrees celcius is insanely low by the way, unless you live in Antartica or something. I think you either typo-ed or your sensor isn't reading the temperature correctly.

 

[johy99]

Thermal grease and thermal compound are not the same thing. Please check out this pdf document to read details.

ThanksThermal grease vs. Thermal compound - pdf document

Thanks

 

[mechBgon]

Last I knew, retail AMD64 heatsinks came with an application of Shin-Etsu thermal grease on the heatsink, which is far, far better stuff than that ridiculous new Radio Shack junk. Opposite ends of the spectrum, and it's a shame the Shin-Etsu got contaminated with the Radio Shack stuff here. But the contact area is large enough that it's going to work out anyway.