Story:
I got my 1.6A and P4B266 from googlegear yesterday. I removed the thermal pad with a credit card and some Goof Off, then went over it with Alcohol(it was very clean, shinning even). Wrapped a piece of suran wrap around my finger, put a pile of AS3 on the HS and rubbed it in real well. Wiped over the HS with a clean towel. I wiped off the top of the heat spreader with alcohol also. I put a little pile of AS3 on the heat spreader and spread it around with the edge of a credit card till it was totaly covered and even thickness. Put the HS down onto the CPU and latched it down. Retail HSF by the way.
Does that sound like the correct process to you guys? The last few PCs I've buit, I bought the mobo and cpu as a combo and they came pre-installed, so this was a first for me. The latches on the HS were pretty stiff to push to lock, but it looked like everything was in place. I held the mobo up and looked at it from the end, and the PCB had actually bent a tiny bit from the HSF pressure on the CPU. Is that normal? I just have to wonder if maybe I did something wrong, cause MBM5 reports 23C Mobo, BUT 42C idle @ 2.13G and 1.5V. Asus PC Probe won't come off of 40C. Using Sandra 2002 Pro's burn-in, I ran the CPU, Multi Media CPU, and Mem benchmarks 5 loops and ended up at 24C/48C. Should I take the HSF off and reinstall? Maybe use more AS3 on the CPU this time?
Total System...
Asus P4B266
P4 1.6A @ 2.13, 1.5V (Costa Rica SL668, 3147A682)
256Mb Crucial PC2100 @ 1.6V (Thermaltake Active cooler 5000RPM)
2x IBM 40G 7200
Asus 52X CDROM
Lite-On 32x12x40
Gainward G3 @ 220/500 (stock HSF)
SB Live! X-Gamer 5.1
USR 56K
SMC 10/100 NIC
Antec SX830 Tower, 4 80MM 2700rpm case fans (2 in, 2 out)