Ooooh boy...is this going to be a problem?

[reddog418]

I accidentally touched it with my finger nail. It looked like rubber to me...(this the the bottom of the heatsink to a retail p4 2.4GHz CPU).

Click to see the picture.
Why doesn't anandtech.com allow direct photos?

 

[reddog418]

Bump - da - bump.

 

[bgeh]

that's a thermal pad
clean it up with alcohol and then get some arctic silver 3 and apply to the chip.
and put back the heatsink.

 

[reddog418]

Spend the $7.50 to get the arctic?

 

[bgeh]

if you want lower temps, get arctic silver
you also can get radio shack thermal paste if you don't overclock

 

[reddog418]

Bleh...I'll just buy some ASIII and have it by monday.

 

[BennyD]

a tube of ASIII will do you for probably 3 heatsinks

 

[stonecold3169]

Originally posted by: BennyD
a tube of ASIII will do you for probably 3 heatsinks

Probably a whole lot more then that even... I've changed probably 10 heat sinks on various athlons and I till have some left... just have to remember, more isn't always better... of course, those P4 dies are a whole lot bigger too...

 

[Justorq]

for someone that doesn't change his heatsink or his processor often, thermal paste is very bad... cuz it won't last ... thermal paste lasts but it's a pain to change when you change processor .. so I suggest you keep the thermal pad ... nothing's gonna happen ... don't worry

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: stonecold3169

Originally posted by: BennyD
a tube of ASIII will do you for probably 3 heatsinks

Probably a whole lot more then that even... I've changed probably 10 heat sinks on various athlons and I till have some left... just have to remember, more isn't always better... of course, those P4 dies are a whole lot bigger too...

I ordered the smaller of the two tube sizes of ASIII from newegg for US$6 less shipping. Sounds like that should be plenty more than what I'd need to do a single Athlon XP 1700+

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Justorq
for someone that doesn't change his heatsink or his processor often, thermal paste is very bad... cuz it won't last ... thermal paste lasts but it's a pain to change when you change processor .. so I suggest you keep the thermal pad ... nothing's gonna happen ... don't worry

Uh, wtf? I was told that stuff like ASIII lasts quite a while. Long enough, anyway, that it doesn't matter if your processor stays unchanged for a couple years (as mine frequently do since I can't afford to upgrade much). Hopefully my recent purchase of some ASIII to go with my forthcoming AXP1700+ wasn't a waste of money.

 

[CrazySaint]

From the AS3 application instructions:

Arctic Silver is a grease and does not have any adhesive qualities. It will never dry or set

So I'm failing to see how prolonged use could be a problem.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Justorq
for someone that doesn't change his heatsink or his processor often, thermal paste is very bad... cuz it won't last ... thermal paste lasts but it's a pain to change when you change processor .. so I suggest you keep the thermal pad ... nothing's gonna happen ... don't worry

Intel specifically approves the use of thermal grease now.
ftp://download.intel.com/support/processors/manuals/p4p478_1.pdf

 

[everman]

AS3 will work just fine and a tube should last for several applications. I never liked thermal pads because they can be hard to remove after sitting on a cpu for a while.

 

[PCMarine]

Artic Silver 3 is the best thermal greese hands down