Installing AMD cpu

[thort]

Hey all,

I just bought all my components for a new PC build. Im building an AMD
system with the 3500+ and A8VE-Deluxe mobo.

I had a question about installing the heat sink on the AMD chip. I
have the retail Processor in a Box set, which comes with the
heatsink/fan. What Im wondering is whether I need thermal paste.
There seems to be a thermal pad on the heat sink, but the information
in the supplied booklet and the website is conflicting.
So, my question is, do I actually need to apply thermal paste for the
retail AMD64 heatsink/fan? Or is the 'pad' stuck there a good enough
thermal interface?

(This is my first build, so Im a bit wary).

Thanks,
Sumedh.

 

[Hawkeye]

The supplied thermal pad is all you need. Do not at anything to it

 

[o-chan]

I had a question about installing the heat sink on the AMD chip. I

have the retail Processor in a Box set, which comes with the
heatsink/fan. What Im wondering is whether I need thermal paste.
There seems to be a thermal pad on the heat sink, but the information
in the supplied booklet and the website is conflicting.
So, my question is, do I actually need to apply thermal paste for the
retail AMD64 heatsink/fan? Or is the 'pad' stuck there a good enough
thermal interface?

You can't use both together. Paste is probably a little better than a
pad but IMO removing the pads is more trouble than its worth. It should
run fine as is.

 

[Harry]

You can't use both together. Paste is probably a little better than a
pad but IMO removing the pads is more trouble than its worth. It should
run fine as is.

Is there any particular reason why the two can't be used together? I
have recently built a PC based around an Athlon 64 3000+ and used
paste in addition to the substance already on the heatsink and it
seems to run perfectly well.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

The "Newcastle" 3500+ I bought last year came with some form of pre-applied
paste. (This was quite different from the solid thermal material I'd been
accustomed to with Intel P4 CPUs.) I don't know whether AMD is still using
the paste, or whether they have switched to a dry TIM (thermal interface
material).

I unintentionally scraped some of it off, so I ended up replacing it with
Arctic Silver 5. Otherwise, I would have simply used it rather than adding
any third-party paste. (I always remove the Intel TIM, because I expect it
to fuse the heat sink to the heat spreader on the CPU.)

It might be a good idea to obtain a small quantity of heat sink compound
(aka thermal paste) just in case the pre-applied stuff is lost in handling.
I doubt that AS5 offers much benefit, but I used some because it's not all
that expensive.

Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

 

[johns]

Your owners manual tells you to scrape that dried out
thermal pad off the heatsink and replace it with new
paste. Do it, or your cpu will idle in the 50s, and
eventually glue the heatsink to the cpu, and ruin any
chances of ever being able to remove the cpu if a
problem develops. New thermal paste will drop that
idle temp to about 38 degrees C, plus it will stay soft
since the temp will never get in the 50s where it hardens.

johns

 

[Hawkeye]

Left the pad on mine and its idling at 41 as I type this in an 80
degree room temp and previous to this i had a 3500 with pad and had no
trouble seperating the cpu from heatsink

 

[johns]

You are lucky. That is all. Try telling that to AMD if
you need to warranty ship that mobo for any reason.
The cpu has to go back to AMD .. not the vendor, and
if it is glued in because you did not do what their
warranty manual says, then you are SOL !! Call them
up and see. Call up your original vendor and ask them
about warranty on the cpu. I would pull that thing as
soon as I could, and replace that goop. You'll see what
I'm talking about when you do. .... and if .. it is sticky,
I have been getting them loose by slowly twisting the
heatsink sideways back and forth about 100 times.
It will eventually release. I was lucky.

johns

 

[Sandi Luney]

Amen to what Johns said. My old XP 1800+ ran at ~60 idle with their
supplied thermal pad thing. It now sits next to my TV as a PVR and idles
at ~43 after rubbing all that hardened junk off with an alcohol soaked
cotton wool pad and applying a generous helping of thermal paste between
the CPU/HSF sandwich!

I'd give it a go if you're confident enough.

ta ra

Sandi