Garrett C. said in news:
[email protected]:
The way I've ALWAYS understood it was that a CPU Shim was there to
protect the CPU core during installation of a heatsink, or maybe,
MAYBE, if you have a really heavy heatsink it will hold some of the
weight of that off of the CPU.
But why are all of them being sold in cooling kits, or saying that
they are Anodized for anti-static protection and developed for heat
dissipation!? Is this not false advertising? Too many of my friends
are lead to buy these things @ 10 or more dollars, when they don't
even need them - they know how to put on a heatsink, they just think
this miracle aluminum will cool their CPU!
Are these things **EVER** worth the money to experienced installers (I
can understand the safety for someone installing their first HS/F on a
CPU)? Or is it all just a marketing gimmick?
Curious about your thoughts.
Garrett C.
They are being sold in cooling kits to ensure the bigger heatsink sits
flat on the core or thermal transfer plate. They do not themself
improve heat transfer except in keeping the heatsink flat against the
plate to maximize surface contact. Apparently they originated from a
need to prevent damage to the CPU. Apparently many self-proclaimed
home-build jobbers are pretty rough in installing the heatsink. Think
it like the idiot that needs big marine bumpers around his car in order
to park in in his garage. Many motherboards also provide protection on
the area of their surface around where users will use a screwdriver to
push down on the retaining bracket's clip - because the screwdriver may
slip off and smack onto the motherboard to damage or cut the foils on
it. If the clip doesn't have a pocket to securely capture the
screwdriver tip, be sure to lay a couple sheets of paper underneath.
The shims are insurance against crappy unskilled users in how they
install and remove heatsinks; i.e., it is cheap insurance to include one
instead of having to deal with RMAs because of clumsy users. You can
buy the shims separately.
Don't recall that I had to use one on my current AMD system as the
rubber spacers atop the CPU case take care to help eliminate any canting
of the heatsink during installation. You definitely would not want to
use shims if you lap your heatsink and CPU plate since you would want
them to mate flat at whatever angle you ended up lapping them flat.
Until now I hadn't even considered shims but I probably wouldn't want to
use them anyway. The CPU's casing is probably not really geared to
handling the pressure from the heatsink and its retaining clip, so you
should only be applying the pressure where the CPU maker expected it to
be applied. You also attempting to cool the case rather than the plate
which was designed for thermal transfer. I'm sure the CPU makers have
spent a lot of resources in deciding how to get the heat out and I doubt
it is through the ceramic casing (which would heat up the heat sink
providing less of a differential to draw heat from the plate).
http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/cpu_shims/pctoys_shim/
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/shim.htm
For me, a shim is a waste of money, extra work, and no real benefit.
But I've seen some folks that think they can solder electronics that
blob on the solder, apply way too much heat, and dig the point of a
pointed solder iron tip into a blivet trying to heat up submerged solder
to suck it out to open the blivet. Some folks should never have a
solder iron in their hand. Some folks should never install CPUs. And
some folks can't even be trusted not to damage an anvil.
