Amd 939 thermal interface material application.

Ok, I have a question about applying the thermal interface material(artic silver 5, etc). I saw this pic of thermal paste, and I thought it looked like too much paste, am I right? http://www.hardwarezone.com/img/data/articles/2004/1192/02-paste_applied.jpg

I thought you wanted a very thin layer, just enough to smooth out the irregularities of the cpu's and heatsink's surfaces.

I would definately NOT put so much on where it is right up to the top edge of the die. You would risk some rubbing off and falling on your motherboard where it could short out. puke:

Other than that, it is fine.

I would leave a clean edge of about 2 to 3 mm all around the perimeter of the CPU die.

Yes mate you are quite correct. Looking at the pic, there is far to much paste on there. A very thin layer is all that`s required.

Regards Howard

I put my TIM much thinner than that, and was hoping I didn't do it wrong. Well, it seems that I did it good enough then. If you have too much, won't it be worse(more heat)?

Oh, side note, is it bad to do what I did with the first pic? I just linked to the site that had the pic. I've seen people say that it's "leeching" or something, what do they mean?

To answer your first question. yes using to much thermal paste stops the efficient transfer of heat to the heat sink. The only reason to use thermal paste in the first place is as you said, to fill in any irregularities in the cpu die, and heatsink. Otherwise air pockets could form. Air being a good insulator.

Yes the pic shows far to much paste applied. I think that leeching means that when the heatsink is attatched the paste starts oozing out from between the hs and cpu.

Regards Howard

They probably meant 'leaking'.

I mustn't be being clear, somewhere I saw that when you directly link from a site that isn't your own, it wastes the sites bandwidth and is called leeching, IIRC. Is it bad to do it, or is it ok? Is there a better way to do it if I don't have a server?

Some sites get upset about that. You can simply put the link in the post rather than embedding the image.

It's called promotion. I think most SYSOPs would appreciate it. I know I would.

Promotion is a form of advertisement.

Promotion is not bandwidth theft, which is exactly what unwanted hotlinking is. If someone discovers a video or picture hosted on your server(s) that you intended for local residents only and provides that url to others whom then download it without ever visiting your site, all they have done is cost you money.

Ok, I put the orginal pic as a link now, and put the pic in the gallery here and linked to that. I'd think it'd be ok to link from the gallery here.

Another question, am I allowed to save pictures off webpages to my pc? Like the pic above, I saved it to my pictures file and then uploaded it here. Are pics like copyrighted or something? I don't want to do anything illegal.

That is how you make a sandwich.

That's what I thought when I saw it. It looks like how I spread peanut butter. :slurp:

Kinda looks like this ->

I thought you weren't meant to spread it about because the smallest of dead skin cells could affect heatsink performance. I usually put a small amount (about the size of a grain of rice) in the centre of the CPU and let the heatsink do the "spreading".

Do not let the heatsink do the spreading. You WANT to make sure you get a nice smooth, uniform spread of goop across the core or otherwise exposed cooling area of the die.

If you just put a dab on and them put a heatsink on to it, you're just asking for trouble. There may be an air bubble trapped inside the goop, which can lead to popping and overheating. You may get a non-uniform coat which can result in overheating. You might not be able to tell if too much was used or if some is spilling out over onto the die. As a whole, that is a very bad idea.

Huh? But that's what AS says to do.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions_big2.htm

"because the smallest of dead skin cells could affect heatsink performance."
You use your bare hands? I put on a latex glove or something, mainly so I don't get dirty though.

I would never apply goop like that. How brutish. I would suggest using a razor blade to smooth it beforehand, not just a big glop that you hope isn't too much or to little.

Thermal Compound: Goop vs. Drop

The Gospel according to Artic Silver:

Put a small amount of Arctic Silver onto the center of the heat spreader/CPU Cap.

Only a small amount of Arctic Silver is needed
P4: Slightly less then the size of an uncooked grain of short-grain white rice or 1/2 of a BB.

Athlon64: About the size of one and a quarter uncooked grains of short-grain white rice or 2/3 of a BB.

RECHECK to make sure no foreign contaminants are present on either the bottom of the heatsink or the top of the CPU core. Mount the heatsink on the CPU per the heatsink's instructions. Be sure to lower the heatsink straight down onto the CPU.

Once the heatsink is properly mounted, grasp the heatsink and very gently twist it slightly clockwise and counterclockwise one time each if possible. (Just one or two degrees or so.)

Please note that some heatsinks cannot be twisted once mounted.

DO NOT REMOVE THE HEATSINK FROM THE CPU TO LOOK AT THE COMPOUND ONCE YOU HAVE MOUNTED THE HEATSINK. This will introduce air into the interface layer and require a fresh application.

Our testing has shown that this method minimizes the possibility of air bubbles and voids in the thermal interface between the heat spreader and the heatsink. Since the vast majority of the heat from the core travels directly through the heat spreader, it is more important to have a good interface directly above the actual CPU core than it is to have the heat spreader covered with compound from corner to corner.

Instructions blatantly stolen from:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

Please post rebuttals below.