in an effort to get the lowest temps possible on air, i decided to follow advice i have seen for reapplying thermal (as5) under the stock asus heatpipes on the north and south bridges. well, i got them removed and now i feel lost.
i understand the bridges, but what is the long section up by the cpu, which just seems to cover flat chips down on the board? there is stock goo there as well... but it seems odd to me that i might put conductive paste over such a broad and flat surface... i have artic silver 5... would that be the wrong paste to use? i also have a silicone based grease which came with my xigmatek cpu cooler...

any experiences out there would be appreciated....

thanks

steve

You opened a nice "can of worms"... It would have been better to leave these things alone

You only need a small amount of artic silver 5, and yes that stuff can conduct electricity, but if you put the correct amount you'll have nothing to worry about. You processor will only need a small dab about the size of a grain of rice and the north and south bridges will need even less. Those flat chips are MOSFETs and are very important to the power of your computer and will need even less AC5.