On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 09:20:51 GMT, Wes Newell
wrote:

On Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:09:28 -0800, * * Chas wrote:

Does anyone here know what kind of thermal paste AMD uses on the pad on
their latest heatsink/fans in the retail boxed CPUs?

I picked up a retail boxed Athlon 64 3000+ CPU with a Venice core.

The paste on the pad is silver and looks like it's either silver or
aluminum.

If it's already silver then I'll probably skip using Arctic Silver
thermal paste.

Save yourself time and money and just use what you have. I got so tired
of all the BS you see about thermal compounds I removed mine and
replaced it with 30 year old wheel bearing grease last Sept.1. Current
temps;

CPU Temp: +35°C
M/B Temp: +34°C

Reason the MB temp is so high is I've got 4 HDTV tuner cards in this box.
I highly recommend wheel bearing grease for it's ability to not dry out
over the years. Wonder how well AS left open in the garage for 30 years
would work.:-) To be honest I don't know how long ago the plastic tub the
grease was in deteriorated and cracked open. Maybe only 10-20 years ago.


BEWARE. Grease not specifically intended for use with electronics
will have unknown electrical conductivity/capacitance, let alone
poorly-spec'd thermal conductivity. Be very careful not to smear it
anywhere near any electrical contacts or circuitry -- and double-check
that it does not ooze out and flow to undesired locations at
high-temperatures. Remember that in a wheel-bearing, the grease
is designed to flow sufficiently to lubricate all bearing surfaces
continuously.

John Lewis