Thermal paste application

I am prepating to build my first PC. I have a Gigabyte 8KNXP
motherboard and an Intel P4 3.0GHz chip...haven't opened them yet. I
am hoping someone can help me out with how to correctly apply the
thermal paste to the chip after insertion into the motherboard. I
know it sounds simple, but it is an unknown to someone that has not
done it before.

Some initial questions that I have:

Is it obvious what location or portion of the back of the chip should
be coated?

How thick a coating?

Do you put a glob in the middle and put the heatsink on and allow the
weight of the heatsink to determine the thickness of the smear and let
the rest ooze out from between them?

If an initial thin layer is preferred, where do you put the initial
glob and how do you smear it out before applying the heatsink?

Presumably, even if you only apply a thin layer of paste there will
still be some oozing out with the pressure from the heatsink
application and lockdown. What do you do with what oozes out, leave
it there or wipe it off with something ? Can what oozes out cause a
problem if you don't get it all off etc?

Any reason to use any thermal paste other than what Intel supplies
with the chip?

I have heard of thermal tape, which sounds less messy but is it as
effective and where does one get it from, as I can not seem to find it
anywhere. My inclination is to stick with what Intel gives you, but
if this is not optimal I would love to know it ahead of time.

Thanks for any help.

Howard

here is the easiest thing , open the CPU box and don't open the thermal paste, as it is not necessary.
The retail P4 comes with a more than adequate HSF that anything else would be overkill. My opinion, determined by numerous installs
with no 'extras' needed.

"Howard" wrote in message om...
I am prepating to build my first PC. I have a Gigabyte 8KNXP
motherboard and an Intel P4 3.0GHz chip...haven't opened them yet. I
am hoping someone can help me out with how to correctly apply the
thermal paste to the chip after insertion into the motherboard. I
know it sounds simple, but it is an unknown to someone that has not
done it before.

Some initial questions that I have:

Is it obvious what location or portion of the back of the chip should
be coated?

How thick a coating?

Do you put a glob in the middle and put the heatsink on and allow the
weight of the heatsink to determine the thickness of the smear and let
the rest ooze out from between them?

If an initial thin layer is preferred, where do you put the initial
glob and how do you smear it out before applying the heatsink?

Presumably, even if you only apply a thin layer of paste there will
still be some oozing out with the pressure from the heatsink
application and lockdown. What do you do with what oozes out, leave
it there or wipe it off with something ? Can what oozes out cause a
problem if you don't get it all off etc?

Any reason to use any thermal paste other than what Intel supplies
with the chip?

I have heard of thermal tape, which sounds less messy but is it as
effective and where does one get it from, as I can not seem to find it
anywhere. My inclination is to stick with what Intel gives you, but
if this is not optimal I would love to know it ahead of time.

Thanks for any help.

Howard

"JAD" wrote in message
k.net...
here is the easiest thing , open the CPU box and don't open the thermal
paste, as it is not necessary.
The retail P4 comes with a more than adequate HSF that anything else would
be overkill. My opinion, determined by numerous installs
with no 'extras' needed.

That's odd, since all the retail 3.0's I've opened come with a small syringe
of thermal paste and do NOT have the black thermal pad on the HSF.

---

If the heatsink has a black thermal pad on the bottom, just use that, and
don't use paste. If you open the box and there's a small syringe of paste,
you'll be using it. They explain in the manual how to do it, but just
incase...

The chip has a heat spreader plate on it, so this vastly increases the
coverage area. But it actually makes the job easier. Put a small amount of
paste near the middle, just a little blob. Then, using a credit card or
something of similar thickness and flexibility, gently spread the blob over
the entire heat spreader. The idea is to get a nice thin glaze. The paste
is not supposed to be sandwiched like ketchup on a hamburger. It should
also not go anywhere except on the heat spreader (the silver raised area!).
The heat spreader should be able to make contact with the heat sink, and the
paste acts more like a filler, filling in the very small imperfections in
the heat spreader's and heatsink's surfaces. There shouldn't be enough on
there for it to ooze out the sides.

-SSZ

retail? I have only seen one of those that came with paste...don't remember the exact speed..


yes that was a 3.0 and the others were 2.8b's and down don't have any more 3.0's or better to look....I'll watch that....


"S.SubZero" wrote in message ...
"JAD" wrote in message
k.net...
here is the easiest thing , open the CPU box and don't open the thermal
paste, as it is not necessary.
The retail P4 comes with a more than adequate HSF that anything else would
be overkill. My opinion, determined by numerous installs
with no 'extras' needed.

That's odd, since all the retail 3.0's I've opened come with a small syringe
of thermal paste and do NOT have the black thermal pad on the HSF.

---

If the heatsink has a black thermal pad on the bottom, just use that, and
don't use paste. If you open the box and there's a small syringe of paste,
you'll be using it. They explain in the manual how to do it, but just
incase...

The chip has a heat spreader plate on it, so this vastly increases the
coverage area. But it actually makes the job easier. Put a small amount of
paste near the middle, just a little blob. Then, using a credit card or
something of similar thickness and flexibility, gently spread the blob over
the entire heat spreader. The idea is to get a nice thin glaze. The paste
is not supposed to be sandwiched like ketchup on a hamburger. It should
also not go anywhere except on the heat spreader (the silver raised area!).
The heat spreader should be able to make contact with the heat sink, and the
paste acts more like a filler, filling in the very small imperfections in
the heat spreader's and heatsink's surfaces. There shouldn't be enough on
there for it to ooze out the sides.

-SSZ

Here's a new one, though... the retail HSF that comes with the 3.2/800
has a copper core AND a thermal pad.... :8-))
Earl

JAD wrote:

retail? I have only seen one of those that came with paste...don't remember the exact speed..

yes that was a 3.0 and the others were 2.8b's and down don't have any more 3.0's or better to look....I'll watch that....

S.SubZero wrote:
"JAD" wrote in message
k.net...

here is the easiest thing , open the CPU box and don't open the thermal

paste, as it is not necessary.

The retail P4 comes with a more than adequate HSF that anything else would

be overkill. My opinion, determined by numerous installs

with no 'extras' needed.


That's odd, since all the retail 3.0's I've opened come with a small syringe
of thermal paste and do NOT have the black thermal pad on the HSF.

Does the syringe come with just enough thermal paste to do the job, or
does it contain an excess? I just looked at an installation .pdf file
from the Intel website and it doesn't offer much in the way of specifics
about this point. Are the installation notes that accompany the CPU any
better in this regard?

Ari


---

If the heatsink has a black thermal pad on the bottom, just use that, and
don't use paste. If you open the box and there's a small syringe of paste,
you'll be using it. They explain in the manual how to do it, but just
incase...

The chip has a heat spreader plate on it, so this vastly increases the
coverage area. But it actually makes the job easier. Put a small amount of
paste near the middle, just a little blob. Then, using a credit card or
something of similar thickness and flexibility, gently spread the blob over
the entire heat spreader. The idea is to get a nice thin glaze. The paste
is not supposed to be sandwiched like ketchup on a hamburger. It should
also not go anywhere except on the heat spreader (the silver raised area!).
The heat spreader should be able to make contact with the heat sink, and the
paste acts more like a filler, filling in the very small imperfections in
the heat spreader's and heatsink's surfaces. There shouldn't be enough on
there for it to ooze out the sides.

-SSZ




--

Are you registered as a bone marrow donor? You regenerate what you
donate. You are offered the chance to donate only if you match a person
on the recipient list. Visit www.marrow.org or call your local Red Cross
and ask about registering to be a bone marrow donor.

spam trap: replace shyah_right! with hotmail when replying

grabbed the box out of the trash,, little or nothing on the pamphlet(shows a pic of 'where' it goes), I think this is all that it
came with. There isn't much in the tube and I didn't use all of it maybe 2/3.

"spodosaurus" wrote in message ...
S.SubZero wrote:
"JAD" wrote in message
k.net...

here is the easiest thing , open the CPU box and don't open the thermal

paste, as it is not necessary.

The retail P4 comes with a more than adequate HSF that anything else would

be overkill. My opinion, determined by numerous installs

with no 'extras' needed.


That's odd, since all the retail 3.0's I've opened come with a small syringe
of thermal paste and do NOT have the black thermal pad on the HSF.

Does the syringe come with just enough thermal paste to do the job, or
does it contain an excess? I just looked at an installation .pdf file
from the Intel website and it doesn't offer much in the way of specifics
about this point. Are the installation notes that accompany the CPU any
better in this regard?

Ari


---

If the heatsink has a black thermal pad on the bottom, just use that, and
don't use paste. If you open the box and there's a small syringe of paste,
you'll be using it. They explain in the manual how to do it, but just
incase...

The chip has a heat spreader plate on it, so this vastly increases the
coverage area. But it actually makes the job easier. Put a small amount of
paste near the middle, just a little blob. Then, using a credit card or
something of similar thickness and flexibility, gently spread the blob over
the entire heat spreader. The idea is to get a nice thin glaze. The paste
is not supposed to be sandwiched like ketchup on a hamburger. It should
also not go anywhere except on the heat spreader (the silver raised area!).
The heat spreader should be able to make contact with the heat sink, and the
paste acts more like a filler, filling in the very small imperfections in
the heat spreader's and heatsink's surfaces. There shouldn't be enough on
there for it to ooze out the sides.

-SSZ




--

Are you registered as a bone marrow donor? You regenerate what you
donate. You are offered the chance to donate only if you match a person
on the recipient list. Visit www.marrow.org or call your local Red Cross
and ask about registering to be a bone marrow donor.

spam trap: replace shyah_right! with hotmail when replying

"S.SubZero" wrote in message
...
The heat spreader should be able to make contact with the heat sink, and
the
paste acts more like a filler, filling in the very small imperfections in
the heat spreader's and heatsink's surfaces. There shouldn't be enough on
there for it to ooze out the sides.

Technically anything that oozes out is mere waste. The problem is, you
can't be sure you've got enough in there to fill in the air gaps unless you
use a little too much. If none oozes out, you won't have any idea if you
used exactly the right amount, or too little.

"jeffc" wrote:

Technically anything that oozes out is mere waste. The problem is, you
can't be sure you've got enough in there to fill in the air gaps unless you
use a little too much. If none oozes out, you won't have any idea if you
used exactly the right amount, or too little.


If you follow the Arctic Silver instructions (i.e. spreading on a film just
thick enough to discolor the surface), the small gap and the viscosity
of the paste would probably prevent any "oozing". This comment taken
from the instructions is indicative of the thickness of the layer of paste:

"The flatter the mating surfaces, the thinner the layer that is required.
Stock processors and/or heatsinks with normal surface irregularities
will require a layer 0.003" to 0.005" thick as shown below to fill the
resultant gaps. (Equal to the thickness of about 1 sheet of standard
weight paper.) Properly lapped heatsinks with mirror finishes will only
require a translucent haze."


*TimDaniels*

"Timothy Daniels" wrote in message
...

"jeffc" wrote:

Technically anything that oozes out is mere waste. The problem is, you
can't be sure you've got enough in there to fill in the air gaps unless
you
use a little too much. If none oozes out, you won't have any idea if
you
used exactly the right amount, or too little.

If you follow the Arctic Silver instructions (i.e. spreading on a film
just
thick enough to discolor the surface), the small gap and the viscosity
of the paste would probably prevent any "oozing". This comment taken
from the instructions is indicative of the thickness of the layer of
paste:

"The flatter the mating surfaces, the thinner the layer that is required.
Stock processors and/or heatsinks with normal surface irregularities
will require a layer 0.003" to 0.005" thick as shown below to fill the
resultant gaps. (Equal to the thickness of about 1 sheet of standard
weight paper.) Properly lapped heatsinks with mirror finishes will only
require a translucent haze."

Yeah, I'm sure it's a matter of definition. If you think of oozing like
batter from a waffle iron, then no. But even with mirror finishes, under a
microscope I'm sure you'd see something. Probably not what the OP meant, I
concede.