majorly dumb question

astroworpastroworp Northridge, CA
edited September 2003 in Hardware
um, when installing a heatsink on a cpu, you're only supposed to put thermal compound on the die, right? not all over the entire surface of the cpu?

and "die" is correct isn't it? whatever that square shaped part of the cpu is that protrudes upward from the surface


ok i feel really stupid right now.

Comments

  • qparadoxqparadox Vancouver, BC
    edited September 2003
    Well asking first is better than doing it and ended up with a fried CPU.

    Only put a very thin layer of thermal compound on the core, this the central part protruding from an AMD CPU. Many CPU's (p4's etc) have heat-spreaders built on top of the core and on these you'd want to spread the compound out over the entire surface.
  • astroworpastroworp Northridge, CA
    edited September 2003
    "core" ok thanks, yeah i have an amd so my thinking was correct. thanks man.
  • TheLostSwedeTheLostSwede Trondheim, Norway Icrontian
    edited September 2003
    astro,

    just put a TINY amount on the core, then use a creditcard like you spreading the butter on a sandwich, but much thinner. You should almost be able to see through the layer of paste. ALMOST.
  • SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
    edited September 2003
    Yeah, paper thin layer. Just put a little drop in one of the cores corners, and then spread it accross. Also, if you can avoid it... don't get any on the rest of the CPU, as it is a bitch to get off without some sort of spirit.
  • ClutchClutch North Carolina New
    edited September 2003
    No question is dumb man. It is always best to ask about something your not sure with than seriously mess something up, that's what were all here for, to learn from each other.

    As far as spreading thermal compound on the die, a razor blade or credit card works very good. But be sure to not apply too much, just a thin layer as was posted above.

    If you are putting on a retail h/s and fan be sure to remove the thermal pad that ships with it before you stick it ontop of the thermal compound you applied. A razor blade works really good at doing that as well.
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