Thermal Pads ?

Anyone know HOW you use these?
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=288621&pfp=cat3

Instructions with them don't make any sense and I am concerned about
frying the processor if I don't keep it cool enough.

 

First, I would start by verifying what you bought.

When you open the box, is there a company name printed on the
removable film on the pad ? It would help a lot if there is
a part number printed on the film. Maybe with that, and a
little search engine work, you can find out who makes it, and
get their recipe for installation.

I would also want to investigate what the pad is actually
made of, as opposed to what CompUSA thinks. There are
plenty of pad materials that would not be suited to a
high power processor application, and I'd want to know
a bit more about the stuff before using it. Some web
pages suggest Boron Nitride is a ceramic material, and it
could be in powder form, trapped in the pad.

One problem with using a pad, is maybe you can work out the
air bubbles when working the pad onto one surface, but
when mating the devices, it is all a matter of luck.

Be careful what you try to peel off. Here is a product that
has an asymmetric stackup, and it would be tempting to
grab it by the wrong layer, and start peeling.

http://www.parker.com/chomerics/products/documents/thermcat/chotherm1680tb68.pdf

Paul

 

Paul,

No company name on the removable film and no part number either.

The card packaging with the pads state that the pads are made from
"Boron Mitride".

Instructions with the pad are as follows if this helps?
1. Peel back red backing - Hmm problem is NO red backing!
2. Apply pad to your heatsink where it will make contact with the CPU
core - Hmm which side of the pad goes onto the CPU?
3. Attach the heatsink fan to the CPU in the motherboard socket.

Not exactly detailed are they?

Would I be safer using something like this ?
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=50179314&pfp=cat3

Thanks for any assistance U can give!

 

The Startech material can be applied the same way as this stuff:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions_small.htm

I have a small tube of AS3 that I've had for a few years now.
I apply a bit to the heatsink, to prime the rough surface and
fill the valleys. You can put a half-grain-of-rice sized sample
on the CPU, in the center, and try clamping the two surfaces
together, to see how much the stuff spreads. That will give you
an idea as to how much is required to do the job. It should
spread in a round pattern, and leave a mark the size of a quarter
or larger. The purpose of doing this, is to judge how much is
needed to give a proper thickness layer. You want enough material
so there are no air bubbles or voids. Too much paste only functions
as an insulator, and it will squeeze out of the gap and make a
mess. So calibrating the quantity, and priming the surfaces, can
be done with the first half-grain-of-rice sized sample you
apply. After you've wiped the excess off the primed surfaces,
then you can apply your "final coat". To my mind, a good application
is when, after mating the parts, the joint between the surfaces
has just a little material showing/squeezing out. You don't want
to be too stingy with the stuff, because I think my first try at
it might have been a bit on the dry side.

As for the Boron Nitride pad, there is a procedure here.
No instruction on which side of the pad goes on the heatsink.

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win95/1058644854

My casual experiences with thermal pads at work
(we had a thermal designer, so I didn't have to select the
stuff), is that a great many of them are not that good. Some
of these pads are suitable for doing 10W chips and 35mmx35mm
square heatsinks, but I'd really want to do the research before
applying them to a motherboard processor. One concern would be
air bubbles, and at least with a heat spreader on the processor,
that is slightly less of a concern. Another concern, is how hard
is it to remove the product later. I believe most pastes give
better performance than a pad, but the pad has the potential
to last longer without maintenance.

I just looked up AS5, and its spec is <0.007°C-in2/Watt
(0.001 inch layer) while the Crotherm pad was 0.40°C-in2/W
for its
0.007 inch thickness.

If you use a silver compound, I would recommend calibrating your
thermal performance after the application. Allow several days
for the stuff to bed in. Then, measure ambient air temperature,
computer case temperature (as shown in MBM5 or SpeedFan), and CPU
temperature, while running something like Prime95. Write them
down somewhere (where you store the silver compound is a good place).
Then, a year from now, repeat the Prime95 test. If the delta
between CPU temp and computer case temp has increased by, say,
5C degrees, then it is probably time to disassemble the heatsink
fan from the CPU. Then, wipe off the excess and reapply a fresh
thin layer.

(Recording room temp versus computer case temp, will tell you
whether any filters are getting clogged, or something has
changed with your case cooling.)

Say two days from now, the CPU is 43C and computer case air is
32C. The delta is 11C. If you repeat the Prime95 load test a
year from now, and the CPU is 57C and the computer case
air is 39C, the delta is 18C, and it is probably time to
reapply compound. In my example, the delta has increased
by 7C. Note that in this example the CPU is not overheated,
and there is no rush to fix it - I'm just suggesting you can
use the thermal performance as an indicator of how much pumpout
of the compound has occurred.

To remove the heatsink, run a task that will warm up the processor.
Shut down Windows, wait for the drive to stop spinning, then
pop the side off the computer case. If there is still a bit of
warmth left in the heatsink, it may be relatively easy to unclip
the heatsink and twist the heatsink a bit, to break the seal
between heatsink and CPU. Sometimes the paste develops such a
good hold, that people have pulled the CPU right out of the
socket.

Paul

 

OH MY FUCKING GOD. Someone as completely incompetent as the OP. Why
tyhe hell do you need instructions? Jesus, no wonder alot of the US IT
sector is being farmed out to India.

 

ITS A FUCKING THERMAL PAD FOR **** SAKE. YOU PEEL IT OFF THE BACKING,
STICK IT ON THE FUCKING HEATSINK, PEEL THE OTHER TAPE OFF AND SHOVE IT
ON THE FUCKING CPU.

 

Uh Duh, would that be vertically, horizontally or diagonally?

 

Anyone who comes onto USENET, types ALL in caps and then uses language
of the type that you sued here obviously has a serious problem. If you
don't have anything useful or constructive to say then shut the heck up!

 

Heheh, "Shut the heck up"? Is that anything like "shut the **** up"? Bet
ya got nice red rosey cheeks and go to church every Sunday too huh?
Condecending asshole.

 

I was actually referring to the idiot who was cussing and not you Sir.

 

And someone who doesn't know that CAPS is used to denote SHOUTING is an
AOL retard.

I'm typing in CAPS because I'm SHOUTING. It was constructive. It was
warning the rest of the IT world what a clueless 'tard you are.

 

ROFLMAO. Anally retentive god fearing conservative America rears its
head again.

 

How often does Mommy allow you to use her computer? Does she know you
aren't playing nicely?

 

I was pretty shocked Bob, I have been using USENET for more years than I
care to remember and have never been treated in such a way before.

I am actually an IT person but up until very recently haven't had much
to do with building systems and always offer help on USENET groups when
I can.

 

I don't know. What's a Mommy? Yet another Merkin fucked up way of
spelling something?

 

So does that mean you have to be so stupid that you can't work out the
blatantly obvious? Christ, it's not exactly much different to double
sided sticky tape. I would hope anyone with an IQ high enough to be
able to switch on a computer would be able to work it out.

Then again, most of your country is populated with thick shits who need
everything spoonfed to them.

 

Can't have been on it that long or you've been in censored AOL chat
rooms.

And you wonder why jobs are being farmed out to India...

 

I'm sick to goddamned death of spoonfeeding people who want the answer
given to them rather than firing a couple of neurons and working it out
for themselves. COME ON MAN, it is so incredibly obvious what you have
to do.

If you can't work out something as simple as thermal tape, what chance
have you of actually working out what you even want for breakfast in a
morning?