On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 21:16:33 -0500, inkleput{at}isp.com wrote:

>I touched my Thermaltake CPU cooler while watching the "health meter,"
>and the temp jumped.  I pressed it against the CPU and it dropped 10 or
>15 degrees.
>
>There is dark grey substance spread on the bottom of the cooler.  It is
>thin, pretty hard and doesn't impress me as a good transfer gook.
>
>Is the kind of thermal transfer gook to use important?  Should such
>stuff be relatively soft?  Like wax?  Harder - like this stuff?  I know
>there are silicone gooks and some that have metalic powder.  Any
>recommendations?  Do any local sources normally carry it?

"local" being relative to where you are on the planet, of course.  :-D

Heck, one customer recently gave me his longitude and latitude in case
I used ICBM's for delivering software... ;)  (and quickly eMailed me
back to say he'd made a typo of one entire degree!)

The ThermalTake coolers are among the tops out there... I've used
several of their designs, and your AthlonXP CPU is well-served by
having one... that said - if you didn't apply NEW "thermal gooP" when
you installed it on your new motherboard, you may not be (probably are
not) getting optimal cooling performance from it.

("gook" has some negative connotations we're not gonna dive into
here...)

In order of heat-transfer properties, the common metals used in heat
sinks are aluminum, copper, silver, and gold... the latter two being
prohibitively expensive, of course.

That said, a thin layer of silver-impregnated paste is considered a
good solution - all you're looking for is a gap-filler in the
microscopic gaps between the heat sink and the silicon of the CPU... a
really thin layer will do... any goop is better than no goop - air is a
teriffic insulator.

Check for "Arctic Silver" or "Antec" at your local
computer store - if
they're worth the while, they'll have some.

The pre-applied "wax" is fine, so long as it's installed and used, but
not tampered with... if reinstalled, or moved to a new motherboard, you
should scrape it ALL off, and re-apply a thin layer of another "goop".

I've found the silver-based compounds result in readings that are quite
a few degrees below the "wax", as you call it, and numerous online
published tests bear this out.

Given that an AthlonXP can/will cook itself to death in under 8 seconds
without a heat-sink, it's a pretty critical thing to worry about!

Hope this helps!

-Derek

Derek W. Keoughan,
Finnegan Software, Inc.,  Brampton, Ontario, Canada  http://www.finnsoft.com
416-410-4774 phone - 800-258-0033 toll free - 905-846-5516 fax

Consulting, Networking, Cabling, Internet, Hardware, Software, Tech Support
eComStation, OS/2 Warp/Server, WinXP/2000/NT/Me/9x, Linux
Customized PURRformance PC's & Servers, OnSite Services, Installations
and Upgrades

= Celebrating 11 years of "happily purring" computing - Founded
1995-02-02 =

FinnSoft "CyberCat" logo clothing and more -
http://www.cafepress.com/finnsoft




 
Yahoo! Groups Links

 To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/os2hardware/

 To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    os2hardware-unsubscribe{at}yahoogroups.com

 Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



---