On Sun, 2006-04-16 at 06:21, Bart Garst wrote:
> >
> > A question for the build-it-yourselfers out there:
> >
> > It seems I always have trouble with heat when reinstalling a CPU.  Since
> > it's a used heatsink I have to  put on new thermal compound.  I bought a
> > tube of Arctic Alumina thermal grease and followed the instructions from
> > the company's website as closely as I possibly could.  Still, the BIOS
> > says that the CPU (an AMD 2600+ or something similar) is heating up to
> > 60 degrees C.  Assuming the BIOS is right, I did something wrong.  I've
> > already redone this twice.  This is the heatsink that came with the
> > CPU.  And yes, I cleaned the old thermal pad off the heatsink with
> > carburetor cleaner as recommended.  The problems, as I see it, are:
> >
> > 	1. It's extremely hard to get the thermal grease in a thin
> > even layer.
> > The directions say you can use a razor blade or a clean credit card.
> > I've tried both.  I never get the layer quite even and if I try to fix
> > it, I always make it worse, producing gaps and whatnot.
> >
> 
> I have an idea that may be useful here, although, I haven't actually tried
> it.
> 
> Use two pieces of guitar string to hold the razor blade edge parallel with
> the cpu. Lay the string across the cpu and slide the razor along the
> strings. This should enable you to get a thin, even layer (guitar string can
> be as thin as 0.008").
> 
> 
> Bart
> 

An interesting  idea, perhaps I'll try it.  I probably  wouldn't want to
lay the string on the actual CPU die, though, because it would leave a
gap in the layer.  So the string would need to be a tiny bit fatter than
the height of the  die about the mounting substrate.

Vaughn

> 
> > 	2. The directions say you shouldn't twist or slide the heatsink when
> > mating it down on the processor.  Makes sense, but with those tiny, tiny
> > little plastic nubs on the sides of the CPU socket, it's very hard to
> > mate that with the heatsink's mounting hardware exactly right the first
> > time.  Seems like it's always a millimeter or two off.  Unless I want to
> > take it off and reapply the goop, and do this about 50 times in
> > succession, I need to slide the heatsink over a tiny bit.
> >
> > Has anybody had this kind of trouble, or am I some kind of idiot?  Is it
> > better to just by a new heating with that meltable thermal pad on it?
> >
> > Vaughn
> >
> >
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