Heatsink Question

[bob05]

On my retail boxed (intel celeron) fan there was a black square on the bottom of the heat-sink. The black paint was scaping off the square but I was wondering: Should I keep the black square on the heatsink???

Thanxs

[Fritz44]

That black square is the thermal conducting material that insures heat transfer between the processor and the heatsink. You should definately keep it on if you have no other thermal compound immediately available to replace it with.

Since it is coming off, your heat tranfer may be degenerated as we speak, so you may want to consider replacing it with a thermal compound anyway.

I replaced the square on my P4 2.53 stock heatsink with Arctic Silver. Its expensive and probably not worth your cost unless you overclock. In the past I have asked local computer stores to give me a small amount right after I purchsed something from them. They did so since regular thermal compound is pretty cheap.

Remove the square carefully, and don't scratch the surface of the heatsink. Any irregularities decrease heat transfer. Then use a solvent, I used Goo Gone and Oops!, to remove the old compound that was left over. Clean the heatsink well, then apply a very thin and even coat of compound to the processor making sure you don't cover any connectors or get it on the circuitry. Reattach your heatsink and you're done........

Fritz44

[bob05]

oh thanxs Fritz. I'm really not going to do any o/c or anything like that so I will just leave it alone.

[elgilicious]

The pad is better than nothing at all. If you have silicon compound, use it over the pad. If you have AS3, use it over the silicon. Don't buy it though unless you plan to overclock or you don't want to think about your temperatures the way some people do. Not that I'm one of them...