Stick 'em up...
It has come to my attention, that there are people confusing a techique that I have found to work excellent for attaching Heatsinks to MOSFETs, BGA ramchips,Southbridge chips, and DDR ram chips.

This ought to clairfy that technique. If you follow these guidelines, you will be able to easily remove the Heatsinks for possible RMA's.

I belive we shouldn't be penalized for trying to keep the components in question cooler.
However if you permanently attach anything to a chip, that is considered to be a modification and it WILL void the warenty.

One has to shell out way to much, hard earned coin to void their gaurentee like this. So I'll show ya how to kill two birds with one stone...

OK first off you'll need some acetone to clean the surface of the chip to be cooled. Might as well clean the surface of the sink also. Be sure not to touch the cleaned surfaces with your oily fingers. Dr. Phatfinger pure latex rubber gloves works great for this.

Next, you'll wanna make a scraper out of that maxed out mastercard the bank told you to cut up. Make it just an eighth of an inch narrower that the chip in question.

Apply the thermal paste of choice, to the chip, avoiding the very corners.

I use 5-minute epoxy instead of superglue for two reasons.
One, the thin waterlike superglue can get away from you really fast and there is the possibility of it being detected by an eagle-eyed RMA dood, if ya get it all over the place.
Two, if you're anything like me you'll be stuck to the PCB, and have ram sinks installed on your hands. Might look cool, but does nothing for your Overclocks.

I find with the 5 minute stuff, that'll give you plenty of time to apply it and find the sink and position it STRAIGHT.
Use the head of a stick pin to apply the glue to the very corners of the chip and the sink.
Line the two up and press down without twisting side to side. There will be a about enough time to position and install two heastsinks per mixing.

After every thing has been installed and you realize you put one one a little croooked or you need to remove them ohhh, say for a O/C that got outta hand? all ya have to do is twist and they'll pop right off.

Well there ya have it, two stonned birds, and cool stuff stuck to your hands, ZENNZZO style.

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Nice trick for "Resale" purposes

How about the thickness of the paste?

I've been thinking alot about this, and I've seen a few things on the subject that goes both ways. Red02 and I were talking about this the other day..he says he puts it on thick, and gets a bit better temps...wich I don't believe is a good idea either

I have heard unless both surfaces are perfectly flat and lapped, a little thicker coat is a bit better than too thin of a coat..

I'm leaning towards a medium coat, when things are "Factory" and not lapped, or lapped improperly..it will help fill in the gaps a bit.

I have tried the method you use on CPU HSF's, a thin coat, and then wiggling the HSF on the CPU a bit to "Squeeze" out the extra paste before securing it.

I have also tried a Medium coat, and let it dry for 15 minutes so that it won't "Squeeze" out, and carefully placed it on the CPU without moving it much.

Neither way resulted in any noticable difference, but I didn't do back to back testing either.

So..what is yer take on a medium or thick coat? especially concerning a stock NB or SB, I am doing the AS-5 trick to my NB and Southbridge soon without lapping them..

I'll be damned if I can get the intenet to stay connected if the FSB goes beyond 528. I've tried every trick in the book, and it has to be the SB crapping out on me..it will bench just fine up to 533FSB+, but I cant ORB my scores..

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I gotta belive that the less you use the better.
I always lapp for sucess.
If the stock Nf ll northbridge looks uneven by way of a straight edge, I lapp the Chip itself.
Simple to do with the right tape and sanding block.
Lapp the cooler for sure and down to 1200grit. I use glass .25" thick, and lots of H20. Same with the south bridge.
I use ceramique for those kinds of chips.
CPU type get AS5.
For any H/S application if you are unsure of the amount to use.
Mount and then take it off and look, if you have paste ozzing out the sides too much.
If you have areas of no contact, not enough. To me the ideal "print" looks like a stain of thermal paste was there, corner to corner. I have a habbit of overtightening by stock standards, and using just enough to fill the micro scratches. And by all means follow the manufactuers instructions on curing.
That's what works for me...

I used a similar method attaching the PIII cooler to my Voodoo 3000, and I have another one coming in the mail soon and I will mod that one too.

I use AS thermal epoxy and mix in the latest artic silver to about 1:2 and that works great for me. Makes the epoxy not as stong and improves the thermal whatever of the goop. kind of the best of both worlds. Only problem is it still is some work to clean off.

Quote: Originally Posted by psychofunk I use AS thermal epoxy and mix in the latest artic silver to about 1:2 and that works great for me. Makes the epoxy not as stong and improves the thermal whatever of the goop. kind of the best of both worlds. Only problem is it still is some work to clean off.

same here, but i mix the epoxy with a 1:1 ratio with AS3 or AS5, and I know these are removable, I have done it 3 times now and then replaced with custome blocks

To heck with warranties! JB weld is better than AS5 even.

Quote: Originally Posted by CPU Killer same here, but i mix the epoxy with a 1:1 ratio with AS3 or AS5, and I know these are removable, I have done it 3 times now and then replaced with custome blocks

Try this method just once...pure thermal paste is always better than diluted paste.
Matter of fact you got a FLUKE...Fluke the "epoxied/ TIM" at the H/S then the pure with epoxy on the corners...see what ya get...