I've decided to upgrade my system to 64 bit by buying a cpu/mobo combo with an Athlon 64 3400 and most likely an ASUS mobo with a thermaltake fan to be safe. I have a question about the CPU/fan installation. I have seen what an AMD 64 looks like and the entire top part looks like one huge die from my previous Athlon XP 2500. I want to know if you still only put a rice sized drop of thermal paste in the center or do you have to use more? I also wanted to know if there were any type of settings or upgrades you can get for Windows XP to take advantage of having a 64 bit processor? Thanks.

Arctic Silver describes the amount as being roughly 3/4 the size of a ball bering, though different members have had varying amounts of success with different amounts and different application methods.

In order to gain the benefits of 64-bit processing with the Athlon 64 you'll need an operating system designed to use 64-bit processors, that would be Windows XP Professional x64 and Windows Vista 64-bit Edition. You would also need 64-bit hardware drivers for each of your components, and those kinds of drivers are still being tweaked and adjusted to become at least as user-friendly as your everyday 32-bit drivers.

You may not be able to utilize the 64-bit power of Athlon 64s at this day in time, but by going with one you will be almost guaranteed to get decent to kick-ass overclocking done with less electrical and thermal issues than certain Pentium 4 products.

Thank you for the *VERY* helpful reply. So if I currently have a standard Logitech wireless mouse and keyboard with only 32 bit drivers, will it still be compatible on a 64 bit system? This question also applies to other hardware I will be using, such as a Radeon 9800 All In Wonder video card which is definitely not the latest video card out there. Will all these components be compatible if they only have 32 bit drivers? Lastly, I am unfortunately not familiar with the exact size of a ball bearing, but I believe I have some guesstimate. How long across and maybe even how tall would the amount of thermal compound required be?

Thanks, Klamper. That amazes me how little compound you need, I've heard to use only that much before but I just wanted to make sure it applied to what a wanted to do. Just double checking so I don't fry any expensive CPUs.

Quote: Originally Posted by ps2guy525 Thanks, Klamper. That amazes me how little compound you need, I've heard to use only that much before but I just wanted to make sure it applied to what a wanted to do. Just double checking so I don't fry any expensive CPUs.

no prob ....

just use this as a reference ...

if you've got "ceramic" thermal compound ( the white stuff ) .... spread it all over the CPU/Chip .... evenly, preferably with a credit card .....
if you've got any polysystethic based compound (artic silver, and such... ) one "rice bead" will be enough .... dont spread it .... the heatsink will take care of that ....

The tube I have (looks more like a syringe) says "Arctic Alumina: Premium Ceramic Polysynthetic Thermal Compound." Here's an exact pic of it I found on a website "http://www.bestbyteinc.com/images/TIM-ARS-A17.jpg" So I'm guessing this is obviously the ceramic stuff since it says it on the label and it is white. Since I'll be using this stuff, I need to cover the entire surface of the CPU with a thin layer that's evenly spread?

yes,about the thickness of a sheet of paper.

Quote: Originally Posted by ps2guy525 I've decided to upgrade my system to 64 bit by buying a cpu/mobo combo with an Athlon 64 3400 and most likely an ASUS mobo with a thermaltake fan to be safe. I have a question about the CPU/fan installation. I have seen what an AMD 64 looks like and the entire top part looks like one huge die from my previous Athlon XP 2500. I want to know if you still only put a rice sized drop of thermal paste in the center or do you have to use more? I also wanted to know if there were any type of settings or upgrades you can get for Windows XP to take advantage of having a 64 bit processor? Thanks.

I can't add much that's not already been said but I can speak from recent experience on x64.

Running an x64 edition of windows is only really going to get you improvements in boot times and gui interaction at the moment. 64 bit optimised games aren't really there yet for the most part, and having to google and test various compatible applications just to find one to your liking is more pain than it's worth. Similar deal for drivers.

As for the thermal gunk, I tried a grain of rice and on another occasion I tried large amount spread very neatly all over the intergrated heat spreader. Both methods worked great with identical temps. So all in all I'd say go with the grain of rice method and let the heat sink spread it out, gotta be more efficient use of ur chosen gunk.