CPU Installation.

I have some New P4 Socket 478 Genuine Intel Heatsink/Fans and was wondering what the correct way to install these things were. I have been putting thermal grease inbetween the black film on the heatsink and the cpu. One of my tech friends told me that I shouldn't do that. He said that the black film on the heatsink is thermal grease. Do I need grease?

 

Your friend is correct, and if you use to much heat sink grease it will act like a insulator holding in the heat, if you already spread the grease on the thermal compound you have contaminated it already, scrape off the compound until the heat sink is clean then replace it with a paper thin layer of fresh heat sink compound about an inch square.

 

^ Yes, I agree. Too much will cause heat problems since it will hold in the heat.

 

Actually, it's worse than holding the heat, it ends up serving as an insulator. HS compound doesn't conduct heat in large gobs all that well, it's primary purpose is to fill the tiny voids in the two surfaces to aid heat transfer. I've seen military equipment where they polished the two surfaces and used nothing between them for maximum heat transfer.

 

I'll start putting nothing on them if they have the black thermal film on the heatsink. The computer systems have been working fine so far. They have been running for about 2 weeks with no problems.