On this page that I found through google, it says



However, on the manufacturer's instruction page, the diagram shows otherwise.

Right now, I'm leaning towards following the mfg site, but I was wondering if anyone else had opinions on this "hole" and if it should be covered with thermal grease.

Thanks.

Also, what is that hole?

yeah, i heard something like that on another website. however, I built a 2.53 P4 with AS3, and I covered up the hole. while I didnt fill the hole with the stuff (!), i just lightly applied a thin layer. so far, my cpu runs fine and the temps are just about right. btw, i heard that the heatspreader hole was for letting air out, but wouldn't the heatsink cover it?!?!?

Some people have told me that its just used during manufacturing and that i shouldn't worry about covering for the same exact reason you just said. I guess my concern is what would happen if some as3 fell into it (???).

i think it should be fine b/c the same thing happened to me and my cpu is fine

Also, while we are on the topic of following instructions from AS... Is it absolutely critical to use 99% isopropyl alcohol? I could only find 91% at my grocery store. Where would I look for 99%?

91% is fine IMO...I used like 89% and it worked fine...temps dropped a bit. 2 C initially, but after a few days it was more like 5 C. It takes a while to "set" or something like that.

I heard the hole is to let out gasses released as the thermal compound inbetween the core and the Heat Spreader cured. Its fine to cover it with the HS, i did pretty much the same as WMPcTBDS regarding ASIII.

I wondered about the "p4 blowhole" too, but didn't have the patience
to get the artic silver out of the stupid thing.

At any rate, what people have said seems to be true - it shouldn't
matter:

From HardOCP:

Seriously, the hole does have a very important purpose. The hole is for pressure relief. When the IHS is epoxied to the Organic Land Grid Array, or "OLGA" for short, it releases gas as it cures. If Intel did not provide the hole, the pressure would build up and eventually blow out the still wet epoxy. This would cause mechanical stresses due to the incomplete epoxy line around the IHS to OLGA bond line. Once the epoxy has cured (before it leaves the factory) it is not an issue. So, Intel put in a hole. If it gets plugged up with thermal grease or something it is OK. I would not suggest filling it with anything that conducts electricity though.