Arctic Silver 3 covering hole on P4 core, yes or no?

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spoon805
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Location: Austin, TX

Arctic Silver 3 covering hole on P4 core, yes or no?

Post by spoon805 » Sun Jan 26, 2003 10:33 am

On this page that I found through google, it says
On the P4, there is a small hole on the top of the heat spreader, do not put any compound over it.
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?

MGP
Posts: 519
Joined: Thu Dec 05, 2002 4:32 pm

Post by MGP » Sun Jan 26, 2003 1:43 pm

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?!?!? :)

spoon805
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Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2003 7:52 pm
Location: Austin, TX

Post by spoon805 » Sun Jan 26, 2003 2:05 pm

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 (???).

MGP
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Joined: Thu Dec 05, 2002 4:32 pm

Post by MGP » Sun Jan 26, 2003 6:21 pm

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

spoon805
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Location: Austin, TX

Post by spoon805 » Mon Jan 27, 2003 12:05 am

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%?

TheMuffinMan
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Post by TheMuffinMan » Mon Jan 27, 2003 12:56 am

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.

ChiefWeasel
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Post by ChiefWeasel » Mon Jan 27, 2003 4:57 am

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.

chuckr
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Post by chuckr » Mon Jan 27, 2003 4:57 pm

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.

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