How to put Artic Silver 5

[falcon26]

When applying artic silver 5 to an amd x2, do you cover the entire cpu with as5 or do you just put a rice size in the center of the cpu core...

[Traciatim]

Way back in the day, when I cared and used AS3, I put a small amount on the processor and spread it thin with a straight edge. So thin in fact you can tell it covers everything and can't see through. If you can see through it, it's too little, if you notice it higher that the top of the CPU it's too much.

I don't know if it helps, but I also spread a very small amount on the heat sink if there were visible grooves. Just enough to make the surface flat, so that the grove peaks were visible and the valleys are filled in.

I've found that to me the most useful. I assume heat goo stuff hasn't changed too much.

[Max Slowik]

Yeah. Remember, all you want is enough to fill in the gaps and uneven surfaces between the heatspreader on the processor and the heatsink.

I've always found that the best way to do this is to put a half-grain-of-rice-sized speck on the heatspreader right in the middle, then mash the heatsink on, and rotate it in small circles. It won't cover the whole area.

Flip the heatsink around, move it back and forth, and in circles, touch up the missing spots, that sort of thing, then flip the heatsink back into its correct direction. When you lift up the heatsink, if the TIM has an onionskin-paper-thin coating on the heatsink's base, or on the heatspreader, wherever it ends up sticking (it might be patchy on one; as long as the missing patch is stuck to the other you're good) that's the right amount.

Remember, you're only filling the imperfections, it's not epoxy, and you're not trying to weld the two together. Using the least possible, as long it touches everything, is usually best.

[psiu]

I use AS5 also and the main problem I think with it is how thick it is, and how deceptive the heatspreader is. The heatspreader just covers up a standard size die, so the majority of the heat is coming directly from the center anyway.

I usually now end up still spreading my AS5 evenly over the heatspreader...and I definitely like when I get my old Athlons or a graphics chip to do...the heatspreaders are too boring, and I am too good at spreading it on those little cores

[Lawrence Lee]

Do not spread it all over the heatspreader! AS5 is very sticky and if you do this it's quite probable the next time you remove the heatsink, the CPU will come off attached to it.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silv ... ctions.htm

[Towermax]

When applying artic silver 5 to an amd x2, do you cover the entire cpu with as5 or do you just put a rice size in the center of the cpu core...

Arctic Silver gives very precise instructions for the use of its products. Look here:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinst ... l_wcap.pdf

Once you place the heatsink on the CPU, try to avoid lifting or tilting it, as this may allow air bubbles to form. Just twist the CPU slightly as recommended by AS and others here.