With my Arctic Silver I got a sticker with a hole in it which you placed on the base of the heatsink, put the paste on one side and used the supplied credit card thingy to drag the compound across. Then remove the sticker. This gives a good, even, thin layer on the heatsink without overspill. It was just enough to be opaque, but not too thin.

[Edited by DJ Dunk - 11/6/2003 10:15:45 AM]

No instructions on the packet about how to use the white grease stuff to mate the cpu and copper heat sink :eek:

So i smeared a bit on the metal rectangle on the chip - then a bit on the relevant place on the heat sink.

All snapped on ok - seemed to work fine BUT

52deg with fan blowing at full power - only 4deg better than the OEM!!!!

Have i done something wrong?

Anyone know of a URL with instructions - surely it should be in the 40degs area?

Jza

Jza, what is your ambient case temp? If this is high as well, it will not allow the heatsink and fan to soak the heat away as effectively. What CPU is it? Is it overclocked at all?

Interestingly, I've just bought 3 new fans for mine (one for GPU, two for case) as mine was running a bit high for my tastes but has had no problems in a year :)

you only need to be a VERY thin layer (and i mean thin) on the core of the cpu, not on the heatsink as well ... (most people use arctic silver rather than the free goop) search on google, there are loads of guides out there....

I've got the same fan. Case ambient temp is ~41deg. My xp2500+ runs at around 51-52degs also.
Doesn't seem to get any hotter than this although I don't see the point of having a variable speed fan if you have to have it turned up to full all the time?

Doh! Think i smeared the grease - certainly not a thin layer!

I see what you mean about ambient case temps - not sure - are you saying that there will be a natural min temp - and that all heatsinks will settle at that temp - regardless of the fan... the issue will be that my new Aero fan will stop the temp going higher than that?

Makes sense!

I'll clear off the excess stuff and try a smaller amount - on just the cpu not both!! DOH!

Thanx!

Jza

FYI aircooling will not reduce CPU temp below ambient case temp...

IIRC my Athlon xp2500+ was running around 45-48 degrees with the same fan running at <2500rpm

Just finished fitting my two new case fans for better air flow and GPU one cos other one was dried out and noisy.

Dropped the ambient and CPU by about 6 deg C. Now running ambient at 35, CPU at 41. Previously I had no other cooling in the case and should have done this some time ago!!!! Running a 2400+ AMD.

Might venture into overclocking when I need to ;) Fortunately the 9700 Pro seems to handle current things quite well :D

Gah mine's running at full (3750rpm?) whirring like a good'un and still at 51deg.
I might take it off and redo the termal stuff see if that helps. I've got to go get a couple of case fans at some point anyway

I bought some Artic Silver compound when I got my Aero 7+ (didn't realise there was a sachet with the fan) and as stated above I got a template sticker that goes over the heatsink with a hole cut out. You then smear the compound over the sticker and scrape off any excess with a piece of plastic (similar to credit card size). Then take the sticker off and you're left with a nice neat square patch of compound that's less than 1mm thick.

I must admit the combo didn't make a huuuge difference unless on full power. On minimum fan speed the CPU temp went down about 5C from the stock Athlon XP2500 heatsink, but then my case was not ventialted! Putting fan speed up to max drops it another 3-5C

Joolz