do I need a shim with a cak38

[war_child]

some say yes some say no what's the deal

[zoopa_man]

If everyone thought alike......I wouldn't be considered crazy.

Form what I'v gathered the only real purpose of a shim is to help prevent the tragic crushing of your cpu core. If you do get a shim for an AMD chip be sure it's the newer non-conductive kind. That way if it moves it won't short out your cpu.

[JAWS]

How does that cak38 perform? I should be getting mine
in a couple of days. I was debating on buying a shimm to.

[Oni]

GET A SHIM!!

If I had had a shim when I was putting on my FOP38, I would have never chipped the die on my processor (it still runs, though. Somebody up there likes me:) )

Get a nice non-conductive shim from becooling (I think they sell them) and you'll save yourself a lot of trouble later down the line.

[el]

U don't need a shim! I use a WBK and never have any problems with it and it is the same for the cak if I am not mistaken.

[Phil]

I say if you own an amd chip you should have a shim. If your very careful then you probabally won't have any trouble putting the heatsink on, but whilst it's on knocks and bumps can be enough to crunch the core. Also you can't guarantee that you will always be really careful. It only takes a brief lapse of concecntration and you've killed your chip. Shims only knock 1-2oC off and I know some people do crazy things for 1 or 2oC (like not using a shim) but it's not worth it, even if you get 50mhz less then this is only like 3-5% depending on your clock speed.

[Aneurysm]

I don't really see the need for one...I've put on and taken off heatsinks numerous times and haven't crushed one yet. As long as you know what you're doing and are careful, you don't need one.

Methinks the only real use for a shim is psychological...you feel more secure because you know you aren't gonna crush anything.

[el]

yeah but I am careful and I haven't heard any real proof that the shims always give 2C cooler results. sometimes none at all.

Best advice if you are new to AMD is get a shim or remove mobo before even pointing at the heatsink! But I don't think the shims are worth 15bucks or ½ the cost of a duron!

[Phil]

I didn't say shims give cooler temps, I said they actually worsen temps by 1 or 2oC. And it is true that usually you can put a heatsink on and not have a problem if you are careful. But why take the risk when a shim costs less than $10 and only affects cooling by about 2oC usually less. It's not just putting the heatsink on that can crack it, knocking the case may also do it. At the end of the day it's an opinion as to whether you use a shim or not, and someone who does use a shim is more likely to always be here to give it than someone who desn't :D