Do shims Help?

[beeldfas]

I've seen these metal shims sold on various websites. I have an AMD 1.4 T-bird I'm building and I was wondering if they help with heat transfer. Thanks for any info.

[Christoph]

They aren't much good. They may or may not raise your temp, but they won't lower it any. They also can give you a false sense of security at a time when being very careful can often save your CPU. Looks are immaterial because they're under your cooling block/HSF anyway. IMO, a waste of money. It's late, though so I may be wrong.

[.. AE 86 ..]

i agree with the above post

shims didn't make a difference in temps for me

[Mr.Lansing]

IT MAKES NO significant DIFFERENCE AT ALL!

[UnseenMenace]

Read this report (http://www.overclockers.com/articles313/) for evidence on the question you ask

[TweaK-FreaK]

shims are not made to make any thermal transfer difference whatsoever........they are made so the massive heatsinks out today don't crack or damage the cores of these delicate cpus. Just ask my axia K 1.33 why my glaciator killed him. Now my new cpu has a shim and not really any temp change at all...

[beeldfas]

Originally posted by TweaK-FreaK
shims are not made to make any thermal transfer difference whatsoever........they are made so the massive heatsinks out today don't crack or damage the cores of these delicate cpus. Just ask my axia K 1.33 why my glaciator killed him. Now my new cpu has a shim and not really any temp change at all... Makes sense Tweak. I just bought a Glaciator II. It's about 40 gr lighter than the original. Do you think your 1.33 died because he just couldn't handle the sheer weight of one those suckers?

[Christoph]

D'oh! I forgot that there were really heavy heatsinks. In the more extreme cases, I could justify a shim. Otherwise, no.

[WyrmMaster]

The weight of the heatsink is irrelivent, as the clip always puts more pressure anyway, 18lb in the case of the glaciator. The only time the heatsinks weight makes a difference is if inertia is involved, when you move your comp. The only thing that i have heard about shims is that they raise temps, they certainly dont lower them. If your careful you dont need one to protect you CPU either.

[TweaK-FreaK]

yeah I'm sure thats why it died......the glaciator smothers the core......and it wasn't quite level on the thing and when I went to take it off to reset it I think it cracked the core. I know the core was cracked I could see it on the side. I know that if u are SUPER careful u won't need a shim but I don't wanna take the chance. hey all I can say its $8 insurance on a $100+ item

[Christoph]

Plus shipping for that US$ 8 item.

[ve6jhc]

I use a copper shim on my 1.4 Tbird with a Danger Den maze2 water block. I use the shim as the water block is easier to attach with the shim in place (doesn't rock while I tighten down the screws). I didn't notice any difference in temps with or without it....the shim is really just to give the heatsink a larger surface to mount onto.

[Dissolved]

heh... ok i know i sound crazyyyyy
but the darn copper shim helped me on my cak-38 when i had it on my other mobo/cpu.. i dropped almost 10F believe me or not.. so im still useing it w/ my alpha..

[Christoph]

Wow, that's odd.
Did you try the setup with and without the shim? I have trouble believing that a shim could do that by itself. Not that I'm calling you a liar, I just suspect some other factors you forgot to mention.

BTW, most of us use °C instead of °F. For you that'd be about 4°C ( http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/units/index.html?http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/units/convform.html unit conversion link)

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by IdeaMagnate

BTW, most of us use °C instead of °F. For you that'd be about 4°C ( http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/units/index.html?http://www.soton.ac.uk/~scp93ch/units/convform.html unit conversion link)

i know.. somtimes i use C somestimes F, just depeneds.. i tend to use F now cuz C is more scary when its hot :p

[Dissolved]

Originally posted by IdeaMagnate
Wow, that's odd.
Did you try the setup with and without the shim? I have trouble believing that a shim could do that by itself. Not that I'm calling you a liar, I just suspect some other factors you forgot to mention.


yea, its a copper shim.. so i just figured it would help.. but im not 100% sure.. taking the alpha on and off is gonna be a pain... so im just gonna wait till my mods come in the mail, and when i buy a new fan.. i want the 80cfm 80mm delta.. its 52.5db.. but im trying to find a rheostat powerful enough to handle that fan alone. im gonna gave to post about this in cooling