[mr1337pants]

So I'm replacing my AX-7 and I'd like to put it into my secondary P3 system but I don't know where to get those little pads to stabilize the sink from. Know of any US resellers for these or particular stores with pt. numbers? Thanks

P.S. I tried searching and couldn't find anything.

[meksyk]

Welcom to the forums
I'm not sure, but I think that the stabilizing pad you're talking about is termal pad that cames with the HS, is it? if it is, is not a stabilizing pad but a thermal pad, it's used to improve the heat trasnfer from the cpu to the HS by filling the air space between them, but since you are changing it, i recomd you to switch to arcticsilver, is a thermal compoun made with silver particles that improves a lot more the heat transfer

you can see the specs of it and instruction to aply it at www.arcticsilver.com , it's also very cheap, you can find it in the internet at 5$ shipped

[Johnny Knoxville]

yeah get arctic silver. I switched my thermal pad with arctic silver a couple of days ago and i see a difference of 7 degrees celcius on temperatures on load.

[Intrepid]

i've heared that AS3 degrades over time, but if you will need to re apply it, becasue of cpu removal new mobo new heatsink whatever, within the next year and a half, than you will be fine, and i really think you will end up doing something that requires re application once every year. arctic silver alumina is also good stuff. tho AS2 seems to last the longest from what Spyder has told me.

[mr1337pants]

Thanks for the suggestions and welcoming Sorry I didn't specify, but I meant those four pads that surround the small cores of Athlons. If there is no place to buy them at, would it be okay to use the AX-7 on the P3 (Coppermine without IHS) without these pads?

[Intrepid]

you mean a 'shim' that is the term for the thing that protects the core from bieng cracked by teh heatsink on some weaker CPUs using HEAVY heatsinks like that dragon orb 3 (aka core crusher)

[john240sx]

no, he means those four black foam pads at the corners of the processor. as long as your careful there shouldn't be a problem, just don't twist the heatsink around after you set it on the core.

[looktall]

Originally posted by mr1337pants
Thanks for the suggestions and welcoming Sorry I didn't specify, but I meant those four pads that surround the small cores of Athlons. If there is no place to buy them at, would it be okay to use the AX-7 on the P3 (Coppermine without IHS) without these pads?

those pads are an AMD only thing.
intel cpu's don't have them. never have.

you'll be fine using the heatsink without those pads.
if you're really worried, you could buy a shim.
this is a thin piece of metal (sometimes copper, sometimes anodised) that sits over the whole cpu and has a hole in it for the core of the cpu to poke through.

it's main purpose is to help stabalise the heatsink during installation and prevent chipping the core of the cpu.
the cores of intel cpu's are much tougher than AMD. you'd have to be really trying to chip one if them. lol

[mr1337pants]

Great! Thanks for the valuable info, I wouldn't have figured the P3 core is stronger as it's beyond the eye. Cheers

[looktall]

that doesn't mean you can't chip/crush an intel core.

it just means they're not as fragile as AMD cores.

[mr1337pants]

hehe, if a mishap occurs *cough* I'm going to post many hi-res pics of my new P3 keychain

Thanks again all