Thermal Grease?

[sghetti]

May sound dumb to most of you but I am just curious. Is thermal grease an absolute must? I know it's not real expensive compared to other things but I am just wondering as one of my friends keeps saying if you don't have it your cpu will fry. Doesn't seem logical to me.

 

[Evil_Eye]

Yes, thermal grease is a must. The CPU won't flash fry, but it would definatly lower it's lifespan.

 

[fmah]

There was a computer I had to fix where the heatsink was mounted wrong and very little grease was between the CPU and heatsink. The computer always crashed.

 

[Enigma422]

Thermal grease fills in the microscopic gaps in on the die(AMD)/heatspreader(P4) on the chip and on the heatsink giving good contact between the two so it is necessary since if you add up all of those microscopic gaps it adds up to a lot of space that is not in contact between the cpu and heatsink. Thermal grease also helps in heat transfer from chip to heatsink.

 

[KlinKx]

One alternative to thermal grease (NOT advised) is a thermal pad. It serves the same purpose as grease, but it doesn't work as well. Of course, they're is always the thermal epoxy route

 

[modenaf1]

thermal compound of some sort is a must. I recomend arctic silver

 

[sttwindsurfer]

i have the retail stock cooling for my intel 2.4b and I was wondering if I should take off my thermal pad and put on artic silver??

 

[Ron Brooks]

It should lower your CPU idle/Load temps by around oh, say 5° C.
Well worth the trouble. Go with AS3.

 

[modenaf1]

whats the difference between as2 and as3?

 

[Sniperboy]

AS3 is just the new updated version of as2.

 

[nerdlogic]

I wouldn't your anything other than AS3...
I think AS3 was made to transfer heat better than AS2

Soy

 

[I.M.O.G.]

It is very unlikely that failing to use thermal paste will result in instant death, but not using it is bad for the cpu and can (very likely WILL) result in instability at the very least, and will lead to an earlier death.

So to get the maximum life and reliability out of your chip, yes thermal material is essential.

AS3 is just the new updated version of as2.

Perhaps you will assist people more if your posts contain something slightly more unique in them. The higher number in the name of the product basically communicates what you said.

My $.02:

Arctic Silver contains no silicone. Arctic Silver is made with 99.9% pure micronized silver. The difference between Arctic Silver 3 and its predecessor Arctic Silver 2 is that Arctic Silver 3 uses three unique sizes and types of silver, whereas Arctic Silver 2 used two. Arctic Silver, with over 70% silver content by weight, also contains thermally-enhanced boron nitride ceramic particles which improve the compound's flow characteristics and long-term stability.

source: http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/00068.html

 

[kfunk]

AS3 Is a must. Dont skip on that for the sake of you cpu.

 

[modenaf1]

thanx imog