Help! CPU temp way too high

[Skyfire]

I've got one of these "thunderbird approved" heat sinks from pcboost which is suppost to be good for up to 1.33Mhz. It has a pink putty like substance directly over the CPU, and acts as thermal grease. When I first installed it, everything is running just fine, the CPU temperature is around 40C.

Last night I decided to take it off in order to connect the L1 pins on my CPU. After I put it back on, the CPU temp shot up to 90C idle! I realized something is seriously wrong so I turned my machine off immediately.

So here's my question: how can I reattach the heat sink properly so that my CPU won't be cooked off again? Should I remove the putty stuff and go with some thermal grease? If so, what's the best way of getting rid of the putty? (it's kind of sticky and hard to get off).

 

[Tachyon]

Your best bet would be to get some Arctic Silver and remove the thermal pad. To remove the pad, use rubbing alcohol and q-tips. For even better performance you can lap the heat sink.

 

[Door Knob]

Well you did it right the first time. Just try to duplicate the same thing. I thought I put my alpha on fine but my temps where almost 10C higher than they should have been. I reatached it today and the temps dropped 10C. Just try to be carefull not to move it around. Get it nice and snug. Deffinatly leave the thermal compound on. 40C aint to bad for a (assuming) cheap heatsink on a TBird. I don't see taking it off decreasing temps so I'd leave it on there.

 

[Shadow ÒÓ]

you're very lucky to have recovered from that mishap.

Several of us have preached that the thermal pads are NOT sufficient to properly cool. At minimum you can buy thermal compound from Radio Shack (if one is local) for around $2 USD a tube.

I've always use a bit of elbo grease and a clean soft cotton rag to remove the thermal tape, then cleaned with alcohol.

I too recommend Artic Silver or Artic Silver II as a compound, but the shack stuff should get you by till you receive your order for it.

 

[ebola]

the heatsink probably wasnt flush with the chip and boom!!! temps shot sky high. slot kits are nice for this because you can hold the chip attached to the slotkit up to the light and see if its flush. but then again i think slotkits are only for intel chips.