• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Microcool northpole

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

millard

Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2005
Location
Essex
O.K.... My Microcool Northpole arrived yesterday to go onto my ASUS A8N-SLi MoBo.

The rig is not yet complete so I went ahead and removed the original ASUS cooler from the nForce4 chip.

This is the first time I have performed this sort of upgrade and I'm a little stuck...

Stuck to bottom of the original hs/f was a pink square made of a vey soft, but sticky, substance. This was stuck to a seperate piece of sticky black plastic which had a square hole cut into it - this was positioned around the chip.

Am i right in thinking this is thermal adhiesive? I already have some AS5 to use as a conductor but I'm wondering what it is i need to replace around the rest of the chip.

Any help appreciated.
Thanks,

Millard
 
It's a thermal pad. Remove it with Articlean or alcohol. If the northpole makes good contact with the NB, which it should, then the AS5 alone is fine.
 
The thing with the Microcool Northpole is it's so tall! and the screws provided are so long that the unit does not sit very tightly, so a thermal pad would need to be used to help secure it! lol

So, if I were to buy a thermal pad, what's included? (The "Soft, Pink" bit and the "Black plastic" bit) - my appologies, my terminology isn't up to scratch! :)
 
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/shpc.html

Here you go, you can cut it down to size if needed. Different pads from different manufacturers have different materials, but all do basically the same thing.

Edit: Assuming the black plastic around the NB was cut to allow the die to stick through the hole, it's undoubtedly a shim to protect it from being cracked. You can replace that by cutting your own from a thin sheet of neoprene if nothing is included with your heatsink. I use Swiftech MCX-159, similar to your northpole, and it included some neoprene dots to put in the corners of the base of the heatsink to help protect the die against getting chipped.
 
sorry dude, i'm a newbie... "die" you say? what is a "die"?
 
The die is the core of a chip, in this case, the northbridge. Yours may or may not be covered by a metal heat spreader on the board.
 
aaah! I know what you mean.... the "die" in this case is very small (10x10mm or so?!) and it is slightly higher than the rest of the chip (which is green!)

in other words... if the hs/f is placed on top of the chip, it will only be sitting on the die and nothing else.... is this ok?
 
millard said:
Sorted :)

Cheers mate

I carefully removed that square foam pad from the stock HS with a razor blade and put it on my MicroCool Northpole, put some AS5 on the die and all went well.
Also you can cut the screws to a shorter length, I think I cut about 3-4mm off of mine, and the springs also help keep pressure applied to the die.
 
Back