I was reading the instructions in the box for my AMD 64 3500+ and it says to apply thermal paste before fixing the fan on. But in the picture instructions there's no step where you add thermal paste. Does it need this?

unless your cooler has a thermal pad stuck to it absolutely does

I usually do it after I've plugged the processor into the motherboard, and just before you plug the heatsink on top to avoid any spillage.

It's usually a good idea to do this when the motherboard has been put into place in the case, or on a stable surface (on top of the antistatic bag or mat).

Just found a post on the AMD forums, the heatsink has a thermal pad on it. They recommend to use thermal paste if overclocking but I'm not gonna do that so I'm ok with the pad.

EDIT: It's not a thermal pad it's thermal paste.

Thermal pads are crap. Scratch it off from the heatsink carefully, after that polish the bottom of the heatsink and use thermal paste. Might as well do it properly once you're doing it.

Quote from Matrixi :

Thermal pads are crap. Rub it off from the heatsink carefully, after that polish the bottom of the heatsink and use thermal paste. Might as well do it properly once you're doing it.

Edited for truth. Even the smallest scratches can retard cooling.

Thermal pads are fine for OEM, but if you want to keep temps low thermal paste helps a lot. Artic Silver 5 is a universal paste, but I love some stuff whos name I forgot and cannot find the tube. So just get AS5, as it's also easy to come by.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Edited for truth. Even the smallest scratches can retard cooling.

From all the thermal pads I've had removed, I had to remove them with a credit card which leaves scratches, which is why I instructed him to polish the heatsink before installing it.

Having a well polished heatsink (read: mirror like finish) with silver paste in between really does drop your temps alot.

Quote from Matrixi :

Might as well do it properly once you're doing it.

That gets you into the realms of silliness though If you're taking the pad off, then someone might say that you should just as well do some lapping, etc. Where does it stop?!?

Or you could even do *drumroll*...... hotlapping.

Quote from Matrixi :

From all the thermal pads I've had removed, I had to remove them with a credit card which leaves scratches, which is why I instructed him to polish the heatsink before installing it.

Having a well polished heatsink (read: mirror like finish) with silver paste in between really does drop your temps alot.

Which is why I use my finger, and if some gets stuck then I'll rub my fingernail down it, after which is done a quick blast of alcohol (I put it in one of those squerty bottles), let it dry and install.

With many new high end coolers, polishing and lapping can in fact do more damage then good. You only really want to do it to cheaper coolers which have a piss poor finish.

I've never had any high-end coolers, so I can't really speak about those. My Zalman AL-CU cooler had a pretty bad finish at factory condition and polishing it dropped my temps a couple of celsius. I guess new coolers already have pretty good finish which you don't have to polish.

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Thermal pads are fine for OEM, but if you want to keep temps low thermal paste helps a lot.

to true, i put the fan in the box with its thermal paste (well, my dad did even after i protested about using a better fan and getting some arctic paste) and had it running at 5% overclock (this is a 4000, stock 2400 Mhz, running there at 2520), and after 3 mins of full load (that just mp3's to wma's dBpoweramp) i was at 45 degrees ive temporarily underclocked it before i go off and cool it the RIGHT way

Hmmm... what should i do about my NB? i orignally had a mobo with a really noisy NB fan, i bought a Zalman silent heatsink and when it turned up the other mobo was dead so i bought the next one up with a heatpipe on it!

Thermal pads actualy work pretty decently and are almost completely idiot proof. Paste only works better when you get the application just right. Which can be a huge pain in the ass for a noob.

What's NB? Can't figure out where those letters come from...

Quote from Blackout :

What's NB? Can't figure out where those letters come from...

NorthBridge

ooooooh yes offcourse :P

I suggest a passive cooler, works for me. Zalman silent actually, like you had. The stock fan was somekind of plastic so doesn't reguire super cooling.

Quote from Matrixi :

I've never had any high-end coolers, so I can't really speak about those. My Zalman AL-CU cooler had a pretty bad finish at factory condition and polishing it dropped my temps a couple of celsius. I guess new coolers already have pretty good finish which you don't have to polish.

You mostly see it when you buy water blocks, but the last two coolers I picked up have had a rather nice finish to them, so there was no need to do anything.

Quote from Jakg :

to true, i put the fan in the box with its thermal paste (well, my dad did even after i protested about using a better fan and getting some arctic paste) and had it running at 5% overclock (this is a 4000, stock 2400 Mhz, running there at 2520), and after 3 mins of full load (that just mp3's to wma's dBpoweramp) i was at 45 degrees ive temporarily underclocked it before i go off and cool it the RIGHT way

Hmmm... what should i do about my NB? i orignally had a mobo with a really noisy NB fan, i bought a Zalman silent heatsink and when it turned up the other mobo was dead so i bought the next one up with a heatpipe on it!

45c isn't all that bad (though I wouldn't say that was full load, if you want real full load run Prime95 Torture Test for a few hours), but could be improved upon.

As for the NB, it really depends what you can get to fit. For example, with my current setup, any fancy cooler is out of the question for my NB due to a distinct lack of space (you'll need to scroll down). A good passive cooler would do the job fine, but when you rope in space, just double check before you go out and get one

Quote from Blackout :

ooooooh yes offcourse :P

I suggest a passive cooler, works for me. Zalman silent actually, like you had. The stock fan was somekind of plastic so doesn't reguire super cooling.

never heard of a passive cooler doing a modern CPU (esp a 64 bit one), what CPU and temps you get?

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

45c isn't all that bad (though I wouldn't say that was full load, if you want real full load run Prime95 Torture Test for a few hours), but could be improved upon.

i know, and it was warming up to, i did have 10%, but three mins of audio conversion got me to 48, and ive now discovered my fan is sitting at 3000 rpm

Quote from Jakg :

never heard of a passive cooler doing a modern CPU (esp a 64 bit one), what CPU and temps you get?

I'd assume he means the chipset and not the CPU, as that is what you was talking about.

Quote from Jakg :

i know, and it was warming up to, i did have 10%, but three mins of audio conversion got me to 48, and ive now discovered my fan is sitting at 3000 rpm

The heat is what annoys me. My PC was quite[ish], but I had to put the fans on full speed because it was getting so damn hot. It was fine for most of the summer, but the chipset cooler couldn't take running at the speeds it had been (though only started playing up after I got my new ram), and was starting to sound like it was about to fall off. >.< Noise sucks.

But then you think, 48 degrees, wow, its hardly gona set the room on fire is it.

The dies are designed to run much hotter than that. Cooling is another thing that annoys me because people get obsessive about it. OMGWTFHAXXORZ MY CPU IS AT 32 AT IDLE WHY NOT SUB 301!!11!1 etc etc. It REALLY doesnt matter.

I use a Coolermaster Aero7 cpu cooler at about 2500 rpm keeping the cpu at about 50 degrees under load. I have an Antec P180 case with 2 120mm fans both on slow setting which essentially makes for a quiet pc. On the graphics card I have a Zalman all copper thing, cant remember the name - thats near silent too.

Personally I always use thermal paste - Artic Ceramique is my choice, mainly becuase it was like 99p rather than £3 for the silver or something. Thermal pads generally annoy me when you come to remove the heatsink, they can stick so tighly together its unreal.

Well each 10c means one to two years of it's life, if you update your system a lot, no problem, if you like to make hardware last, you cut it age down somewhat.

But some people do get rather anal about the heat their system creates, I go for low noise over low temps, but some times I have to run my fans hot just to protect my hardware.

True true.

I guess becuase I change my hardware fairly regularly Ive never had anything fail on me - apart from the fan on an old Radeon 9600xt which broke probably because it was spinning so fast all its life lol.

Oh and an Athlon 2700+ which I killed by overclocking a little too much Wasnt the heat, more the matter of putting 2.something volts through it

Quote from pb32000 :

apart from the fan on an old Radeon 9600xt which broke probably because it was spinning so fast all its life lol.

Been there, done that. http://nismo.1g.fi/temp/radeon/

Quote from P5YcHoM4N :

Well each 10c means one to two years of it's life

since when does silicon age at temperatures well below 150-200 °C ?
ive heard it a lot from self proclaimed oc experts but never seen any proof of it or heard of it in lecture/book that deals with silicon and semiconductors