Replaced northbridge heatsink on P4C800-E Deluxe

  • Thread starter Thread starter Uncooked meat prior to state vector collapse
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Uncooked meat prior to state vector collapse

I got a TT Crystal Orb installed in my mobo by using Arctic Silver adhesive
because HS mounts do not line up. Since the chip is so small, should I have
used a spacing pad like the one that was around the chip on the stock HS?
The pad on the stock HS surrounded the area outside the nb chip, I guess to
make sure contact to the chip is flat. I didnt even bother to really
research before happily putting more shiny parts in my rig and after getting
it installed I felt lucky enough just to boot the pc.

If I have installed the HS/F improperly, is there a way to safely remove the
AS adhesive?

TIA
 
"Uncooked meat prior to said:
I got a TT Crystal Orb installed in my mobo by using Arctic Silver adhesive
because HS mounts do not line up. Since the chip is so small, should I have
used a spacing pad like the one that was around the chip on the stock HS?
The pad on the stock HS surrounded the area outside the nb chip, I guess to
make sure contact to the chip is flat. I didnt even bother to really
research before happily putting more shiny parts in my rig and after getting
it installed I felt lucky enough just to boot the pc.

If I have installed the HS/F improperly, is there a way to safely remove the
AS adhesive?

TIA
Click to expand...

If the product is an epoxy, there is a chemical reaction which makes a
solid material. Things that affect it are UV light (discolors over a
period of months) and maybe constant contact with water. If the things
joined together are porous, water can attack through the porous material
and weaken the joint.

Since neither of these requirements is met when gluing a HSF to a
Northbridge, what you have done is permanent. If you try to pry it
off, chances are the body of the IC and the lead frame will be torn
off as well.

Moral of the story - THERMAL EPOXY - DO NOT USE!
Epoxy is meant to be permanent.

A pad ring or shim around a silicon die is intended to avoid tilted
contact between the heatsink and die. If stress is applied at a
single point on the edge of the die, the die can be easily cracked.
Since you have filled the space between the body of the chip and the
heatsink with epoxy, the stresses are now distributed over a wider
area, so whatever angle it is mounted at, there should be less risk
due to the fact that the epoxy takes the mechanical stress. So, the
epoxy is both a curse and your savior :-) The only question remaining
to be resolved, is whether the epoxy is conducting heat well enough
to keep your board stable. Only some burn-in testing with Prime95 or
the like will tell you that.

Paul
 
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