fans are good, thermal paste is essential, i can't believe they don't use any! (though there are "pads" that do the same thing and are less messy for most applications, something should always be used to improve the thermal interface, always, that's very, very basic engineering!). you can get arctic silver and the ceramic version of the same fairly cheaply on ebay. the paste should be used very sparingly, one user has a link to excellent instructions.
the purpose of the thermal compound is to increase the contact, since the surfaces are not perfectly flat and smooth, if fills in the gaps to effectively increase the connection (ideally the surfaces would still touch at the high points), most thermal compound is much less conductive than aluminum, so a thick layer actually makes things worse, and you want to avoid air bubbles by cleaning both surfaces and using a blob or small line in the middle of one part in the contact area. if the grease is electrically conductive, excess should be removed with a q-tip etc., if not it doesn't do any harm even if the blobs coming out the sides don't look good, but it doesn't help either. of course, you sometimes also need more vent holes or another fan on the case, to pump heat out of the case, not just fans in the hot spots to spread the heat around (after all, you don't just want to make the cool parts hotter and the hot parts cooler, you ideally want every thing cooler). also remember that dust is a very, very real problem for cooling things, it makes a nice little blanket that you don't want. Glenn Schunemann wrote: > > Catherine, good info! It is ironic about the thermal paste. The > directions specifically say *not* to use any paste. Come to think of > it, my Mac did the same thing yours did with the video thing. I also > got an icon on my screen of a cracked system folder. I know what that > means, but it didn't apply this time (it had something to do with the > Hitachi deskstar drive running on the internal IDE bus). I was worried > that the processor upgrade contributed to some of this. I'm going to > try the fan kit. Maybe the thermal paste too... > > On Mar 23, 2004, at 2:33 PM, Catherine wrote: > > > Powerlogix says continuing to run an overheating processor can void > > the warranty. WTF??? How can you void a warranty by using a part > > *exactly* as directed??? They suggested getting some thermal > > compound and putting a bit on, but I think the heat's being > > transferred to the sink reasonably effectively since it's so hot...if > > it's necessary, they should tell you it's necessary and/or include it > > with the thing! ------- -- G-List is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and... Small Dog Electronics http://www.smalldog.com | Refurbished Drives | -- We have Apple Refurbished Monitors in stock! | & CDRWs on Sale! | Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html> G-List list info: <http://lowendmac.com/lists/g-list.shtml> --> AOL users, remove "mailto:"; Send list messages to: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To unsubscribe, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/g-list%40mail.maclaunch.com/> Using a Mac? Free email & more at Applelinks! http://www.applelinks.com
