I'm not quite sure what Wayne means by "phase change material". I'm guessing he means heatsink tape as opposed to heatsink paste. Either way, both work brilliantly if used correctly. Heatsink tape/pad has the advantage of being clean to handle and remove as opposed to the paste. But as long as you smear a thin layer between the heatsink and the semiconductor, you can achieve the exact same results. The purpose of the stuff is to maximise heat transfer through a number of factors but predominantly to do away with any air pockets which may take away the efficiency.
But anything more than just a thin layer will result in the stuff acting as an insulator rather than a conductor transferring nothing. And to add to that, seeing some CPU's coming back to my wholesaler with compound all over the sides and the pins, as though the stuff was so thick that it just oozed everywhere, it's no wonder why the CPU has failed!! Admittedly though, I often see an overzealous use of the compound in amplifiers, particularly car audio. I was amazed and appalled when I saw a Sony XM-754HX amp with fried output transistors. Admittedly, they died after about 3 years of constant abuse but even so, they would've lasted a lot longer if there was a thin layer of compound instead of the gobs of yoghurt I found all over them. After replacing the transistors, I applied more appropriate amounts and the thing hasn't even hit the overheat-protect circuit like it frequently used to. Back to CPU's, for the record, my dual Opterons are running at 46C and 42C on a full load and that's using just standard heatsink paste with Swiftech MCX6400-V heatsinks. No funky Arctic Silver, Whizbangthingamebob Wondercream, etc - just the standard heatsink compound found in your favourite electronics store (or wholesaler in my case). Adios, Tony --------------- TAMA - The Strongest Name in Drums --------------- -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Thane Sherrington Sent: Thursday, 23 June 2005 9:37 To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] AMD64 powers off At 06:39 PM 22/06/2005, Wayne Johnson wrote: >It's suppose to have phase change material & not paste. I thought you said >there was paste all over the place? The fact still remains that the thing >sounds cooked to me. It wouldn't surprise me if he forgot to put the HSF >on before powering up, cooked it & is hoping that you can will it back to life. I got it working on my motherboard using Arctic Silver 5. Seems to be running at 51C idle using his heat sink.
