Heat sink - thermal paste question.

I purchased Intel core duo E6600 processor which includes heat sink and
fan assembly. Heat sink interface to processor has circular shape, and
on its surface there are 3 strips of something which looks like a tape.
The strips are applied in parallel with about 1/8 inch gaps between
them. Can anyone tell me, please, if this is a thermal paste and if so
do I need to smear it over the entire interface (if it is smearable) or
should I install it as is.
Les

"Les" <x10101@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:hAUHi.2462$6o2.2052@trnddc05...
>I purchased Intel core duo E6600 processor which includes heat sink and fan
>assembly. Heat sink interface to processor has circular shape, and on its
>surface there are 3 strips of something which looks like a tape. The strips
>are applied in parallel with about 1/8 inch gaps between them. Can anyone
>tell me, please, if this is a thermal paste and if so do I need to smear it
>over the entire interface (if it is smearable) or should I install it as
>is.

Remove any plastic "tape" covering from the compound. Install the heatsink
without disturbing the compound.

The thermal compound applied by the manufacturer is probably not a "gooey
paste", so you won't be able to smear it around. This is fine. It's designed
to "seat" from the heat of the CPU and the pressure of the installation
clips. The tape is there to protect the flat surface of the compound and
should be removed before installing.

Les wrote:
> I purchased Intel core duo E6600 processor which includes heat sink and
> fan assembly. Heat sink interface to processor has circular shape, and
> on its surface there are 3 strips of something which looks like a tape.
> The strips are applied in parallel with about 1/8 inch gaps between
> them. Can anyone tell me, please, if this is a thermal paste and if so
> do I need to smear it over the entire interface (if it is smearable) or
> should I install it as is.
> Les

The install movie here, shows no user intervention with the thermal interface
material. The movie shows how to handle the four pins, how to reset them
etc.

http://www.intel.com/cd/channel/rese...eng/100617.htm

Paul

On Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:14:37 GMT, Les <x10101@verizon.net>
wrote:

>I purchased Intel core duo E6600 processor which includes heat sink and
>fan assembly. Heat sink interface to processor has circular shape, and
>on its surface there are 3 strips of something which looks like a tape.
>The strips are applied in parallel with about 1/8 inch gaps between
>them. Can anyone tell me, please, if this is a thermal paste and if so
>do I need to smear it over the entire interface (if it is smearable) or
>should I install it as is.
>Les


The thermal interface material melts as it heats up, thus
spreading over the whole area due to the pressure of the
heatsink mounting.

Don't smear it, BUT if you want an easier time of getting
the heatsink off later, "IF" you would ever want to take it
off, the best thing to do then is to never install the
heatsink and let that material melt it on, instead taking
a petroleum based solvent to dissolve it and wipe it off,
and then instead applying a very thing coat of heatsink
grease to the middle of the processor. The performance of
decent grease is slightly better than the original thermal
material, but in most cases that won't matter... and in
theory using grease instead could void the processor
warranty, though I have yet to hear of anyone denied that
warranty by properly using grease.