GA-870A-UD3 Northbridge Heatsink Thermal Compound?

[hopper]

Advice please after slight accident.

Fitting this mobo into the case I leaned a little too hard on the Northbridge Heatsink and it suddenly moved.

Fearing the worst I removed the mobo from the case and carefully removed the two nylon fixings. The heatsink has parted company with the chip. It looks like one of those phase change thermal pads underneath.

I have carefully removed the remains of the material from the chip and the heatsink, but the question is what to replace it with?

I first thought of Artic Silver 5 or Ceramique, but should I use another phase change pad?

The only one I have been able to locate ain the UK is the Coollaboratory Liquid Metal Pad. It seems to be a German company, no real specs available but it seems to get good reviews from the links via their website, comparable with Artic Silver.

I have not taken an eyeglass to the Northbridge chip assembly, but I would not want any oils from the pastes leaking off the small chip doing damage to the surrounding area. Also am I right in thinking that the thermal pad would have a longer life than paste?

I gather this beast runs hot, and don't want to make things worse for it.

Thanks.

 

[absic]

Hi there,

I've used Arctic Silver and other Thermal Pastes for Northbridge cooling and they work fine. In fact, I have found that they are often better than the thermal pads applied during manufacture.

Just don't be too heavy handed when applying the paste and you should be fine.

[hopper]

Thanks for the advice absic. I went for Artic Silver.

The system seems to be working ok - booted it up with FatDog64 off a cd (Puppy linux 64 bit variant) and ran a few basic tests. Still got to partition the HD, format and install a full scale os  - downloaded the first dvd of Debian Squeeze 64 bit RC1 last night. When I get that running I'll do some proper testing.

For your information I ordered in a Cool Laboratory Liquid Metal pad  - "recommended for Intel and AMD cpus".
Manufacturer claims it is "possible to customise the MetalPad with a cutting tool" ie cut it to size. THat should be easy. It looks like a square of aluminium foil but is much more floppy. No adhesive on either side to attach it, and NEGLIGIBLE electrical resistance.

I did not fancy trying to lay a small piece on top of the northbridge chip and hoping it would stay i n place while I fitted the heatsink. Possibly ok for processors but not I think for this application.

With hindsight I suppose I could have simply left well alone and let the original compound remelt when I powered up the board. My problem was that I did not know what I had done until I removed the heatsink, and by that time the chances of not getting it back in exactly the same position....

The heatsink fixing is a little flimsy with just 2 fixings, prone to rock.

[absic]

Hi,

pleased you have been able to get it sorted and I have to agree with you, only having two fixing points on the heatsinks can cause problems.

[bytheway_r]

I'll only add a word of caution about metal pads. Unless you plan on never changing the heatsink on the CPU I'd steer clear of them. From what I know, it's almost impossible to remove these pads completely once they've been applied. It's not all bad though as they indeed offer the best performance so far and should last forever.

[hopper]

Hmm...

That might explain why the CoolLaboratory pack I got came with a piece of extra heavy duty scouring pad - a sort of industrial kitchen scotchbrite scourer. A heavy duty coarse version of the sort of thing I use in my job for cleaning copper pipes prior to soldering. Seemed somewhat brutal to me. They do not recommend isopropyl alcohol.

It must depend on the material and possibly on how long it has been in use. I had no trouble removing the pad Gigabyte had applied. - dissolved off very easily with a qtip and IPA. I was able to scrape most of it off the heatsink with a blunt screwdriver with no damage. A Bic biro top would probably have done the job just as well.

Now - a proper review of the various materials looking at not only initial thermal performance and removability but comparisons after say the equivalent of at least a couple of years of heavy use would be REALLY useful.

Not easy to set up and do though.

Any BOFHs out there who have tried any of these materials over an extended period and care to comment?

BTW, any comments on my hindsight musings that I would probably have got away with just allowing the compound to remelt when the system was switched on?

My one concern with Artic Silver is how long it will last. I'm reading that some people feel the need to clean off and reapply at regular intervals.

[Dark Mantis]

I have necver used the metal pad type but I would mimagine that it would be similar to other typoes of thermal compound in that they cure with the initail heating up and make a good bond. You cannot use it again once it has cured.

I have been using Arctic Silver for years and never had a problem with it at all and it is very efficient. I must admit that I have watched the CoolLaboratory Liquid Metal and been sorely tempted to try it.

[bytheway_r]

I've looked around the net and it'd seem it's the Liquid Pro that's impossible to remove. Not to say that removing the metal pad is a breeze but it'd seem to at least be doable without lapping your CPU ( which is the case with Liquid Pro ). You have to remember that both of these are electricity conductive, too.

If you want performance that's almost on the same level without all these problems I'd get either IC Diamond 7 or Noctua NT-H1.