Thermal Grease & P4 CPU

[iBuy]

I notice that there is a little hole of top my P4 2.4 CPU (OEM). How should i apply thermal grease on top of the CPU? should i cover that hole with thermal grease?

I also notice that there is some grey-pasty-substance at bottom of the CPU sink/fan . what is this substance? is it thermal grease?

[avx]

what mobo are you appllying it too?

[edrod13]

Do not cover the hole just spread thermal grease around it carefully. I remember reading that the small hole was on the heat spreader because it allowed the glue on the slug to air out and dry during the manufacturing process. If by chance you get a small amount on the lip of the hole don't sweat it just take off what you can. Eventually when you do put on the heatsink some might just get in anyway.

Edrod13

[iBuy]

i think it is ECS P4VXASD2+

[Furius92]

Oh, I'm sorry.

Sorry for that, I couldn't help myself. If you are able to, get a new motherboard. I know it sounds like a pain, but ECS boards are almost as bad as PC Chips... and PC Chips even sounds bad, but not as bad as it actually is. You may get it up and running fine, and never have any problems with it. On the other hand, there is a good chance you will have stability issues while using that board.

If you are able to do so, I would recommend investing in a high quality motherboard manufactured by Asus. Asus is pretty much the top motherboard manufacturer, although Intel (no overclocking on Intel boards though), Abit, MSI, Soyo and EPoX make good products too. I still highly recommend Asus though.

Back the main issue though... if you use thermal grease or compound (like Arctic Silver III, which is the most widely used compound here) you must remove the thermal pad that is attached to your heatsink. If you have scratched the black part off and you can see the metal foil (there are two layers of black paste, one on each side of the foil, and then the heatsink itself) you should remove the entire pad. If the pad is in decent condition, you won't even need to bother with thermal compound unless you are doing heavy overclocking. If you aren't using it, just pop the heatsink right on top of the CPU and lock it in and you're all set.

[PMich]

Yes, that is a thermal pad on the bottom of your HSF. If you plan on using thermal paste, you will need to remove it from the HSF prior to mounting it. Alcohol or Acetone works well for this.

Don't worry about the ECS board unless you have problems. I have been on one for over a year with no issues as have several thousand people around the world. However, if you do run into problems down the road it may be more likely to be mobo related.