Applying CPU Thermal paste: X-method??

You are absolutely correct. By far the best for heat transfer is metal-to-metal contact between the CPU die cover and the heatsink. But in mass manufacturing the surfaces have imperfections and so the two don't match up perfectly. Thermal Interface Material (TIM) is used to fill the microscopic air gaps between the two surfaces. A widespread misconception is that the TIM is better at heat thermal transfer. This leads to the even more widespread mistake of using too much TIM. The optimal way is to have the TIM fill only the microscopic air gaps where the metal-metal surfaces do not make perfect contact.

Edit: Oh, I see Paul answered this already.

My previous cpu & hs were lapped, the thermal paste was spread very thinly with a credit card and the results were very good.
 
My previous cpu & hs were lapped, the thermal paste was spread very thinly with a credit card and the results were very good.
Are you a recovering overclocker? I am. :p

The last CPUs and heatsinks I lapped were two Prescotts, before the Rinderpest. Then I got an Asetek VapoChill and a Prometeia Mach II, which chilled the CPU to just under -40 Celsius. Those were them days, eh.
 
Lads, if any of you guys need anymore proof, check out linus tech tips on Yt. They do a video comparing all of the methods...even ones you might have not heard of...and can anyone guess the difference in these methods they found...:whistle:
 
Are you a recovering overclocker? I am. :p

The last CPUs and heatsinks I lapped were two Prescotts, before the Rinderpest. Then I got an Asetek VapoChill and a Prometeia Mach II, which chilled the CPU to just under -40 Celsius. Those were them days, eh.

That's crazy bro, did you manage any big achievments with the results you were pulling??
 
Are you a recovering overclocker? I am. :p

The last CPUs and heatsinks I lapped were two Prescotts, before the Rinderpest. Then I got an Asetek VapoChill and a Prometeia Mach II, which chilled the CPU to just under -40 Celsius. Those were them days, eh.

Are you Arthur from... The company whose name I can never spell??? If you are, you're the original source of both my VapoChill LightSpeed, and my Premeteia which was originally sold to rra (Ralph). It kept my FX-55 a very happy chappy in the mid 3 GHz range 24/7. If you're not that Arthur, ignore everything I just said and I'll see myself out the door.
 
[XC] Oj101;17265657 said:
Are you Arthur from... The company whose name I can never spell??? If you are, you're the original source of both my VapoChill LightSpeed, and my Premeteia which was originally sold to rra (Ralph). It kept my FX-55 a very happy chappy in the mid 3 GHz range 24/7. If you're not that Arthur, ignore everything I just said and I'll see myself out the door.
The same. :)

Asetek and nVentiv (both Danish companies) closed down their phase-change cooling businesses, and I sold the extreme cooling side in 2007.
 
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The same. :)

Asetek and nVentiv (both Danish companies) closed down their phase-change cooling businesses, and I sold the extreme cooling side in 2007.

I remember that, I bought some water cooling goodies directly from your shop back when SystemShock.co.za was still something big :p My Prometeia has gone missing somehow and my Vapochill has a leak that I couldn't be bothered to repair, these day I just do DI and LN2.
 
[XC] Oj101;17266301 said:
I remember that, I bought some water cooling goodies directly from your shop back when SystemShock.co.za was still something big :p My Prometeia has gone missing somehow and my Vapochill has a leak that I couldn't be bothered to repair, these day I just do DI and LN2.
I remember speaking to you, and when you called after getting the VapoChill LightSpeed from rra.

Sjoe, memories from SystemShock. Lekker days.

I've since emigrated from Joburg and now live as a Gauteng refugee in the Western Cape, in the bustling metropolis of Oudtshoorn.

Sorry to hear the Prommie has disappeared. I wonder if we'll ever see that sort of tech again...
 
Ha, on Thursday I become a Western Cape refugee living in Gauteng :p

Honestly, I won't miss the Prommie too much. I sent it around the overclocking scene like a $2 crack whore and somewhere along the line lost track of it. The problem I have with it (and phase change in general) is that the temperatures just aren't good enough anymore. Back then, getting an A64's temperature even to the low teens meant you saw decent results and the coldbug generally meant that a Prommie was good enough to get near the maximum potential of a CPU. Eg here's my Athlon 6000+ running PiFast at 3.901 GHz with the Vapochill, but the higest I could validate was 4.144 GHz with DI - that PiFast was on a 100 % stock, non-tuned VapoChill which way back then cost as much as a copper pot and enough DI to last a month.

I suspect that today I will put the Vapochill on the pavement. I don't have the urge to fix it, I can't take it with me to JHB tomorrow (Thursday). I've tried selling it, but it failed to sell as is for R 400.

If you have any urge to collect it, you can have it. Either the suction hose or (and I think this is more likely) the cap tube is punctured and will need to be brazed shut along with the unit being regassed and tuned. The compressor still works fine, the controller is shot (I got it like that, you need to short out two pins on the controller to fire up the compressor but it can't start the computer) and I removed the side panels which I later lost.

If you want some other nostalgic items I also still have an OCZ DDR Booster and Gigabyte i-RAM from way back when. To the best of my knowledge the OCZ has never been used. I bought it second hand and have never used it myself, DFI boards could supply all the voltage I needed for BH-5 at 290 MHz 2-2-2-5 or TCCD at 350 MHz 3-4-4-8 (in dual channel at that :p). How times have changed :)
 
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