First post, by ultra_code
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- Oldbie
(Note: I have come to the conclusion that this question is actually kind of stupid, and upon a quick Google search (which I was apparently too lazy to do before 😀 ) I found a zillion answer posts to my question; check out my second post on this topic to find great examples of what I am talking about. However, some of the experiences shared here may be interesting or useful.)
Hello VOGONS members!
I was wondering: What is the best TIM to use with a SECC2 heatsink for a Pentium III (both in terms of effectiveness in heat dissipation and heatsink/CPU contact), just your usual thermal paste or thermal pads?
Backstory
You see, for my first retro PC build (which you can find here), I bought a new, larger passive Foxconn SECC2 heatsink (that uses that usual sliding latch mechanism for attaching it to the CPU) to replace the original heatsink on my Pentium III 600E CPU:
I ended getting the original heatsink that came with my CPU off by following goninanbl00d's suggestion found on this topic:
However, look at this photo of the new heatsink (https://i.imgur.com/Y3lNkD8.jpg). Do you see that little "extrusion" sticking out at the top of the side of the heatsink (the part of the heatsink that slides down the sides of the retention clips on the motherboard)? That prevented me from slotting the processor into the slot, as the motherboard's CPU retention clips do not have the recesses on the tips of them that this heatsink was obviously designed for. What a waste of money!
Anywho, wanting to put some heatsink on my processor, I ended up putting some Arctic MX-4 thermal paste onto the CPU and reattaching the original copper-colored heatsink pictured above with some replacement retention clips.
Main Issue
After reapplying the original heatsink with that new thermal paste, I ran 3DMark99 with HWMonitor running in the background recording CPU temps to a .csv file to compare the cooling performance of the thermal paste vs. the original thermal paste/metallic thermal pad (whatever it was) (I conducted the same test before removing the original heatsink). The results surprised me, though.
It seems as though my CPU got hotter (by a few degrees Celcius) and got hotter faster than with the original TIM. It could be that the original TIM was better than the Arctic MX-4, or that I used too much thermal paste, which, according to Linus from LinusTechTips, could cause an insulating-effect. It could also be that the heatsink is not 100% as tight as it could be against the CPU, as I do not own the OEM clamp/press used to press the clips tightly down along with the heatsink against the CPU to attach the whole thing, and so ended up using my hands to press the clips down until they stopped popping back up (yikes!). So, finally, back to my original question.
The Question to Begin with
I just bought one of these SECC2 Startech heatsinks to replace the original passive heatsink I am still using (mainly because of its easy-to-service sliding retention clip mechanism) from eBay, and this time, I want to apply the right TIM the first time. So, again, what TIM should I use?
I noticed this SECC2 Cooler Master heatsink comes with a pre-applied thermal pad. Was it considered back in the day a good idea to use thermal pads with slot 1 CPU heatsinks vs. thermal paste?
Sorry for the potentially pointlessly long post, but hopefully this provides the complete context for my question. Thanks!