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First post, by feipoa

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Could someone recommend a thermally conductive two-sided tape for heatsinks? I see numerous offerings on eBay. I would like to use some kind of removable thermal tape on 386 CPU upgrades, like the DRx2-66 or SXL2. These CPUs get very hot and the PGA sockets do not have any clamps to hold down a heatsink. I'm looking for tape which will not stick so hard onto the CPU like glue, but something which will pull off if I twist it. It should be strong enough, though, that the heatsink will not fall off if there is a fan spinning on it and the heatsink is placed vertically in a computer tower.

Any recommendations? I find a lot of the tape used on GPUs and similar to be really hard to remove. I often use a chizel to remove them. I do not want to be damaging a rare CPU like a DRx2-66 with overly sticky tape.

Last edited by feipoa on 2017-02-25, 23:36. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 1 of 39, by kenrouholo

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3m, or EK

But I wouldn't trust sellers on Ebay saying they use 3m - I can't prove anything but personally I think some of those could a counterfeit product that won't stick as well.

Conductive tape/pad is fine if your heatsink is light in comparison to the surface area of contact. Especially if it's used horizontally and not upside down so gravity isn't working against it.

Use the largest size that will fit on the chip and sink, because the more of that surface area you cover, not just the better thermal transfer, but also the better the adhesion.

Make sure the stuff is warm/hot when you remove it for the easiest time of doing so.

I've never ruined anything removing it (but it's theoretically possible).

Last edited by kenrouholo on 2017-02-25, 22:00. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 2 of 39, by FesterBlatz

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I 2nd this question! I've got a couple IBM 5x86c CPU's without heatsinks coming and I have a nice variety of chipset heatsinks I could use on them if I can somehow securely attach them. I too considered the blue heatsink tape on eBay/Amazon but I've read a few reviews that said it's semi-permanent...

Otherwise I'm planning to use regular thermal compound on the center of the CPU's surface and a thin layer of silicone adhesive around the parameter to hold the heatsink in place.

Reply 3 of 39, by feipoa

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Do they have sticky fujipoly now? The stuff I've used in the past was not sticky. The issue with Fujipoly is that there are is an insulative gap between the tiny wires so you won't make as much surface contact. I thought Fujipoly was mostly for making electrical contact in the normal direction for grid-type electrical components. At least this is what I have used it for semiconductor grid qualification.

Which reminds me, what about double-sided copper tape? Anyone try this? And is the adhesive conductive as well?

Last edited by feipoa on 2017-02-25, 23:36. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 4 of 39, by Ampera

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Get a clamp on cooler. If not, then use thermal adhesive, the pads are pretty poor for thermal transfer.

Reply 5 of 39, by feipoa

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Ampera wrote:

Get a clamp on cooler.

Could you show me an example of this for PGA-132 sized CPUs?

Last edited by feipoa on 2017-02-25, 23:36. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 6 of 39, by FesterBlatz

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The question was if there are any recommendations for thermal tapes that are somewhat easy to remove, not opinions on it's effectiveness. Besides, that's a pretty broad statement.... 0.60 W/m-K‎ is considered poor thermal transfer performance?

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/E … 94001801&rt=rud

Ampera wrote:

Get a clamp on cooler. If not, then use thermal adhesive, the pads are pretty poor for thermal transfer.

Reply 7 of 39, by gdjacobs

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You could try the four dots thermal epoxy trick. Try it on a meaningless chip first.

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Reply 9 of 39, by dosgamer

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The best is Sekisui 5760. You can buy it in sheets and cut to any shape you need.

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Reply 10 of 39, by feipoa

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Ampera wrote:

http://www.mouser.com/Thermal-Management/Fans … olers/_/N-axg9v

Grab the dimensions of your chip, and look here.

I am not quite sure what you are suggesting here. I know how to use mouser's search function. If you know of a particular heatsink/fan combination that is known to clip on to ceramic 386 CPUs, could you please share this information here? FYI, ceramic 386 dimensions are 37mm x 37mm.

Last edited by feipoa on 2017-02-25, 23:37. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 11 of 39, by feipoa

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dosgamer wrote:

The best is Sekisui 5760. You can buy it in sheets and cut to any shape you need.

And this is removable by hand twisting? So this is more like tape and less like glue and the heatsink won't fall off in sheer due to a small spinning fan?

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Reply 12 of 39, by feipoa

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FesterBlatz wrote:

The question was if there are any recommendations for thermal tapes that are somewhat easy to remove, not opinions on it's effectiveness. Besides, that's a pretty broad statement.... 0.60 W/m-K‎ is considered poor thermal transfer performance?

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/E … 94001801&rt=rud

Ampera wrote:

Get a clamp on cooler. If not, then use thermal adhesive, the pads are pretty poor for thermal transfer.

I have added more description to the title. A heatsink which clamps onto a DRx2 or SXL2 would also be desirable, but I'd still like to find a tape because there are some QFP 386 chips on interposers which could use a heatsink/fan as well.

Does anyone have experience with this 3M product, particularly with removing it while leaving the CPU undamaged, particularly the writing on the CPU's surface?

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Reply 14 of 39, by feipoa

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That isn't a clip on heatsink for the PGA-132 platform. I have plenty of chipset heatsinks at home. I am looking for removable thermal tape which can be twisted off by hand or am looking for PGA-132 clip-on heatsinks, similiar to those found for 486's.

Has anyone retrofitted those clips from 486's to 386 heatsinks? If they are of the right height, maybe I can epoxy them onto a heatsink for a 386.

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Reply 15 of 39, by dosgamer

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feipoa wrote:
dosgamer wrote:

The best is Sekisui 5760. You can buy it in sheets and cut to any shape you need.

And this is removable by hand twisting? So this is more like tape and less like glue and the heatsink won't fall off in sheer due to a small spinning fan?

It's not really tape, it's kinda like a thin layer of adhesive. Hard to explain. But it's very secure. Heatsinks can be removed with some force. Definitely won't fall off on their own.

Coppermine Celeron 800 @ 1.12GHz (8x140) - Asus P2B Rev. 1.12 - 256MB PC133 CL2 - Voodoo5 5500 AGP - SB AWE64 CT4520 - Roland SCC-1 - Intel Pro/1000GT - 1.44MB Floppy - ATAPI ZIP 100 - 120GB IDE - DVD-ROM - DVD-R/RW/RAM - Win98SE

Reply 16 of 39, by feipoa

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I have sent an e-mail to 3M with my requirements for the tape. Small chance it finds the right individual. Small chance they have what I'm looking for.

Have any of your been able to remove heatsinks with the 3M blue tape on it with just your hands? If it is old enough, it just falls off. But it is the newly applied stuff I'm worried about. I'm not going to use a chizel on these CPUs. The 3M page mentions it "Aging at 70 Degree C for 72 hrs" in reference to adhesion to the substrate. Sounds a lot like curing glue.

I'm also wondering about using thin insulated wires to strap the heatsink around the CPU. Perhaps 3 wires in each direction x 2 directions.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 17 of 39, by konc

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+1 for 3M's blue thermal conductive adhesive. Just make sure you're buying the correct thing, it seems more items on ebay today are counterfeit than the original product.

Reply 18 of 39, by Nipedley

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I can offer you my experience, I ordered a thermal 'adhesive pad' off eBay and it was totally useless. It was sticky as much as custard is sticky, so that went in the bin.

What worked for me is this, ebay item 181811455476 from seller andys_computer_solutions. I used it to stick custom heatsinks onto 486 DX2/66 and DX4 chips. It works a treat, my DX2/66 has been in for over a year (with the heatsink against gravity obviously, or this wouldn't be much of a recommendation) with no issue. One downside though is I came to remove the heatsink from my DX4 chip, and the printed lettering on the top of the chip came off with the tape (not all, but most of it) but in the process I did also learn that it is really, really sticky. I had to use a knife to seperate the chip and heatsink. So it certainly works !

Reply 19 of 39, by feipoa

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I was looking at this product, http://www.ebay.ca/itm/3M-Thermal-Adhesive-Ta … gcAAOSw9r1WDVmB

In the description, it says,

This tape is great if you want to tape a heatsink to your RAM, motherboard chipsets or video card memory to cool it down.
Using this method is better than thermal epoxy because it does not create a permanent bonding so you can remove the heatsinks at a later time.

Then down a bit in the description, it says,

This thermal tape cannot be used on a CPU/GPU. If you use this tape on a CPU/GPU, you will fry it. If you need thermal protection for your CPU/GPU do NOT use this product, use an alternative CPU-preferred thermal compound.

Is this merely double-sided kitchen drawer tape? It sounds like this product is not intended for temperatures above, say, 35 C, although it sounds removable, which is what I want. "Removable" can mean a lot.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.