Thermal Goo?

[Andy Tejral]

I just bought a new motherboard/CPU and the E6850 did not come with thermal goo and the instructions did not mention putting it on.

Do we no longer need thermal goo?

[Pete Bauer]

To my distant recollection, a square of thermal paste was already applied to the two Core2 Quads I've installed but I don't know specifically about the E6850. I the paste is pre-applied, that means you don't need a separate tube of paste for a first installation of a heat sink on a new processor. Otherwise, it just costs a few of bucks at most any computer retailer like Frys.

[Glenn Chan]

I'm guessing the CPU heatsink has some sort of thermal pad. That material will melt onto the processor. It is much easier than thermal paste to apply.

If you apply some thermal paste, temperatures will go down a few degree. It's trickier to apply (read the instructions!!), that's why they don't provide it with the stock CPU heatsinks.

[John DeLuca]

Andy-

I highly recommend getting a $50-$70 dollar CPU heat sink. They come with thermal compound already applied and pop in the motherboard a lot easier.

If you do get thermal compound for the stock heatsink, then make sure to remove any old compound, then apply a small amount, evenly.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835101018

-John

[Andy Tejral]

It took a bit of hunting but I found this on the Intel website:

"Thermal interface material is required for proper heat transfer from the processor to the fan heatsink. The boxed Intel processor will have thermal interface material attached to the bottom of the heatsink."

I didn't notice it but I guess it was there. I've been keeping an eye on the temerature gage and it seems fine so far--I haven't done anything with the computer yet though.

I'm really impressed by how quiet this computer is: the Radeon 1950 card had a nasty screamer of a fan but I replaced that with a Zalman cooler. From three feet away, this computer is barely audible. Nice!

Next question, does the Radeon card have a thermometer on it?

[Pete Bauer]

And to clarify my earlier comments in line with what Glenn said, yes, it would have been the included stock heat sink that had the square of paste applied, not the processor itself. Should work out just fine since Intel took care of "the goo" for us.

For the faster, hotter, processors like the Quad Cores that will see lots of high loads in video rendering etc, John's comments about getting a premium cooling solution aren't a bad idea, although I've never done so myself. At least statistically, cooler processors are more likely to be happy, longer-lived processors.

[Andy Tejral]

Originally Posted by Pete Bauer

For the faster, hotter, processors like the Quad Cores that will see lots of high loads in video rendering etc, John's comments about getting a premium cooling solution aren't a bad idea, although I've never done so myself. At least statistically, cooler processors are more likely to be happy, longer-lived processors.

I have a Zalman for my old P4 2.8GHz. The Intel fan for that looked puny compared to the Zalman.

The fan for the E6850 looks quite adequate and is quiet too.

I'm really into quiet--I have tinitus but unlike most people, white noise (fans) aggravates it rather than calm it.

[John DeLuca]

Doesnt the stock heatsink have a top mounted fan?? That will blow hot air right back on the CPU. Notice how the aftermarket heatsinks mount the fan to the side(blowing the hot air away from the heatsink and board).

Think of it this way. You can get a 2.4g quad core for $250ish and just overclock it to 3g(the 3g quad chip is like $1000).

-John

[Glenn Chan]

The Thermal Interface Material that comes with the Intel heatsink is not that good in terms of conducting heat. The reason Intel goes with it is because it is easy to apply. And honestly, a lot of people screw things up and wouldn't put thermal paste on properly. A lot of people don't read instructions (sometimes I fall into this category). You actually need to read the instructions, because less paste is better.

Temperatures will be a few C lower with thermal paste. It's probably the cheapest thing you can do to help cooling.

For the faster, hotter, processors like the Quad Cores that will see lots of high loads in video rendering etc, John's comments about getting a premium cooling solution aren't a bad idea, although I've never done so myself. At least statistically, cooler processors are more likely to be happy, longer-lived processors.

I'm not so sure that's true. I would save your money and just spend it towards upgrading your computer in 2-4 years.

[Glenn Chan]

Think of it this way. You can get a 2.4g quad core for $250ish and just overclock it to 3g(the 3g quad chip is like $1000).

In my opinion, overclocking isn't necessarily worth it. If you push your system too far, you will get weird instability (and possibly data corruption). So you need to spend time testing your system. Balance that against the time you save.

It's not necessarily worth doing.