apply thermal grease on cpu cooler or on the cpu?

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strider1

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I just got a XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 with the bracket and a e8500. I think in the mobo, the guide says put the thermal grease on the cpu with a thin even coating but in the xigmatek manual it says apply it on the bottom of the thermal base of the cpu cooler. Which one should i do or does it not matter?

also I am kinda confused with the instructions. I bought the cpu cooler with the bracket but the XIGMATEK HDT-S1283 also came with some sort of installers of its own. How do I know what to do? There werent any instructions with the bracket lol.

And I should use the mx-5 thermal grease that I bought instead of the one that came with the cpu cooler right??
 
and how far is the fin thingy supposed to? it doesn't really specify, it just says put it in. What does it do exactly lol?
 
and the fan is supposed to go on the right side of the cooler?( so its pushing air into the cooler?)
 
Generally it doesn't matter which one you put it on. FWIW; I always put it on the CPU.

I would use the thermal grease that is known.

For best positioning, have the fan blowing into the Heatsink and out the back of the case, so your exhaust fan can pull out the air from the heatsink at the same time.
 
alot of this is personal preference. I personally, like to put the thermal grease on the heatsink (fin thingy). But I have heard that others do it the other way around.

The reason why I put it on the heatsink is more a matter of space. I can apply the paste on the heatsink outside of the case, affording more room in the application.

This is probably an article you need to read: http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/274/3

As far as how to position your heatsink fan (HSF), is once more a personal preference or based on the cooling setup of your current case. I would recommend that you have the air blow into the fin array, as you can guarantee more air is pushed acrossed the fins. Others would say to have the fan setup to pull air acrossed the fins, but I believe that you loose some airflow due to air taking path of least resistance, e.i. air bleeding in around the heatsink instead of coming through the fins. Here is another link that shows the debate: http://www.techimo.com/forum/processors-memory-overclocking/10263-pull-push.html
 
PMildren said:
The reason why I put it on the heatsink is more a matter of space. I can apply the paste on the heatsink outside of the case, affording more room in the application.
Click to expand...

What? You mean that you put the motherboard inside of the case with the CPU installed and THEN put the heatsink on? I don't even think that would be possible with big coolers like the Tuniq Tower. You put everything on the motherboard outside of the case and then put it into the case.
 
put it on the cpu. just put a small dot in the center and apply the hsf. the arctic silver website has a good guide with pictures.
 
Yeah with small coolers you can maybe put it on inside of the case.

But cases with brackets on the back and that are ludicrous in size, you have to put outside of the case because sometimes you can't tighten all 4 spots .
 
ok got it, thanks guys.

but i am still kinda confused. With the crossbow bracket...I am supposed to tear off the adhesive, put it on actual cpu(allign with holes of course), apply the thermal grease then put the cpu cooler on top of it all?

see im kinda confused with the bracket and in which order im supposed to do it in. or am i supposed to apply thermal grease, put the bracket on top of cpu and grease and then the cpu cooler?

Because the crossbracket and its adhesive covers a bit of the cpu making the area of the thermal grease smaller you know?

thanks
 
i have no experience with lga775, but i imagine u rip of the adheasive cover and put that on the BACKSIDE of the mobo lined up, and the hsf mounts to that with included bolts/nuts
 
You don't need to take off the adhesive cover. It will make a mess of the back of your motherboard if you ever try and remove it.
 
oh ok got it lol. For some reason i thought it went on the front. yeah it makes perfect sense now. thanks
 
You I know that didnt come out real well, but yes I normally dont mess with aftermarket coolers. SO, yes I install the heatsink with the mobo already installed.

krameriffic said:
What? You mean that you put the motherboard inside of the case with the CPU installed and THEN put the heatsink on? I don't even think that would be possible with big coolers like the Tuniq Tower. You put everything on the motherboard outside of the case and then put it into the case.
Click to expand...
 
ok because of the bracket on the back of the mobo, I cant connect like 4 of the pins to the case. I can connect the other 5 though(maybe 4?)

I can get about half of them. I can't get the 2 ones closest to the I/O thingy. Can't get the exact middle one. and cant get the one that is top middle. It basically makes a square(top left). Is this ok? I have a gigabyte x48 ds4, and a cm 690 case.

Can I talk to someone on aim about this? I have some other questions as well. strider1338

thanks
 
what pins to the case? do you mean the screws holding the mobo to the case? Do you have the standoffs on the case?
 
actually yeah my bad. I didnt have standoffs in the case. I think my mobo didnt come with any screws(are they supposed to?) so i thought those standoffs were screws for the mobo. What kind of screws do I need to buy??
 
the standoffs are brass, and come with the case. i have the same case.

They go underneath the motherboard, then the motherboard gets screwed into the standoffs.
 
strider1 said:
What kind of screws do I need to buy??
Click to expand...

Your case should have the proper screws already. There are screws with wide-spaced threads and with thin-spaced threads. Try one of each, and whichever kind fits your standoffs, use in the rest of them as well. You should have enough for your motherboard plus more to spare.
 
ok the brass things are standoffs, they screw into the case BEFORE the mobo, then you put the mobo in, and line up the holes. the cm690 includes a bunch of screws on the 5.25" side supports. Use the larger ones. If you run out of screws open the other side of the case, theres more.
 
ahh i see thanks. i cant believe i overlooked them hah. i checked on newegg and some people did the same thing! haha:D
 
Strider1, you seem really new at all of this and I hope that this article will not find you too late, but here is a really good article on installing motherboards. I recommend that you find a nice local guy that is willing to show you the ropes of PCs.
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/145

Building computers isnt that hard if you have had the chance to see one built, but if you are a newcomer and you screw up its going to cost you your hard earned cash. I dont recommend anyone build a system from scratch if they dont have someone to show them how atleast the first time. Its too easy to screw something up.
 
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