Original Intel C2D heatsink installation

[Rhialto]

My question is about the thermal paste. I know many of you will have removed the 3 stripes and put Artic Silver or similar but for those who kept the original 3 stripes how well does it work?

I have a doubt about how well it works. I found the 3 stripes a little thick and when that not all the copper base would make good contact with the processor. Does it spread whit the pressure applied once you secure the heatsink to the motherboard? Does it spread with the heat after running a few minutes?

Since they sell it like that and there is no indication about altering the paste then I guess it is ok (but not the best) to use it that way.

If I had extra paste I would have done a better job but for now it is installed plain and simple and I hope it's ok. I haven't turned the poser yet as I need to install PSU later.

P.S. I try to find a picture with the 3 stripes of paste. I think it was in a review comparing it with 4-5 other heatsink.

 

[blendingnoise]

Most know what you are talking about. The picture is on intels website under their mounting instructions. Some say that the temp difference is minimal. Personally I would never know as I wiped it of and put as5 on.
Would help if you had some temps from coretemp or tat so you have some numbers for comparision to the rest of us. I was using the stock heatsink and am getting 51degrees under orthos full load with no overclocks. 40 idle. This was my first time applying thermal paste so I think I can do better.

It should spread a bit with the stock paste as it is on quite thick. If you look at the instructions for your cpu at this site (http://www.arcticsilver.com/ins_route_step2intelas5.html) you will see that the die (I hope I got that part name right) is a rectangle in the middle which coincides with that main center strip as you call it. Thats where all the heat comes off the chip and is the most important I would guess. I put a thin layer over the entire bottom of the HS as when I tried that single line method on the website, I had really high temps.

 

[GoldenTiger]

The temperature difference is relatively minimal, although every bit counts when overclocking. As far as cooling, even for some overclocking, it should be perfectly fine even with the stock paste that is applied from the factory. If I remember correctly, it actually spreads out some from the pressure of the mount, too.