Thermal Tape P4 question?

[bellyboy]

hi, all my computer life (not very long) i have used amd's and thermal paste...but i recenttly built a P4 computer and have used thermal tape as i read that the paste could harder, and pull the cpu out.....my question is...how often does this tape need replacing, as it doesnt really specifiy how often it should be checked...anyone know???


thanks


raggio

[invalidpagefaul]

You should never need to replace the thermal tape.As for hardening of the paste,it would takes years for the paste to solidify to the cpu.In fact i've seen more damaged sockets/chips on P4's caused by the tape welding itself to the heatsink.Incidentally the paste is a far better conducter of heat than the tape,it's really only there to be punter friendly.

[bellyboy]

aha, well thanks very much for that, i had images of my cpu melting all of a sudden.

thanks

raggio

[Shogun]

Yea, paste will always perform better than frag tape. I have pulled out my p4 from the socket many times when it was attached the stock way using the tape. This hasn't caused any damage but is now attached with paste. The problem with p4's in this respect is the large surface area of the heat spreader and the fact that the mounting system does not allow you to twist the heatsink as you take it off.