AMD says that using thermal grease or other heatsinks void warranty

[Wombat]

http://www.xtremetek.com/info/index.php?id=14&page=1

[DGhost]

Well... the heatsink thing has been in their warrenty statement for Retail boxed processors for a long time...

also, their system integrators manuals have stated that they only recommend a phase-change thermal material for at least a year...

i personally was always impressed with the phase change compound that Intel has used on their heatsinks for the last several years.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

LOL. So if we run the Hammers/T-birds without a heat sink, they will give us new ones?

[[GDI]Raptor]

You can only use the termal greese that id bundeld with the boxed versions of Athlon.... Can they tell the difference on thermal greese?

[SpiralDragon]

maybe its in the taste.... some sort of secreet recepie.... ... to make your AMD systems smell better and tatier thab the intel ons.... but this could backfire on AMD when the over heated sytems start producing more smels and famished users would end up eating the CPUs

[Guru]

It has alwways been like that I thought you knew this already! Also using a different hs will void your waranty! (You will have to return the boxed one if you brake your cpu!)

[Guru]

Then again resellers can make a deal with amd that lets them use other hs and gives them the right to use AS! We have done that for example but wi still have to return the bundled hs if the cpu brakes!

[Technoid]

Dghost, have the thermal pads that are on intel heatsinks changed since the ones that was suplyed with the PIII cpus?

Something new that started with the PIV's?

If not, then it stinks as much as all other TIM's

[The PIT]

I suppose the next question to AMD is how many shorted CPU's have they had back??
I've once accidently squirted Artic silver over a cpu's legs and it didn't cause any problems. Nothing like being clumsy.

[Technoid]

arctic silver don't really conduct electricy in the same way as for example the titan silver grease

[The PIT]

Amd seems to think it does

[WyWyWyWy]

Intel says no problem.

http://www.bit-tech.com

So I got on the phone and email to both Intel and AMD to confirm and double-check their issues with thermal grease. I spoke to Gareth Lockwood, a specialist in thermal interfaces and heatsinks at Intel, who explained to me that Intel advises caution when using Arctic Silver and similar compounds, since spillage can cause shorts on the motherboard. However, he made clear that use in itself of Arctic Silver or similar grease, if done properly, would certainly not invalidate a warranty.

In a spate of snubbery, AMD ignored our requests for comments. You're all intelligent enough to read into that for yourselves.

[DGhost]

Technoid - which kind? I know the first run celerons and P3's (up until the FCPGA-2 stuff if my memory serves correctly) used a solid gray thermal compound that would turn to liquid as the processor got hot. between that and the pressure of the heatsink it would fill the cracks and distribute excess to the sides of the processor core. was quite cool.

the stuff that they have been using with the P4's is to my knowledge the same as they have been using with the FCPGA-2 P3's. a thin piece of metal with both sides covered with a wax like thermal compound that would get liquidy as it heats up. the pressure of the heatsink is enough to remove any air pockets between the heatsink, the sheet of metal and the processor core (in theory) and as the thermal compound turns to liquid excess seeps off to the sides and makes an efficent seal.

AMD uses a similar compound last I checked, but it doesn't usually turn as liquidy as Intel's.

[Taz]

Sounds like they're just covering their arses to me. I would have thought doing anything to the processor which would cause it to fail prematurely would also void the warranty ,which is basically what shorting it with thermal grease is doing

[[GDI]Raptor]

Just read on a Norwegian hardware news site that AMD have said that this is wrong

Here is the link for everyone that can read norwegian

http://www.hardware.no/nyheter/april03/kjolepasta.html

Basicly they are saying that AMD doesn't care about what termal greese you use...