What type of thermal compound on this computer system board North Bridge heat sink?

[roger2]

Ok, not 100% sure this is the north bridge. Could be the onboard GPU or something else...

Whatever this thing is, the compound that mated chip-to-heatsink is definitely not typical thermal paste. It is hard like some type of epoxy possibly.

Anybody know what this stuff is? Or what I should use when putting it back together?

 

Thanks in advance 😎

 

 

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

That might be from a thermal pad they put on there. Any reason why you needed to open that heatsink?

[roger2]

I opened it because I had to remove the CPU heatsink to get the mobo out because there are 8 vented caps that need replaced. The CPU thermal paste is bone dry. Couldn't NOT open this up for a look after having seen the condition of the CPU thermal paste.

 

Edited August 29, 2019 by roger2

[roger2]

This board is from a HP dx2000, Windows XP machine from around 2002. Still a useful machine that I want to keep in service.

 

I am able to replace the bad capacitors. Just don't have any idea what to use on this heat sink.

[i_was_here]

Just use the normal thermal paste that you would use for a CPU. It looks like the heatsink has clips that hold it down in place, so thermal epoxy isn't necessary.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Just nicely clean it, and put a dab of thermalpaste in the middle

[Shiranui]

On something that old, I'd just use some toothpaste.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

 

That is old pink thermal paste in the center, with what looks like a piece of foam that had adhesive on it (which has turned brown due to heat and age).  The foam acted like a stand off to prevent the heat sink from being pressed down to the point where it could damage the silicon chip die on the top of the board.

 

You might want to look for some thermal tape of the same thickness as the piece of foam, or look into getting a replacement North Bridge chipset cooler on eBay that contains all the parts.  A lot of them have small fans mounted on them as well, which can further improve cooling.

 

Regards,

 

Aryeh Goretsky

 

 

[roger2]

Thanks for your input everyone 🙂

 

Am going with a thin layer of normal thermal paste after a good cleaning and confirming good mechanical contact. I looked at new heatsinks w/ fans but those would be overkill for this gently used machine.

 

I'm out.....