Hi!

This is quite a bit more dissipation than the average desktop, causing
some things to be more critical.

Well, it used to be. ;-)

The Pentium 4 "Pres-hot" didn't earn that derogatory nickname for nothin'. I
cringe to think of multi-processor systems and how much heat they were
dumping into the air. I had a 3.4GHz Prescott P4 in a Dell Dimension 8300.
On hot days, it had no problem equaling the sound volume of a small canister
vacuum cleaner.

1. The less silicon grease used, the better.

I remember reading that somewhere. I'm not sure that everyone--including
some major manufacturers--got the memo. After removing the STK-2038 II
module from my Techics SA-310 receiver, I found a massive amount of heatsink
compound behind it. Wow.

2. All heat sinks and transistor bases are NOT flat.

Somtimes not by a *long* shot!

3. Compression pressure is important. None of the standard spring
clip CPU heat sink holders come even close to optimum.

Really? I find that extremely surprising, especially as firmly as some of
them hold on. They really do *seem* to be doing a good job.

Sometimes the heatsink compound has established a tight enough bond that the
processor comes out firmly glued to the bottom of the heatsink, without so
much as releasing the ZIF socket lever. I've seen that on Socket 478 and
AM2+ boxen before. It's kind of scary to look down and realize the processor
isn't where it should be!

William