Thermal grease
The thermal grease must be replaced whenever the heat sink has been removed from the top of the microprocessor and is going to be reused or when debris is found in the grease. Use this information to replace damaged or contaminated thermal grease on the microprocessor and heat sink.
When you are installing the heat sink on the same microprocessor that the heat sink was removed from, make sure that the following requirements are met:
- The thermal grease on the heat sink and microprocessor is not contaminated.
- Additional thermal grease is not added to the existing thermal grease on the heat sink and microprocessor.
Note
- Read the safety information in Safety.
- Read the Installation guidelines.
- Read Handling static-sensitive devices.
To replace damaged or contaminated thermal grease on the microprocessor and heat sink, complete the following steps:
- Place the heat sink on a clean work surface.
- Remove the cleaning pad from its package and unfold it completely.
- Use the cleaning pad to wipe the thermal grease from the bottom of the heat sink.NoteMake sure that all of the thermal grease is removed.
- Use a clean area of the cleaning pad to wipe the thermal grease from the microprocessor; then, dispose of the cleaning pad after all of the thermal grease is removed.
- Use the thermal-grease syringe to place nine uniformly spaced dots of 0.02 mL each on the top of the microprocessor. The outermost dots must be within approximately 5 mm of the edge of the microprocessor; this is to ensure uniform distribution of the grease.Figure 1. Thermal grease distributionNoteIf the grease is properly applied, approximately half of the grease will remain in the syringe.Figure 2. Syringe
- Install the heat sink onto the microprocessor as described in Replacing the microprocessor and heat sink.
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