I'm having trouble at the moment mounting the stock Intel heatsink fan on my P4 530 3.0GHz prescott CPU. I'm using an ASUS P5GD1 motherboard. The first time I did this, I messed up the thermal pad on the bottom of the HSF, and when I ran the comp I was getting CPU temps of around 70-80 C. So I bought some Arctic Silver 5 that I am now attempting to apply. The AS5 instructions say that I should put a rice grain-sized dot of AS5 in the middle of the CPU heat-spreader (the top of the CPU), and then mount the HSF on top of it. The HSF has four pegs that go into holes on the mobo. Every time I try to mount the HSF, it only goes on partially. Because its mounted in the case I can't see exactly when/where it's making contact with the CPU. In any case, I can't get it to go down straight, because the pegs get stuck somehow and I have to fiddle with it a lot to get them to go in right. So I keep taking the HSF off, cleaning the CPU and the bottom of the HSF, and then remounting. The first time I did it just to see if there was enough AS5. It only covered about 1/3 the area of the CPU, a circle in the middle. So, questions: Is this slight problem mounting the HSF normal/to be expected? And will it cause problems? Is this enough AS5? How much of the CPU should it cover? I'm guessing to the edges, but I don't know. Am I mounting it right, as per AS5 instructions? ASUS P5GD1 Pro Intel P4 LGA775 530 @ 3.0GHz 2x 512MB Kingmax DDR400 SDRAM ASUS EN6600/TD GeForce6600 256MB 80GB Seagate SATA 150 OS/programs 200GB Maxtor SATA 150 data LG 16x DVD+/-R

Whatever you do, just make sure your rig doesn't end up like any of the ones from here !!! Do not type anything in this space.

Uh...thanks for the help. meh, got it done, running idle temp of 44. ASUS P5GD1 Pro Intel P4 LGA775 530 @ 3.0GHz 2x 512MB Kingmax DDR400 SDRAM ASUS EN6600/TD GeForce6600 256MB 80GB Seagate SATA 150 OS/programs 200GB Maxtor SATA 150 data LG 16x DVD+/-R

you don't need it to go to the edges. remember there's a burn-in period, so you need to run under full load for a while, then switch off the computer and let it cool down to room temperature. You need to do this cycle several times over a 24 hour period. The idle temp should go lower by a degree or two after burn-in.

Here is a link that will show you how to use the Arctic Silver 5. It is from the manufacturer and has pictures to help. http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm The burn in period for Arctic Silver 5 is 200 hours. During this period you must turn the computer off sometimes to allow the processor and thermal compound to get to room temperature. The burn in period will take longer if you do not have a fan on the heat sink