FC-PGA Coppermine Problems

Product: 3M electrical tape
Street Price: A dollar or two
Date Reviewed: May 24, 2000

3M Electrical Tape:

Behold my friends, no longer do you need to by a new heat sink to mount on your coppermine, nor do you need to by an expensive copper shim to stabilize the heat sink. It can all be done using simple electrical tape! Let me tell you how I came to discovering it. I was brainstorming on evening trying to figure out a way to increase the contact area on the FC-PGA's to mount a heat sink firmly. First I thought of using a hot glue gun and making a area of glue around the core, problem being that it would be difficult to get that flush with the core, and problems with shrinkage & expanding from heating & cooling. So I quickly rolled that out as it would just make a mess. Then I thought of this thermal pad type stuff that I had left over from a little project, it had a uniform thickness and was designed to transfer heat well. I could of just lapped it down till I got to the level or the core. Problem with that was that the material isn't exactly "off the shelf" it's more of a special order item. Then I just happened to glance over at my roll of electrical tape and thought, "I wonder what would happen if I layer it a couple times if I could get near the height of the core"... so I started cutting little pieces and sticking them on top of each other, and what I ended up with was this:

It was a perfect fit! The exact roll I used was 3M Part # 49656, but I'm sure any electrical tape will work. I used 4 (four) layers of tape and it was the exact height of the core. I tried to keep the tape on the edges as to maximize the area, but also to keep it over the pins so the pressure wouldn't warp the CPU (I don't think it would any ways). But now I could mount any heatsink (except for the new FC Alpha's, but I will be getting to that in a second) and it would be rock solid on there, not wobbling at all, and I used a very very small amount of thermal compound and it made 100% contact (which is what is should do in the first place). Be sure you have some cotton balls & rubbing alcohol around when you start this. I had to test fit the whole thing several times before I got the "magic number", each time after I took the heat sink off, I was sure to clean off the thermal compound so I would know exactly what was & wasn't making contact each time I mounted it. Be sure you do the same, you want full contact with the core, but you also don't want your heat sink to wobble. It takes a little time and patience, but it's worth it in the end. Also be sure that you have the same number of layers on all the spacers your make!

PIII-550E - From PCNut

Now with the FC Alpha coolers, they have the raised center so I had to use a little more tape, and I stuck it to the heatsink rather than the chip because of that. It needed 6 (six) layers of tape. Worked like a charm...

As you can see, I only started with the one above, two key things, be sure no to have it overlapping on the raised center part, and be sure to trim it so it doesn't hang over the edges.

So, using some simple electrical tape, you can make a good, solid mounting area to mount your heat sink to your coppermine. Be sure to press the electrical tape down firmly and not to get any debris on the stick sides. Also be careful not to bend any pins on the bottom side of the chip as they are very fragile. Now that you have read this, I bet you are asking yourself, "Why didn't I think of that?"..... :)  Have fun!

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