Database Info

[Modification] CPU, Ram and other IC Cooling for OCers

Warning: Attempt this modification at your own discretion. I am not responsible for any damages which may occur.
After attempting to OC my phone, I noticed hot spots when stressing my CPU at 1.4ghz. Looking at the anatomy of my phone (http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung-Galaxy-S-I-9000-Teardown/7122/1), I noticed the structural mid-plate is a metallic alloy. This modification tries to cool the CPU and other heat generating ICs by using the phone's mid-plate and EMI shielding as a heatsink.
Test:
CPU stressed for 10 Min at 1.4ghz starting from a minimum cooled state. Application: “Stability Test”
Before Mod: 53oC (127.5oF) at 7 min 48 sec (I cut the test short as I did not want to overheat my phone)
After Mod: 43oC (109.5oF) at 10 min 10 sec
Procedure:
1. Teardown your phone as per the ifixit.com site and extract the mainboard.
2. Remove the simcard & MicroSD EMI Shield
3. Apply thermal compound to all the raised ICs. This allows the EMI shield to act as a small heatsink.
4. Reinstall EMI Shield and press down firmly to allow proper contact with the thermal compound
5. On the other side of the mainboard, liberally apply thermal compound onto the exposed ICs as per the pictures. Note: There is a relatively large gap between the surface of the ICs and the mid-plate.
6. Reinstall mainboard and press firmly against the mid-plate. If the thermal compound is making contact with the midplate then there should be some slight resistance when trying to lift the mainboard. If there is no resistance, then you will need to apply more thermal compound.
7. Install remaining components and close up your phone.
I used Arctic Silver 5 as I had some laying around. It is probably better to use a non metallic thermal compound, but I have yet to experience any problems with electric components.
My phone has been modded for about 2 weeks, running @ 1.5ghz and I have yet to experience any ill effects with operating system or with the OLED screen.
Though this mod is reversible, it may be messy cleaning up the thermal compound from your phone.
Happy Modding

interesting idea...
although it sounds like your just trying to squish as much pb&j between the plate and the ic's.
whitewindhtc said:
I used Arctic Silver 5 as I had some laying around. It is probably better to use a non metallic thermal compound, but I have yet to experience any problems with electric components.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
indeed, i've never had trouble with AS5 but would probably go with a non metallic compound for this.
PS wow, that's a LOT of AS5... must have cost you $5 just in compound just to do that

Either way, conduction is almost always better than convection in terms of cooling a heat source. It might be a little messy, but the mod is quite effective.
The amount of thermal compound is quite a bit, but I wanted to ensure that I made contact with the 'heatsink'. There are many cheaper thermal compound alternatives than AS5, but I ran out of the generic white stuff.

very good idea.. thanks for sharing. do you think using thermal pad in this case would be better solution than thermal compound? or do think that thermal pad. won't work?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

Although thermal pads would be cleaner, they are also more difficult to use in this application due to the variation in gap spacing between the component and heatsink.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA

Wanted to fix the GPS antenna connector, ended doing this aswell, although just RAM and CPU. The amount of thermal grease is really enourmous for a proper contact. To anyone who will do this aswell, take your time, its not hard, just be patient

wow, great!
Btw, in which kernel you use OC 1.5ghz?

NDeaz said:
wow, great!
Btw, in which kernel you use OC 1.5ghz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Devil kernel can do that
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

1.5ghz it's 1400mhz*107%liveoc? or what?
P.S. interesting to see benchmark results on 1.5ghz

Thank you for the idea. Just done that with thermal pads since it's more clean.

jorgemiguel4 said:
Thank you for the idea. Just done that with thermal pads since it's more clean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where do you get that stuff? I couldnt find any seller in my country. Ebay/amazon?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

R4DK0 said:
Where do you get that stuff? I couldnt find any seller in my country. Ebay/amazon?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ebay

How are the temps with the termal pads? Do you notice any improvement?
Does the phone still heat up when oc and playing games?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

darkknigh_t said:
How are the temps with the termal pads? Do you notice any improvement?
Does the phone still heat up when oc and playing games?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I havent't measured it with any app, but noticed that the heat is more spreaded over the phone after some time playing a game... That's a good thing, I guess.

Looks like a good idea. Getting the most out of this little device always helps.

Do you guys get stability over 1.2-1.3GHz? Achieved with "oc" and/or "live oc"? After applying this mod, this thermal compound, the phone definately heats up more evenly.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using xda app-developers app

Thanks for the idea.. i'll try this one..
better not damage my SGS . (i hope :angel

jorgemiguel4 said:
I havent't measured it with any app, but noticed that the heat is more spreaded over the phone after some time playing a game... That's a good thing, I guess.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How thick pad do you recommend? Would 0.5 mm be too much?

elektroda said:
How thick pad do you recommend? Would 0.5 mm be too much?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have used 1mm thick on mine.

how this enormous OC affected battery life? will it last through the day?

[MOD] A700 Heat & a Viable Solution!!!

UPDATE:
I wish I'd done some temperature benchmarking beforehand, but instead sourced the community to help out. Check out the various results on XDA... there are also results from two TF700 owners (in Europe) who were gracious enough to help me out.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28051518
First, it seems clear that my mod really didn't mitigate the heat issue enough... so don't bother.
Second, comparing the numbers between other A700's and the TF700... well, I'll let you draw your own conclusion on that one. :-(
---
Hi all,
As many of you have experienced, the A700 can get very hot under certain conditions. Mine got extremely hot to the touch after just an hour of gaming (Heavy Gunner, NFL Flick QB, and Cut the Rope), and crashed 2 or 3 times.
Well I decided to do something about it. Reading through the Service Guide (thank you paugustin!!!) & A700 teardown photos from another site, I came to some conclusions. First, from the looks of things, the back panel has some kind of metal plate lining, and 3 "pads" that closed the gap between the metal plate and several surfaces of the mainboard. My hope was that these pads were not simply foam pads but were actual thermal pads. I guessed that a bit of thermal paste might help the efficiency of those thermal pads... and if I got really ambitious, I could replace the thermal pads with larger ones (and paste those too).
Service Guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716922
I followed the instructions in the Service Guide & opened up my A700 earlier tonight. I'm pleased to report that as long as you take your time, it's super easy to open up.
And lo and behold, my conclusions were accurate... the back plate is copper and the pads were thermal pads!
Back Plate:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/um556g6vtl7y99e/C360_2012-06-26-20-14-30.jpg
MainBoard:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jka8gooiyqn9r2d/C360_2012-06-26-20-14-46.jpg
Closer Look @ the Thermal Pads:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0j4e7wjfodwryk9/C360_2012-06-26-20-15-06.jpg
I took some CPU thermal paste I had lying around & dabbed some on:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvv99k3ghx73a00/C360_2012-06-26-20-17-24.jpg
Afterwards, I slapped everything back together, fired up NFL Flick QB and played for a half hour. I'm pleased to report that the A700 got warm but nowhere near as hot as it did in my prior gaming session. The "level of warmth" was what I'd consider mildly warm, comparable to my fiancee's iPad3, so definitely within reasonable tolerances.
I still intend to put the A700 through some more intense gaming tomorrow, but I wanted to write this post up and share it with everyone first. Hope folks find this useful and insightful!

Nice discovery, but yikes! Thermal grease is meant to go on in a translucently thin layer or it ends up having the opposite effect! If you put that much between a CPU and it's cooler, you'd kill the CPU! :S

superawesome!
Yet still i'd like to wait for more people to evaluate the hardwaremodding before i go in there myself.
Still, kudos to you. :good:

FloatingFatMan said:
Nice discovery, but yikes! Thermal grease is meant to go on in a translucently thin layer or it ends up having the opposite effect! If you put that much between a CPU and it's cooler, you'd kill the CPU! :S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Except in this case, the thermal grease isn't going up directly against the CPU... it's going up against a thermal pad & large metal plate that is covering the entire mainboard.
Additionally, unlike a heatsink & CPU which are fitted together tightly, the back panel of the A700 & thermal pads do not contact anywhere near as tight to the mainboard plate. I fitted the two halves together, then pulled them apart again, to see how much the paste really spread out. This way I could better gauge how tight the contact was & remove any excess that got squished out. However, not much paste really did, telling me that the compression between the two isn't that great. That is why I'm toying with the idea of replacing the thermal pads entirely.

Hey, good stuff. Keep us in the loop on this....
Thicker thermal pads might be in order, or a better paste job under the plate on the CPU/GPU...
Bigger pads to spread the heat out more since the back looks to be one copper heat sink..
http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g8/c487/list/p1/Thermal-Thermal_Pads_Tape.html

Beknatok said:
Hi all,
As many of you have experienced, the A700 can get very hot under certain conditions. Mine got extremely hot to the touch after just an hour of gaming (Heavy Gunner, NFL Flick QB, and Cut the Rope), and crashed 2 or 3 times.
Well I decided to do something about it. Reading through the Service Guide (thank you paugustin!!!) & A700 teardown photos from another site, I came to some conclusions. First, from the looks of things, the back panel has some kind of metal plate lining, and 3 "pads" that closed the gap between the metal plate and several surfaces of the mainboard. My hope was that these pads were not simply foam pads but were actual thermal pads. I guessed that a bit of thermal paste might help the efficiency of those thermal pads... and if I got really ambitious, I could replace the thermal pads with larger ones (and paste those too).
Service Guide:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1716922
I followed the instructions in the Service Guide & opened up my A700 earlier tonight. I'm pleased to report that as long as you take your time, it's super easy to open up.
And lo and behold, my conclusions were accurate... the back plate is copper and the pads were thermal pads!
Back Plate:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/um556g6vtl7y99e/C360_2012-06-26-20-14-30.jpg
MainBoard:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jka8gooiyqn9r2d/C360_2012-06-26-20-14-46.jpg
Closer Look @ the Thermal Pads:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0j4e7wjfodwryk9/C360_2012-06-26-20-15-06.jpg
I took some CPU thermal paste I had lying around & dabbed some on:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvv99k3ghx73a00/C360_2012-06-26-20-17-24.jpg
Afterwards, I slapped everything back together, fired up NFL Flick QB and played for a half hour. I'm pleased to report that the A700 got warm but nowhere near as hot as it did in my prior gaming session. The "level of warmth" was what I'd consider mildly warm, comparable to my fiancee's iPad3, so definitely within reasonable tolerances.
I still intend to put the A700 through some more intense gaming tomorrow, but I wanted to write this post up and share it with everyone first. Hope folks find this useful and insightful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fantastic for the XDA community, but the average buyer will be like the cheesey pop group Power Station and will "Feel the heat".

rushless said:
Fantastic for the XDA community, but the average buyer will be like the cheesey pop group Power Station and will "Feel the heat".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then be happy that you're amongst the enlightened!

CAUTION!!!!!
OK maybe that's a bit strong, but as an engineer I have to question the logic employed.
First of all, the heat generated by the CPU, battery, etc. must exit the device. ALL OF IT!
Temperature of the back plate is determined by two factors alone: thermal resistance (e.g. insulation, heat pipes, air flow, fins, etc.) and the amount of heat transfer. I'm serious!
It appears that you have done nothing to affect the thermal resistance between the back plate and the air (e.g. adding cooling fins or increasing air flow). Therefore if your back plate temperature has decreased (and the air temp stayed the same), then we would conclude that heat transfer between the back plate and the air has DECREASED.
If hea

If heat transfer from the plate to the air has decreased, then that means the heat transfer from the CPU etc. to the plate must have decreased as well!
My guess is that your thermal paste is producing a higher thermal resistance, as predicted by FFM! And it's deceptive because it's insulating the back plate from the CPU etc.
So where's the heat going? (I hear myself asking... myself.)
My guess is that it's dissipating through the tablet, getting distributed and absorbed and ultimately emitted more uniformly from the device. This would raise the internal temperature of the device, including the CPU! Hence the CAUTION!!!!!

Your idea could have some benefit, though, and here's how i see it playing out:
If you decrease the thermal resistance between the CPU and the back plate, then the CPU would be closer to the temperature of the back plate (i.e. lower). But the back plate temperature won't really change because you still have the same total heat coming through and the same thermal resistance with the air.
As for spreading the temperature across the back plate more, I'm not sure you can do it more effectively than the copper plate that's already there. Not without insulating the most direct heat transfer path!

yeoldeusrename said:
CAUTION!!!!!
OK maybe that's a bit strong, but as an engineer I have to question the logic employed.
First of all, the heat generated by the CPU, battery, etc. must exit the device. ALL OF IT!
Temperature of the back plate is determined by two factors alone: thermal resistance (e.g. insulation, heat pipes, air flow, fins, etc.) and the amount of heat transfer. I'm serious!
It appears that you have done nothing to affect the thermal resistance between the back plate and the air (e.g. adding cooling fins or increasing air flow). Therefore if your back plate temperature has decreased (and the air temp stayed the same), then we would conclude that heat transfer between the back plate and the air has DECREASED.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, I'm aware of this.
The exact problem I was attempting to mitigate, is the transfer of heat between the mainboard cover plate and the back panel copper plate. I was theorizing that the thermal pads being used were not fitted well, thus not functioning optimally as designed to begin with. As a result, not enough heat was being transfered to the back panel copper plate for proper dissipation.
So either heat is being transferred to the back copper plate more efficiently now and dissipating more effectively... or the opposite as you proposed.
However, if heat transfer has decreased, wouldn't heat buildup would still occur within the small area between the back panel & mainboard? While it wouldn't be absorbing the same amount of heat directly from the thermal pad, heat would still build up over time and that should still be noticable no matter what, right?

I'd also note that the BETTER solution would be to NOT combine thermal paste with the thermal pads, since as you point out, that can adversely affect thermal resistance.... but rather to replace the pads with better pads.
But I decided to be a guinea pig and try it out anyway.

Sorry I got distracted before posting my conclusion:
So my conclusion (prior to your latest comments) is that you can effectively lower the temperature of the CPU but not of the back plate. (unless you're insulating it from the CPU, which will spread the heat around and raise the temp of the internals!!!!).
I will consider your latest comments and repost!

The way I see it, the heat was not effectively transferred to the radiator. We have to remember that the case heat-up experienced by touch is not only the radiator, but the case itself heated by both the radiator and the air.
I'd assume that lack of crashes indicates smaller temperature of the CPU\GPU, as the heat is conducted more effectively by the paste to the radiator and dissipates evenly, instead of building up in one place and transferred to the case by air.

It's times like this, that highlights the one minor missing flaw of the A700... there's no bloody temperature sensors that we can poll!!!
*bashes head against desk*
So unfortunately, all findings are really subjective unless yeoldeusrename's conclusions are correct and mine are totally incorrect, and my A700 decides to fry itself.

Beknatok said:
It's times like this, that highlights the one minor missing flaw of the A700... there's no bloody temperature sensors that we can poll!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, i wouldn't be that sure. The A510 has them (at least separately for cpu and battery) and can be read by certain apps from the store. (E.g system tuner and battery monitor widget) so i would guess the A700 has them too.
Perhaps that helps
Sent from my A510 using xda app-developers app

mearoth said:
Well, i wouldn't be that sure. The A510 has them (at least separately for cpu and battery) and can be read by certain apps from the store. (E.g system tuner and battery monitor widget) so i would guess the A700 has them too.
Perhaps that helps
Sent from my A510 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The two apps I tried, didn't show anything for temperature, but I just grabbed system tuner & it does register cpu temp! Yay! Will explore the app further to figure out how to record history for accurate metrics. Thanks for the hint.
Sent from my A700 using Tapatalk 2

Beginning to wonder if the heat and touch issues are why the 700 is priced the exact same as the 510. Nothing else apparently makes sense.

Anyone who is tracking this thread & wouldn't mind helping gather some additional data, please check out this thread:
CPU Temp Benchmarking - Request for Help
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=28009068
Thanks!!!

I think I'm going to look into creating a heat shield to place against the rear cover.
2 to 3 inches across and 4 down on the right side should do it.
This is a great tablet otherwise and don't want to give up on it just yet.
Besides the Asus sound system is inferior.

[Q] Tablet heating?

Hi I had purchased a Galaxy Note 10.1 recently and have been playing around with it. A concern I had was that on the upper left backside of the device, below the silver plate on the white surface, the device feels warm compared to other areas of the tablet when using any apps. Is this normal or not?

m.sfm said:
Hi I had purchased a Galaxy Note 10.1 recently and have been playing around with it. A concern I had was that on the upper left backside of the device, below the silver plate on the white surface, the device feels warm compared to other areas of the tablet when using any apps. Is this normal or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is close to the cpu same on mine

Hi erica, how long have you had your tablet? Has it ever really bothered you too?

"Feeling warm" is normal for anything with a modern CPU inside it. If you put your hand directly on the CPU (or the heatsink covering it) in a desktop or laptop computer you may burn your hand since it can reach huge temperatures of 60 degrees plus.
This review shows the Galaxy Note 10.1 to reach 45.9 C on one corner of the back when under maximum load:
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 had no issues regarding temperature. Even after long periods of full utilization during our stress test, the Galaxy Note did not become excessively warm. While the upper left corner exhibited slight hot spots on both the front and back side with temperatures of 45.9 degrees Celsius (115.6 degrees Fahrenheit), this temperature is still rather trivial considering the fact that our test was conducted on a hot summer day. During daily use, the surface temperatures of the tablet remained comfortably cool and under 33 degrees Celsius (91 degrees Fahrenheit) at every measurement location. The internal components showed no risk of overheating in any case and even the AC adapter barely warmed up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-Galaxy-Note-10-1-GT-N8010-Tablet.80901.0.html
Since it's plastic, that'll never feel "hot", just warm.
You should rarely reach maximum load if you use well-behaved apps, though some games will tax it a bit. It's actually pretty amazing what processor power can be achieved in this thing without getting too hot or requiring a fan, thanks to the ARM architecture.

MercuryStar said:
"Feeling warm" is normal for anything with a modern CPU inside it. If you put your hand directly on the CPU (or the heatsink covering it) in a desktop or laptop computer you may burn your hand since it can reach huge temperatures of 60 degrees plus.
This review shows the Galaxy Note 10.1 to reach 45.9 C on one corner of the back when under maximum load:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-Galaxy-Note-10-1-GT-N8010-Tablet.80901.0.html
Since it's plastic, that'll never feel "hot", just warm.
You should rarely reach maximum load if you use well-behaved apps, though some games will tax it a bit. It's actually pretty amazing what processor power can be achieved in this thing without getting too hot or requiring a fan, thanks to the ARM architecture.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if the tablet reaches 52 C, thats alright? I really don't know specifics like this at all but would a tablet such as the asus tf700 feel the same way? I mean heat wise on a everyday medium load?

They actually get considerably warm being they are made out of aluminum. I had the tf201 and 700. It's not too hot though but you notice it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

I am using system tuner to see the cpu temperature and I am getting high as 55 C. So I am in the green right? What is the highest the temperature can be and my tablet can still have a good lifespan?

A few things:
1. When I pointed out the review of this device that said it got to 45.9 degrees, that's the surface of the outside of the case. That's different to the CPU temperature, which will invariably be hotter.
2. Tools that report CPU temperature are invariably misleading. There are so many different ways to measure it that mean different things and sensors can be calibrated differently on different devices. I'd say leave it up to the engineers that built the tablet and trust that they built it to tolerate any heat it generates, which they will have had to.
3. Aluminium of the TF201 won't be getting warmer because it's aluminium, it'll just *feel* warmer because it's aluminium - even if it were the same temperature. It conducts heat to your body more efficiently as a metal. As a result, the case itself will actually help cool the tablet better, but don't go assuming this makes aluminium cases better - the engineers would have accounted for this in their thermal design, and we're not talking about all that much heat here anyway.
At any rate, this tablet doesn't get hot enough to worry about - far, far from it. The amount of warmth you feel is normal and in a tablet like this will never get close to approaching the heat required to reduce the CPU's life (unless something goes terribly wrong or you put it in an oven or something). It's not even worth worrying about. I'd worry more than in 3-5 years' time the battery capacity will have deteriorated to the point where it'll give you noticeably less battery life - because that will happen. If you're going to worry about overheating, worry about your laptop instead. If its little fan stops, is blocked or fills with dust, it is actually *quite likely* to overheat the CPU eventually - not that you're likely to notice, as the CPU will just throttle down.

Thanks for the useful info, now do i just delete this thread?

m.sfm said:
Thanks for the useful info, now do i just delete this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why deny other people the chance to read these comments or contribute to the conversation? I myself put a fair bit of effort into my own comment!

m.sfm said:
Thanks for the useful info, now do i just delete this thread?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No but you can put solved in title so it can help future members.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app

Has any one done a teardown and do a thermal paste mod

If no one has im gonna do a tear down this weekend take pics and post. I do the thermal paste mods jus like g3. Have also done on a g4. Ps3. And my pc. I prefer arctic silver thermal paste. Due to its wonderful heat disapating properties. Now before hand warnings. The back and fronts of the phones will feel warmer when this is done because the paste draws the heat out of the pross and sinks it in the screen and back of the device . No bad reports that i have come across yet other than people with absolutly no electronic skills whatso ever tearing stuff up. I do the mods slightly diffrent i coat the main pross plus any othe flat chips such as ram. Memory. Power unit. Helps keep em cool.
Noticed though this device does stay pretty cool
Give me some feedback and opinions please

PX6 cooling. Thermal pase or pad?

The factory heatsing had thermal paste.
I got a new one from seller dince i had overheat problems at summer and i used thermal paste as well.
But the px6 is not flat. It has holes and such.
So i am wondering.
Maybe a thermal pad would be better than thermal paste? If it is what thickness?

Paste has always been better with uneven surfaces.

I can understand it exactly the opposite way. Even surfaces go for paste, non even with pad.

GnFgr said:
I can understand it exactly the opposite way. Even surfaces go for paste, non even with pad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may be thinking of EPOXY thermal compound, which in my opinion is garbage.
On the other hand any silicone based grease is far better at filling gaps than pads are. Most factories tend to use pads though because it's cleaner and there is less maintenance to perform on the factory assembly machines.
Good read here:
Thermal Pads vs Thermal Paste: The Best Choice for Mounting Your Heatsinks
I used to work as a construction assistant, where my primary responsibility was to level properties prior to the heavy concrete trucks laying down a level foundation. It was a tedious and taxing job, but something that is quite crucial for a building in order for it to withstand years of use and...
resources.altium.com

I never said about epoxy based. Never.
The px6 is not only uneven but has a metal shield on top. The metal shield acts as an interference shield ( like a faraday cage maybe?) And has holes. So the surface in not only not even it is full of holes.
I am not asking about even and not, and you stand correct, in surfaces that are either even or almost paste in my mind is the way to go.
But when the gap is bigger that x what is better?
So today i cleaned the paste with isopropyl alcohol and used a good pad from gelid i think. It is rated as 15W/mK and is 0.5mm thickness.
With external temp of 5 degrees Celsius the cpu was at 78 to 80 degrees after an hour. That is with thermal paste.
With the thermal pad the temperature after an hour is 65 degrees.
The usage is exactly the same at the one hour usage.
Maybe the metallic shield has no contact with the cpu and the pad manages through the holes to have at least some contact and achieve better heat transfer?

Well... some kind of cooling is better than none, that is for sure, but heat sinks are supposed to make full and direct contact with the device and if it can't then I suggest you have mechanical issues to correct rather than thermodynamic ones.

Damn.
I am not asking what is better as a general concept. I am asking what is better for a specific use that there is a shield above the cpu and there is no direct contact.
Anyway mate forget it.

GnFgr said:
Damn.
I am not asking what is better as a general concept. I am asking what is better for a specific use that there is a shield above the cpu and there is no direct contact.
Anyway mate forget it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt you can find many to answer a question on mounting a heat sink in such an improper fashion. Not withstanding, you seem to be convinced that the pad is the right way to go, so I'm not sure why you are asking the question in the first place.

I asked because i wanted to learn what is better. Haven't test both when i asked and thought asking in a forum might find someone that had data on it.
Sorry if i overwhelmed you.
Anyway just forget this thread to the void.
Keep on