Customer Reviews

StarTech.com Heatsink Thermal Pads, Pack of 5 (HSFPHASECM)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I got this thinking the pads would directly replace the pads Dell used on my portable's heat sink tubing. I was wrong. These pads are very thin, and Dell's was quite thick.

I wound up using a ceramic-based grease from Arctic Silver that is not electrically conductive in place of the former padded area. I had to make sure the grease comfortably came up to the heat pipe, but it did and this worked phenomenally well. Temperatures on my processor, bus, and video chip all went down by at least 20 degrees.

This pad will surely work for some, but if you need something with such small tolerance, why not get a high-performance grease that also won't conduct electricity?

Strangely, the pricing here is double what I could have paid at a local computer store. FYI.

As others have said, this product DOES NOT STICK to the heat exchanger so you cannot get the backing peeled. You cannot even peel it off with an exacto knife hoping that you could just lay the medium on the heat exchanger. GET SOME PASTE. Amazon should be ashamed to keep selling this product.

Thermal pads are becoming extinct in the PC business. I like and use them because I don't want to be bothered with paste. It is just so simple to stick these on like a sticker and be done. They work fine for all but the hardcore over-clockers. If your building a PC and want quick and easy TIM and aren't going to over-clock then this is what your looking for. If you plan on doing over-clocking or removing the HSF all the time then use paste.

The only con I had with the pack I received is they appeared to have been slightly pre-heated as the back release liner was difficult to remove. I suspect this is an isolated case, and when I get through the ones I have I will be ordering again.

I ordered this thinking it would be better than applying grease to the CPU.
I removed the one side of the protective paper, only to find out that I can't remove the other side without destroying the square shape. After two failed attempts at removing the thermal pad. I put them in the freezer.
After about 30 minutes, the pad had become hard enough to remove from the paper and was put on the CPU. So far, CPU has not overheated yet, so I guess the product works, but it is a pain to get it off the paper.

I don't understand those people that say they do not work. Just take the backing off rub them on the clean surface of a heatsink pull the wax paper off of the compound and press the heatsink in place. Nothing to it!!!

I thought these pads would make thermal heatsink to CPU easy and effective. WRONG! I destroyed three of them as they did not stick and they are way too thin. The other two I got rid of. DO NOT BUY THIS JUNK. Besides, the shipping cost was higher than the actual purchase. The package weighs next to nothing. Use XBRdepot Arctic Silver Ceramique Premium High Density Thermal Compound 2.5g instead. This goo works great with enough stuff to do several jobs. Alas, be prepared for high shipping costs on this as well.

Where do I start? I should have listened to other reviews, but I figured, "nah, that's just people who don't know how to use the product complaining". Bad move. This product should be pulled from being sold at amazon and everyone who bought it issued a full refund. The thermal pad is INCREDIBLY thin and does not separate from the paper it comes with, thereby making it useless. After trying three pads, I threw the rest away.

The wax paper was on the sticky side, and the plastic on the non-sticky side, instead of the other way around as it's supposed to be. It's impossible to remove the wax paper from the sticky side without destroying the pad, so the product was useless.

I returned the product to buy.com and they sent me a refund.

I did not have any problems with this product like some of the other reviewers. I cleaned the CPU heat sink thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol first and was able to apply this thermal pad without any problems. Maybe the reviewers that had problems got a bad batch. In any case, I didn't have any problems and the item worked like it's supposed to.

it doesnt stick on my first 2 tries. i should have bought the paste instead. but the product is working. watch out for the pads not sticking on the metals (heatsink) and will end up wasting one.