StarTech.com Heatsink Thermal Pads (HSFPHASECM)

Pros: None- Used all five to mount 1 processor. Read directions five times to make sure they were followed.Cons: Potentially damaging product. Will not work if your heat sink is not larger than the pad. Not only did I waste 4 trying to get one to stick, the fifth had no effective value at all. The processor went into thermal shutdown while the second processor that fortunately I had to use a traditional silver compound was fine. When I removed the processor assembly, the processor was welded to the heat sink (not reusable in the slightest). After cleaning and reapplying with a silver compound the processor was fine. There were no gaps in the pad, so it is proof positive that the pad was ineffective. The real question is whether permanent damage was done to my processor, so I would appreciate the manufacturer emailing me for the address to send me a new Mac Pro.None- Used all five to mount 1 processor. Read directions five times to make sure they were followed. Potentially damaging product. Will not work if your heat sink is not larger than the pad. Not only did I waste 4 trying to get one to stick, the fifth had no effective value at all. The processor went into thermal shutdown while the second processor that fortunately I had to use a traditional silver compound was fine. When I removed the processor assembly, the processor was welded to the heat sink (not reusable in the slightest). After cleaning and reapplying with a silver compound the processor was fine. There were no gaps in the pad, so it is proof positive that the pad was ineffective. The real question is whether permanent damage was done to my processor, so I would appreciate the manufacturer emailing me for the address to send me a new Mac Pro. If there are limits to this product such as ?Do not use on Liquid cooled processors? this should have been known and advertised.

System used on was a Power Mac G5 quad.

Pros: ZeroCons: These stuck to the plastic too much to get a full application.Zero These stuck to the plastic too much to get a full application. Don't waste your money. Go with paste.

Pros: Good for desktop processors/heatsinks, I guess.Cons: Not so great for laptop applications. Couldn't get it to stick to the heatsink area. Wasted two "pads" trying to get it to stick.Good for desktop processors/heatsinks, I guess. Not so great for laptop applications. Couldn't get it to stick to the heatsink area. Wasted two "pads" trying to get it to stick. I had expected these to be thicker state changing pads like others I've seen, but they can't really call this a pad seeing as how it's not any thicker than a sheet of copy paper. Did me no good for my particular application.

Pros: Easy enough to install. Fits where I needed it to go. Solved my laptop's thermal issues that appeared after a cpu upgrade that was originally done with the thin coat of arctic silver paste.Cons: Not so easy to get the clear backing to come off smoothly and keep the pad intact.Easy enough to install. Fits where I needed it to go. Solved my laptop's thermal issues that appeared after a cpu upgrade that was originally done with the thin coat of arctic silver paste. Not so easy to get the clear backing to come off smoothly and keep the pad intact. Apparently there was a larger gap than acceptable between the cpu and the heatsink of my laptop once the original thermal pad was removed and arctic silver 5 paste was used instead during a cpu upgrade. This pad seems to have filled that gap back into spec and made the new cpu stop going into thermal slowdown under moderate work loads so the laptop runs faster instead of slower now, as it should.

Pros: Cheap.Cons: These are not adhesive pads. I knew that going in though.Cheap. These are not adhesive pads. I knew that going in though. Fine for a temporary situation or experimentation, not sure I'd use these as my primary heat transfer medium.

Strengths:n/a ... Weaknesses:CPU runs hotter, impossible to install without tearing I purschased the 5 pack of the Startech Thermal Pads, I used all 5 trying to…