Hi. Just assembled my alu heatsink case and Pi 4. Made a hash of peeling the protective layers off the largest pad. I’ve managed to put most of it back together but it looks bad. What is the 3M part number? Or could I use some ARCTIC MX-4 thermal paste?
Thanks
Thermal pads are generally used when there’s a small gap between the chip and the heatsink, so thermal paste might not work properly as it doesn’t cover gaps well.
You should probably be able to use any thermal pads, but you’ll want to know the thickness: they’re usually 0.5, 1, 1.5 or 2 mm thick. Once you know that any brand should do, I doubt the Pi would benefit much from the expensive high performance pads.
The assembly guide says that you should have had a spare pad, have you used it for something else?
There were 3 different sized pads for 3 chips but no spares. And the only 3M marking I can see is 9448A which I think is only for the double sided tape. So I have no idea how thick the thermal pad is?
Honestly? They tend to reply faster on Twitter or Discord. It might be easier to ask there.
i have a flirc case ,dont use it now ,but when i did i used thermal past ,didnt seem to affect it,but the pi3 didnt reall have a heating issue , I have use paste on my pi4’s large black heatsinc untill i got my fanshim and it kept the temps down ,https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-heatsink