Is a copper shim...
- Thread starter Aunty M
- Start date
As long as it's designed for T-birds, yes. The only heat problems they can cause is if the copper shim is too high and causes the heatsink to not make full contact with the processor. Some say they trap heat, but I saw no indications that my 1.2 @ 1.33 was any hotter with the shim on rather than off. If you're really concerned about heat getting trapped, just get a shim with a "U" or "C" form or cut out a piece from one with an "O" form where air can escape through.
Justintime
Something
shims: pointless
Aunty M
AMD Bitch
I prefer to use them as a precautionary measure, especially as the copper heatsinks I'm now using are considerably heavier than the ali ones. I bought one with something else in an auction - my XP has a universal socket A shim made from a non-conductive material - and I was just wondering what was up the copper shim and if it's safe to use - I hate wasting good stuff. I was thinking of using it when I overclock the TBird. It's made by Xannet and says it's designed for Duron, AMD and XP cpus.
Justintime
Something
Shims can inhbit the proper transfer between the core and sink, also if they shift whilst installation they can cause processor burnout as they might make the sink not contact the core at all. I would not use it if overclocking, you want the best transfer possible and a shim might just inhibit it, fury as for socket A installation, just be careful and take your time, when i installed my first Socket A chip many moons ago i had no idea about how easy it was to crush, and applied tons of force but nothing ever happened 
Justintime
Something
Its not the design, its the installation, with the later T birds and XP cores shims became rather pointless, as the material used as substrate over the actual core is much much stronger than it was and far less vunerable to cracking/chipping, i dropped a 500G sink on a core sideways be mistake as it fell from my hand and not a single scratch/harline fracture/anything happened.