You're probably thinking how in the world can anyone in their right mind write a review on a shim. Well since many are convinced I'm off my rocker, I'm going to try. But my Momma thinks I'm so bright she calls me sun.

I'm glad you asked that question. The only purpose of a shim is to protect that delicate cpu core on the current AMD processors when you install the usually heavy and sometimes bulky heatsink to cool that blazin' but small processor. It's slightly less raised than the cpu but it's suppose to help prevent chipping. You know, when you chip off a corner of that small processor trying to get that darn heavy and gosh-darned clip to well, clip on the mobo. Now how many of you have had assorted troubles and hassles getting that heatsink on your cpu? How many? C'mon and raise your hand. If you didn't raise your hand then either your nose is suddenly much longer or you are not a pc abuser, err overclocker.

And how many of you have received a cpu in trade used on the forums only to find out it has a small but noticable chip or two, usually on a corner. That's usually caused by one holding that heavy heatsink at an angle to get the back part clipped on the motherboard. And other times when one is trying to get the front part on so they "press" down a bit too hard on one side. Other times a chip happens when one removes that heavy heatsink.

Going by personal experience and from reading about others experiences on the forums, sometimes you can have a small chip or 2 on a cpu and it'll still run just fine. Even if it does run fine that chip(s) will no doubt lessen the life of the cpu. Why do you think some are trying to trade theirs away. Other potential problems are inconsistant performance, weird boot problems and at worst, it won't work. Yep, the old dead cpu trick. You know, the one where you start cursing in some language you've never even heard of before. Gritting your teeth, eyeballs bulging out, red faced, hair standing straight up and biting the head off anyone near you are other side effects of this "dead cpu trick".

Obviously by being more careful ya dummy. Seriously though, a chip can be caused by the best of us using about any of the newer heatsinks. Even not placing the heatsink level on the cpu can cause a chip once you try to connect it and apply pressure. So you either go real slow, be very careful, watch what you are doing, no don't look at the babe pics while doing this or get a shim. If you are experienced then the chances of a chip happening are less, but they can still happen. Anyone with either very little or no experience attaching a heatsink to a newer AMD cpu then do yourself one huge flavor and get a shim. I recommend a shim to those experienced also. Protect that investment.

Remember this if you forget everything else, ONLY GET A NON-CONDUCTIVE SHIM. Let me repeat myself, ONLY GET A NON-CONDUCTIVE SHIM. You do not want one of those copper shims. And why not? Think about it, copper is conductive right? Yikes! You do not want a copper shim between your cpu and heatsink and close to those sensitive but tiny slightly-raised cpu transistors. Then your talkin' short-out. Dead cpu, hit the road jack. Kinda de feets the purpose of having a shim now don't it. Copper shims should NOT be sold. I have seen as I'm sure many of you also have seen where another fried their cpu by using a copper shim.

This one as you can see in the pic doesn't cover any of those tiny raised cpu resistors and instead is far enough away from them to not even effect heat much at all but still do the job of protecting that tender cpu core when installing that heavy heatsink. I tested several times with and without the shim and I did not get a temperature change when using this shim. The material seems porous so that obviously helps to allow heat to pass through instead of holding it in as a copper shim will do.

Ok, you've purchased this non-conductive shim now how the heck do you install that thang. First you stand up, twist around to your left, now twist to your right. Then repeat 7 more times. Apply a good heatsink compound like Arctic Alumina on the cpu core(please see proper directions in that link) on the raised cpu core. Then put that sucker on! Yep it's that easy. You may even skip the "twist" part too if you wish. At first obviously position it over the cpu so you place it on the correct way(see pic) and not cover those cpu resistors. Then of course place the cpu with shim on the motherboard socket and install the heatsink.

Thanks goes out to CrazyPC for supplying us with this shim for review and they have this shim at a super bargain price of $5.95 for the AMD Duron/TBird. Direct link to the $5.95 non-conductive shim. They also have one for the AMD XP cpu for $8.95. Made of the same material as the Duron/TBird one.