Artic Silver and AMD Warranty

Does anyone know if putting Artic Silver 5 on an AMD proccessor instead of the stock heating pad voids the warranty?

 

Artic Silver will not voide the warranty. Now not putting anything on the processor will.

 

It does void the warranty
Here's some reading:
http://www.xtremetek.com/info/index.php?id=14

 

Even if it does, which I think it would from memory, clean it up and no one would be the wiser.

 

I remember there was some discussion back when the makers of Arctic Silver released Ceramique that it wouldn't void the warranty because it's not electrically conductive, but as far as I know, putting anything on the CPU other than what's supplied in the Processor in a Box kit will void the warranty.

 

AMD's 3-year "Processor in a Box" Limited Warranty contains this statement:

"This Limited Warranty shall be null and void if the AMD microprocessor which is the subject of this Limited Warranty is used with any heatsink/fan other than the one provided herewith."

A "Read This First" sheet with my warranty contains this statement:

"Thermal interface material is required for all AMD processors. Use only the recommended thermal interface material for this processor (see Thermal Cooling Guideline on AMD's website for a complete list of approved material for the specific processor you are using)." (emphasis added)

AMD's white paper on thermal interface materials at <http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26951.pdf> includes this statement:

"High-performance thermal greases and pastes are the recommended solution for lidded processors, such as the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Opteron™ processors. For a list of recommended greases for lidded parts, see the AMD Athlon 64 and AMD Opteron Processors Thermal Design Guide, order# 26633. These greases are also suitable for lab testing or short-term use on lidless processors, such as the AMD Athlon MP, AMD Athlon XP, AMD Duron, and Mobile
AMD Athlon 64 processors. For long-term use on lidless processors, AMD recommends phasechange materials as a thermal solution."

In other words: there's no simple answer. It depends on what type of processor you're using, and what AMD thinks of AS5. I think you'd be wise to expect some resistance from AMD if you make a warranty claim on a processor that has failed due to overheating if you haven't paid careful regard to AMD's position. It won't do you any good to try to rely on a statement made by some other party -- AMD will just say, "They don't speak for us. AMD is not bound by what they say."

If you need certainty in the answer to HollisBrown's question, you'd be best off asking AMD.