Question replacing the stock northbridge heatsink on 650i motherboard

[hapooh]

I have the P5N-E SLI motherboard, and I am replacing the northbridge stock heatsink.

When I remove the heatsink I see a foam insulating pad glued to the bottom of it. So my question is.... is it necessary to re-use this pad with the new aftermarket heatsink?

It appears that only the very center of the northbridge chip makes contact with the heatsink. The rest of the chip has exposed circuitry and the foam pad is used to keep these parts from coming into direct contact with the heatsink.

So any feedback or guidance from people who have already replaced their northbridge heatsink would be appreciated...

[Dazz]

It's basicly a shim to provent the chip from being crushed or chiped like back in the old days with the Pentium 3 and Athlon Processor which is why they all have heat spreaders to provent chiping. Depending on the HS used you may still need it.