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My first concern was condensation. I decided to take to proper steps in order to prevent this, which I document here. I was planning on near-freezing CPU temps, if not sub-zero. I decided on closed-cell foam instead of Neoprene. The water-proofing ability may be a little less, but I believe closed-cell foam provides better insulation. Closed-cell foam on the back of the mobo: Foam inside of the Zif-socket sealed with RTV sealant:
Neoprene gasket around the Zif-socket: Di-Electric grease inside of the pin holes:
In order to prevent condensation inside of the Zif-socket, I used Permatex Di-Electric grease. This may be a bit overkill, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Please note: Di-Electric grease is non-conductive. I almost made the mistake of using Gardner-Bender Ox-Gard, which after research, I discovered is conductive. If I would have used that, my motherboard and CPU would have been hosed. The dumb-asses at Sears Hardware told me this stuff is non-conductive. Good thing I sensed their stupidity from a mile away and researched it on my own :-) One other precaution you may take is to spray the surrounding area with conformal coating. I believe my insulating job is adequate and therefore I opted not to use conformal coating. Pro Cooling.com has an excellent article on-line that explains in detail the chemicals used in overclocking entitled The Chemicals of OC’n and Insulating your Rig Next, in order to maximize the cooling effects of the gigantic 50x50 TEC, I decided to use a copper shim. The Athlon core is so small, and it seems all of that potential cooling area is going to waste. This is a DTS-400 shim from CPUFx.
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