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Thermal (gum) Pads on heatsinks

Rayx0rRayx0r Member, Newbie CommonPosts: 2,902
in Hardware

so my spare PC started having heat spikes.   CPU is maybe 3 years old, same with the mobo.  Idle the cpu would sit around 38c.  When I played games it would go up to about 41c, then out of nowhere after maybe 20 minutes of gaming it would spike very quickly to around 80c and climb to around 120c where the PC would shut down.

so lately its just been used as a spare PC to check game guides while in game and download torrents since it ran windows just fine around 38c.  The other day the PC shut itself down at some point, so I thought it would be a good time to reseat the heatsink to see if that fixed the problem.  I already considered the CPU to be shot since the core temp was fine under idle/windows and it wouldnt spike unless under a full load gaming

anyway, I popped it open and unclipped the heatsink and it wouldnt budge.  I gave it a slight twist.. still nothing.  I remembered I left the thermal  pad on the heatsink because I never planned on upgrading the CPU.  Never considered it just going out and being forced to upgrade.  So I had to give the heatsink a little more force and it popped off.   Took the CPU out of the socket and ripped the cover off the CPU.  So, now im not sure if the new cpu will work on the board since it wasnt removed by lifting the CPU lever.

to make long stories short, always remove the thermal pad from your heatsink.  Even if you're not planning to upgrade

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“"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."

Comments

  • ScalebaneScalebane Member UncommonPosts: 1,883

    image

    "The great thing about human language is that it prevents us from sticking to the matter at hand."
    - Lewis Thomas

  • CleffyCleffy Member RarePosts: 6,414

    I don't imagine it will be a problem when I think about how a sockets locking device works. Just lift the lever and turn your motherboard upside down to get rid of any copper that might have been left behind. 

  • rage9000rage9000 Member Posts: 96

    before trying to remove the heatsink start the pc and let it heat up. comes right  off.

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