clip on new HSF seems loose - should I be worried?

[NTB]

Just recieved the parts for my new computer, and I've put the CPU & memory into the mainboard. Everything looks good, but the clip on the HSF seemed loose to me, at least compared to the Volcano and AX-7 I have on the other two PCs I've built. It isn't rattling around or anything, but I thought there needed to be a fairly significant amount of pressure in order to make good contact with the CPU die. Is this anything I should be worried about?

Nate

 

[NYHoustonman]

Maybe it's on backwards? I am not entirely sure, but in my experience all HSF's go on really tight.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
Maybe it's on backwards?

Nope - checked that when I was putting it on. Besides, putting one on backwards would make it tighter. Trust me, I've done it before

Nate

 

[Lyfer]

Thermaltake heatsink product sucks, you shoulda gotten a thermalright product .

 

[Duvie]

If the hsf is on a raised core chip like the amd cpus or the intel northbridges I would be concerned....One bump of the hsf when reaching in there could cause the hsf to rock on the core and chip an edge...I damaged an i845g mobo that way.....ON the cpu it may not be making good connection and thus may make the temps rise to unsafe levels...

 

[NTB]

Well so far, so good . I went ahead and set it up anyway; in the process of installing Windows XP and some programs now and it doesn't seem to be doing any harm. It's idling right now ~40C, which isn't bad considering that my other AthlonXP (with the ThermalTake & a Panaflo L1A on it) idles closer to 45C. Just to be on the safe side the first thing I did when I booted up was go into the BIOS and set the warning and shutdown temps.

(and yes, I realize temps in the 40C range may sound high to people around here, but I'd rather have a slightly warmer, quiet system than an ice-cold windtunnel )

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: Lyfer
Thermaltake heatsink product sucks, you shoulda gotten a thermalright product .

The Volcano is on an old Duron 750, not this one (AthlonXP 1700+)

Nate

 

[NTB]

Just one more update - The new computer has been looping Sandra's CPU & memory benchmarks all night (still running as I type this, as a matter of fact) and never gotten over 45C. I guess I'm in good shape .

Nate

 

[NYHoustonman]

Generally, people around here can find anything to be high, but really anything up to around 60C (in my opinion) on an Athlon is just fine. And yes, I am the same way, my computer is built around (near) silence.

 

[NTB]

Originally posted by: NYHoustonman
Generally, people around here can find anything to be high, but really anything up to around 60C (in my opinion) on an Athlon is just fine. And yes, I am the same way, my computer is built around (near) silence.

Sounds good to me. A friend of mine had an original T-bird that would run low to mid 50's all the time @ stock speeds, and he never had a problem. Right now, I'm running 1.75GHz (10.5x166) with no problems. Been running Prim95 for a while and the temp seems to have topped out at 49C. I think I'll keep going until I either:

a)start hitting temps similar to what my original 1700+ hits (43-45 idle, 50-52 load) or

b)the system pukes, whichever comes first

Nate