damaged cpu pcb

[kepten]

hey folks!

i'm new to the forums, so let me first apologize for my froken english because i'm not a native speaker!

well, i'm building a new pc. i can't afford buying new hardware only, so i decided to buy a few pre-owned components.

what i've already purchased:
mainboard: pre-owned msi p67a-c45 (b3)
cpu: pre-owned intel celeron g530 (2x 2.4 ghz)
cpu cooler: pre-owned but unused intel i5-2500k stock cooler (12v 0.28a)
ram: new g.skill 8gb kit (2x 4gb ddr3-1333 cl9-9-9-24)
optical drive: pre-owned lg gh20ns10

i also ordered a new be quiet! straight power e9 400w psu.

as you can see, i still have to buy a few more components (i.e. case, ssd, hdd and gpu) to be able to test the hardware i already have. indeed, this is not a big issue for me because i hope that everything will work fine.

by the way, i've bought a p67 board to be able to upgrade the intel celeron cpu to an overclockable intel cpu in the future. the pre-owned intel celeron g530 was really cheap, so i thought it could serve me well until i can afford the upgrade.

unfortunately, the pre-owned cpu i've bought has a dent on the pcb. there are also a few little scratches on the heatspreader and one little scratch on one of the golden contacts on the back side of the cpu, but these little scratches don't bother me that much. the dent on the pcb is what worries me the most.

the dent is located above the heatspreader. it is on the right of the golden front side contacts. to be more precise, the dent is located on the edge of the pcb, mainly in the light green area, but it seems like the dark green area (between the light green area and the heatspreader) is also affected a little bit. it doesn't look like there is any circuitry in the light green area of the pcb, but what about the dark green area on the front side? is there any circuitry there? could this dent stop the cpu from working or do you think this dent won't be such a big deal?

thanks in advance for your opinions!

 

[Idontcare]

Welcolme to the forums kepten :thumbsup:

We need to see a picture to get a better idea of what sort of damage you are seeing.

There is the possibility that the damage will effect the circuits. There is also a chance it didn't damage the circuits themselves.

The only way to know which is the case is to put it into a compurer and see if it works.

 

[kepten]

i made a few pictures, but they're all not very sharp. this is the best shot i could get:

 

[kepten]

i tried to make a few more pictures, so here is another shot:

 

[Deders]

Doesn't look like it's reached any circuitry. only way to know for sure is to try it out.

 

[kepten]

i doesn't look that bad to me too. is there anything important in the area where the dent is anyway? i don't really know!

by the way, is there a way to test the cpu without a screen? the onboard graphics don't work on a p67 board and i don't have a dedicated gpu yet.

 

[Idontcare]

i tried to make a few more pictures, so here is another shot:

I nicked my 3770k with a razor blade right in that same general region, not at wide of a gouge as yours has but it was just as deep. (I nicked it while removing my IHS for a delidding experiment)

I'm 99.99% confident your CPU is just fine. You can see that there is no visual indication of exposed copper, meaning the damage did not get into the wire traces that exist within the PCB layers.

What we can't be sure of, because we don't know how the damage came about, is if the rest of the CPU suffered any mechanical shock/damage from the event.

Was it dropped? Was it smashed between something? Did it get nicked with a razor for some reason? Caught and crimped in the socket retention mechanism? Etc.

The chip may not function but it won't be because of the physical damage present in the shots you showed us, but that damage is just a symptom of whatever caused the damage and the cause of the damage could have created problems elsewhere.

Only way you'll know is by powering it up. Unfortunately without a video-output you won't know if the mobo is beeping and refusing to boot because the CPU is borked or if the beeps are meant tell you the mobo isn't detecting a video card Gonna have to get that discrete card to test it.

 

[kepten]

thank you very much for your help!

well, i don't really know how the pcb got damaged. i received the cpu like that. the seller has a few of these cpus and told me that i can test the cpu and that i could get another one in exchange if this one didn't work.

unforunately, this offer is limited to two weeks. i bought the cpu last monday, so i only have another week left to test the cpu. usually this should be enough, but i don't have a dedicated gpu yet and still don't know which one to buy.

what do you think, should i try to get the cpu exchanged because of the "cosmetical" damage only and without testing it or should i hurry up buying a dedicated gpu and test the cpu? would i need a hard drive (with installed operating system) to test the cpu or could i use a bootable linux disc to do that?

 

[Idontcare]

thank you very much for your help!

well, i don't really know how the pcb got damaged. i received the cpu like that. the seller has a few of these cpus and told me that i can test the cpu and that i could get another one in exchange if this one didn't work.

unforunately, this offer is limited to two weeks. i bought the cpu last monday, so i only have another week left to test the cpu. usually this should be enough, but i don't have a dedicated gpu yet and still don't know which one to buy.

what do you think, should i try to get the cpu exchanged because of the "cosmetical" damage only and without testing it or should i hurry up buying a dedicated gpu and test the cpu? would i need a hard drive (with installed operating system) to test the cpu or could i use a bootable linux disc to do that?

Do you know anyone with a compatible mobo and computer that you could just swap out their existing CPU for your CPU just to see if it boots fine?

If the seller is credible then they should have no problem understanding your situation regarding lack of computer components and give you more than 2wks to get the testing done. One would hope anyways.

 

[Idontcare]

FWIW here is the pic of the PCB on my 3770k which I nicked with a razor blade.

The CPU works fine and close visual inspection shows no exposed copper lines in the are of the nick.

 

[kepten]

i have good news: my cpu works like a charm!

i didn't have the time to stress test it, but i didn't realize any problems in normal daily use. the cpu wouldn't work at all if it was broken, would it? i mean, should i stress test it to be really sure how stable it is or should i just use it and hope that it will last as long as possible?

in my opinion, the intel celeron g530 is really nice! i was planning to upgrade the cpu as soon as possible, but after testing it and seeing how fast it really is, i'm pretty impressed by this little gem and think that i can postpone the intended cpu upgrade.

well, i have to say that i'm pretty excited, because my rig is now complete. besides the components i mentioned in the first post, i also purchased a new sharkoon t9 value edition case in black (i.e. with not illuminated fans), a new samsung 830 series 256gb ssd and a used asus engtx460 directcu graphics card.

by the way: when i was installing the mainboard in the case, i realized that my mainboard has a few tiny scratches. they aren't too deep, but i was really shocked when i saw them! to be honest, i don't know exactly if it was already scratched when i received it or if i scratched it accidendently while i was unboxing it. but here i have good news too: the mainboard also works like a charm!