Having trouble installing XP-120

[Srezic]

Alright, so I'm trying to try to fit the clips into the brackets as the instructions for the XP-120 say.

One side first (at an angle) you put in the 2 clips, and then push down on the other side right?

Well, when I put in the 2 clips on one side one edge of the base of the heatsink is sitting on the CPU[AMD 64 4000+]. So if I press down, it may scrape the top of it, which (if I was doing the real install) would definitely scrape the thermal grease off.

Is there something I can do to avoid this? Is it possible to install it by just putting the heatsink directly on top of the CPU and then clipping each of the brackets individually?

I knew the install would probably be tough, but this is really annoying (why would the base scrape the CPU??)

 

[damstr]

well if you just put a dab of it in the center of the CPU like i did instead of spreading it out over the CPU it wouldn't. i have an XP-120 too, but i before i never had problems with the heatsink scraping the thermal paste off the CPU when i did spread the thermal paste out on the CPU.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: Srezic
Alright, so I'm trying to try to fit the clips into the brackets as the instructions for the XP-120 say.

One side first (at an angle) you put in the 2 clips, and then push down on the other side right?

Well, when I put in the 2 clips on one side one edge of the base of the heatsink is sitting on the CPU[AMD 64 4000+]. So if I press down, it may scrape the top of it, which (if I was doing the real install) would definitely scrape the thermal grease off.

Is there something I can do to avoid this? Is it possible to install it by just putting the heatsink directly on top of the CPU and then clipping each of the brackets individually?

I knew the install would probably be tough, but this is really annoying (why would the base scrape the CPU??)

You put the two clips (opposite the pipes) in 1st as you said. The HS is angled now with one edge of the xp120 laying on the heatspreader and the other side is up in the air. If you gently push down on the HS so it sets flat on the heatspreader, it cannot move/slide back and forth as to scrape the TIM or the heatspreader because you have locked in the 2 clips...hold the HS down with your hand and use a flathead screwdriver to secure the clips on the heatpiped side of the HS. I know it seems tough and it is the 1st time, but after you do it once, you'll see its a cakewalk from then on. Heres a pic of the xp90 and what clips/holes you use to push with the screwdriver...its the same for the xp120.
http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/3236/xp903xh.png
Left click to zoom.

 

[Srezic]

Alright, well I got it on there, but I may have put too much thermal grease on there. With a BB size dab, it wasn't spreading out to the edges no matter how hard I tried. It was pretty damn thin though with the hardly-larger-than-rice sized blob I used. Even if it's too much(i'll find out with temps) I can just remove and retry later =P.

Thanks for the responses

 

[Yuriman]

The thinner, the better. Ideally, it should be so thin you can't see it. Thermal paste should only fill in the *microscopic* pits and valleys in the heatsink and processor.

 

[MadScientist]

Originally posted by: Srezic
Alright, well I got it on there, but I may have put too much thermal grease on there. With a BB size dab, it wasn't spreading out to the edges no matter how hard I tried. It was pretty damn thin though with the hardly-larger-than-rice sized blob I used. Even if it's too much(i'll find out with temps) I can just remove and retry later =P.

Thanks for the responses

It doesn't have to spread out to the edges on an Athlon64. AS5 Application Instructions