HR-05 NB Cooling Issue

[njdevilsfan87]

I installed the HR-05 on my DS3 with the cushion pad on it (wasn't exactly sure if I needed it or not but the old DS3 sink had one so I placed it on there). Anyway, I apply AS5 after cleaning off the old stuff, and put on the HR-05. I boot into Windows, everything seems fine. I touch the HR-05 and literally feel no heat at all. This worries me that maybe I'm not getting good contact, and guess what? About a minute later the computer reboots and fails to load to Windows. I turn it back on and it just cycles on and off - cold boot issue - at 274 fsb!! I let it sit for like 10 minutes, and turn it back on. It boots into Windows and freezes.

So I take everything out (sigh) again, and remove the cushion pad. Now I'm just running the HR-05 without the cushion pad so I know for sure it is making contact.

My question is though - am I risking shorting anything without the cushion pad on? The heatsink is pretty shaky without and can make contact with the NB PCB where the NB chip is located. However - it cannot make direct contact with the motherboard itself.

So please anyone let me know if I'm running a large risk here by NOT using the cushion pad - thanks.

By the way for anyone wondering - the DS3 does not report NB temps, so I'm going by touch here. The old heatsink would burn my finger after applying pressure on it for 5 seconds. With the HR-05 I feel some heat all over the heatsink but not that much.

 

[lopri]

I would say it's pretty safe. There isn't really a 'shorting' issue to worry about, rather physical cracking or scratching on the chipset or the resistors. If you're still worried, you could cover the resistors using electrical tape. HR-05 series are probably the best heat sinks that Thermalright ever made from my experience, and with proper contact on the chipset, you will feel the heat sink getting hot very easily. With my 680i, the heat sink gets really hot without a fan.

 

[cprince]

I have the same issue as you have with the DS3 and HR-05. I decided not to use the cushion pad, and the computer works fine for two months now. It's a good thing that your northbridge was not damaged due to the heat.