I want to change HSF for AMD cpu

[NervousNovice]

My friend has a really noise HSF for his Barton 2500+ and he asks me to change it for him. He wants me to help him replace it with a Thermalright SLK900A. I've never done it before (he's brave) and I have some questions:

1. The biggest concern I have is about applying too much pressure and breaking the die. I've read a few installation guides on the web. As I know, I should not apply pressure to the heatsink itself but to the clips. However, when I saw someone else installing a heatsink at a pc store, he's like using a clamp or something and screwdriver and push really hard on one side of the heatsink clip. I'm like "wow". I was thinking that that guy might break the die at any moment.

So can you guys give me some advices on how NOT to break it? (Besides what those websites usually say "be careful not to break it" and didn't tell me any precautions, etc)

2. Once I saw a guy replaced a HSF for his Barton and after that his pc didn't boot as normal. I didn't know what exactly happened but he was stuck with the DOS screen and cannot get into Windows. Then he took out a few floppy disks, put them into the pc and did something with them, and also went into the BIOS to change something. Then everything worked.

Is it common that after changing the HSF, you can't boot up and start Windows as usual? I don't have those floppy disks (whatever they were for) if that happen.

 

[myocardia]

I also have the Thermalright SLK-900a, and I put a 92mm Vantec Tornado on mine. It's very loud, but cools like no other fan. Anyway, it's extremely thick (38mm thick), so it's as hard to mount as any other fan would be, or moreso than a 25mm-thick fan. I just mounted the heatsink, then used a wide slotted-head screwdriver to force the mounting clip upwards, until it was roughly where I wanted it to be. Then I took out the screwdriver and moved the mounting clip with my hand, then did the other side the same way. It looks alot more daunting than it is. And no, it isn't normal to need to do anything at all to Windows after replacing a heatsink. Good luck.

 

[Hyperfocal]

Take the board out of the case and place it on a non-conductive, flat surface so you don't stress the board when you take out the HSF.

Use a credit card (Or a piece of similar-sized plastic) to protect the motherboard under the clip where the screwdriver might slip.

Use the thermal compound sparingly. Use the credit card (again) to spread a thin layer over the CPU core after carefully cleaning off any old thermal coumpound with pure isopropyl alcohol and a lint free tissue. (coffee filters work well)

Make sure you have the HSF correctly positioned with the step on the proper side. Place it straight down, then clip the non-screwdriver clip over the socket lugs. Make sure the HSF is correctly positioned, again. Then carefully clip the other side of the clip in with the screwdriver. (again using the credit card to protect the motherboard.)

The two things you can do to mess things up are.

1. install the HSF backwards.

2. put pressure on the HSF while installing it and crack the core. (You should put pressure only on the clips, not the HSF itself.)

Here is a great guide with detailed photos by mechBgon Guide

 

[mechBgon]

I thought I'd add that I have two Thermalright SK-7's, which are smaller versions of the 900A basically, and I can engage their clips with nothing but my bare hands. If you have two thumbs, which most people do, then you can probably just use those. Disengagement may call for tools, though.

Besides getting the heatsink onto the socket in the correct direction, I have one other special tip for clip-down Thermalrights. I think I'm going to make a mini-guide and post a link to it, so check back here in a few minutes. In the meantime, absorb this concept:

when you push down on the end of the clip, the CPU experiences the pressure dead-center. Why? Because the pressure point of the clip is dead-center over the CPU core (if your clip and heatsink are on the right way). So if you have the heatsink & clip oriented the correct direction, you can push down on the end of the clip until it bottoms out on the surface of the motherboard, and it still won't overload the CPU core.

Back in a few with my picture guide...

 

[mechBgon]

k, I added a couple of Thermalright-specific pics to my other SocketA heatsink-installation guide. The link is down that page a little bit, and shows one of my SK-7's. If you want to go straight to the Thermalright pics, they're here. Click to enlarge

 

[Ronnie]

Whats up NervousNovice,

Everyone has given excellent advise, but the best advise was to take the mobo out of the case. This makes installing a heatsink much easier. Just take your time and follow the guide that the others provided and installing the heatsink should be a breeze.

 

[NervousNovice]

Thanks a lot for all you guys help. mechBgon guide is damn good.

My friend can risk his cpu to change the HSF. You can imagine how noisy it is; not a Vantec tornado helicopter yet, but is close to a washing machine. LoL.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: HyperfocalThe two things you can do to mess things up are.

1. install the HSF backwards.

2. put pressure on the HSF while installing it and crack the core. (You should put pressure only on the clips, not the HSF itself.)

Those can be immediately fatal to the CPU. Less immediate but NotGood? nevertheless are:

3. not using a thermal interface (compound, pad, spit, whatever)

4. using too much thermal compound