Is my Thunderbird fried?

[jfall]

I am getting a local computer shop to build me a computer, they have ordered all the parts, and I went there today, they had the computer put together on the test bed, they started the computer up for the first time, and it would just hang in random spots, it wouldn't get past the bios, they couldn't even get into the bios, it would be froze by that time. So the tech felt the heatsink and it was pretty hot for only 30 seconds of use, he took the heatsink off and noticed that he had left a piece of plastic over the thermal greese on the heatsink, so there would of been a piece of plastic covering the greese and probably not making good contact with the cpu.. i'm wondering if this would be the cause of the problem? or how to tell if the cpu is fried? It is a T-Bird 950 and a kT-7 Raid board. It doesn't really matter to me, because it was their fault and they have to replace it, but i'm just wondering if this would of caused the problems or not?

 

[PCResources]

I would ask them to replace it. It probably hasn't been fried, but the thing is, if you expose electronic components to heat, the MTBF (mean time before failure) decreases, so it might have taken a few years off your CPU's lifetime.

The plastic is not covering thermal grease, but rather thermal tape, i would suggest that you remove that tape and substitute it with thermal grease, wich would be better, even a silicon based product would do a better job than thermal tape.

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[HellRaven]

It is more than likely, not fried. As PCResources said, it obviously couldn't help the longterm life of the chip. Just make sure he takes off the little plastic strip and applies the heatsink properly and everything will go just fine. The reason it was hanging, was definately due to heat.

 

[jfall]

Damn, it's going to take away from the life of the CPU.. will this also hurt my chances of overclocking the cpu to a higher speed then it would of went before? I don't think it was `thermal tape`, because when he took the headsink off, the tape was stuck to the cpu, it melted off within 30 seconds, we felt the bottom part of the headsink and the greese was there, unless that was something left by the tape

 

[ZoSo]

The pad on the bottom is not thermal tape, it's called a TIM (Thermal Interface Material).
And if they're set up properly they work pretty good, but this requires getting the CPU temp. up pretty high, approx 60+ degrees C., as to let it form to the CPU and to maximize the
heat transfer.

If you remove the heatsink, after the TIM is setup, it's pretty much wasted and then you
should use a high quality, for best results, thermal compuond (ie. Arctic Silver).

If the tech didn't remove the protective film, and depending on how long they let it run,
the CPU could've suffered some damage. It only takes a few seconds to fry.

I would tell them to get you a new CPU, and you also might want to take it to a more
reputable shop.

 

[PCResources]

<< Damn, it's going to take away from the life of the CPU.. will this also hurt my chances of overclocking the cpu to a higher speed then it would of went before? I don't think it was `thermal tape`, because when he took the headsink off, the tape was stuck to the cpu, it melted off within 30 seconds, we felt the bottom part of the headsink and the greese was there, unless that was something left by the tape >>



Yes it will decrease the chances of a successful overclocking.

The &quot;tape&quot; that was left on the CPU was the plastic sheilding for the actual thermal tape (wich was what was left on the HSF), you have to scrape that off the heatsink with a razorblade and then you apply the thermal grease of choice. I recommend arctic silver.

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[jfall]

ok wait a minute.. there was two tapes..

The first one was clear, it had a small pull tab, he pulled that off and then there was a square blue plastic thing there, he left that on, it melted off and stuck to the cpu, then he looked at the bottom of the heatsink, there was some type of either greece or something that the tape left behind on there.

Was he suppose to take the clear tape and the blue plastic off, or just the clear tape?

 

[ZoSo]

Yes, both should've been removed(clear &amp; blue)to expose the TIM. What kind of heatsink is it?

 

[Windogg]

Uh Oh.... sounds like the store has a very expensive keychain on its hands.

Is the HS/Fan adequate? A S370 unit usually can't handle the heat of a TBird.

 

[jfall]

It wasn't a special heatsink/fan or anything, it is the one that comes with the t-bird's, it is suppose to be good up to 1000+ mhz..

So the blue should have been removed also? because after the blue part melted off, we didn't try it again with just the greece, I left, he was going to let it cool down and try it without the blue stuff, so it is probably working now.. but it might be damaged

 

[PCResources]

This store obviously has no clue, i would suggest that you go to another reseller, how many delivered systems still has the protective tape on?? Or was this their first attempt to install a CPU with a HSF??

Patrick Palm

Am speaking for PC Resources

 

[ZoSo]

OK, they definitly use a TIM pad. If that pad is melted down, DON'T use it again, scrape it off and use thermal compound. I wouldn't take any chances on using that CPU, since they didn't install the HSF properly. According to AMD &quot;it only takes 8 seconds to fry a 1GHz without a HSF&quot;. I would think that the 950 is along the same amount of time. If the plastic they left on(the one that melted to the CPU) acted like an insulator, that chip is pretty much done. Get a new one. I would also get a better HSF, like a GlobalWin FOP-38 or an Alpha PAL6035, especially if you plan to OC in the future.