Is my Zalman CPU cooler suppose to be loose?

[segdmd]

Is my Zalman cooler suppose to be loose after I have tightened all the screws?

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

How loose are we talking? And which Zalman cooler is it? 7000, 7700, 9500?

 

[segdmd]

the 7000B-cu on an amd athlon 4000+ /msi k8n neo4 board. the stock amd cooler was really tight when i installed it, but the zalman moves around a bit. I would say about 3mm. the screws are as tight as i can get them.

 

[zagood]

Don't know about the AMD socket setup, but with my socket 478 is does have a little play, maybe 2mm.

Fire it up and see if your temps are out of range from what you're used to, only way to tell.

-z

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

I put my old 7000 on sis's Athlon 3800(?) and i could twist it back and forth a few degrees.

It's tight enough. It's just being lubricated by the paste(TIM) you put on the CPU.
It'll settle down, don't keep checking it, just use it. Once the TIM cooks a bit it'll set-up tight.


...Galvanized

 

[Markbnj]

I didn't try twisting mine, but I wouldn't be surprised if it would move a little. But if you mean wobble, as opposed to twist, then I think something is wrong.

 

[honkee]

even after tightening it all the way you can still twist it both ways.
so i say youre fine

 

[orion23]

Same here, it actually had me very worried for a while, but then again, the termperatures are always very low!

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Yeah, it's going to twist a little bit. The same with my XP-90C . . . as long as it doesn't twist more than a few degrees you shouldn't worry . . .

 

[jlbenedict]

my Zalman cooler on my X800GTO (running at X800XT speeds) also has this slight twisting "loose" occurance..
but, idle temps are about 37-39C and temps at load range in the mid-50's.. so its safe to say its doing its job..

Perform some CPU intensive tasks for a long time.. monitor your temps.. and touch your heatsink with your hand.. if the heatsink gets warm, then you know its doing its job