Oh Crap - Did I break my new i7 CPU??

[thatsright]

Just got my new i7 setup and installed the i7-920 CPU into the Gigabyte EX58-UD3R mob. CPU went in fine. Put back the load plate and started to press down on the socket lever. MAN O MAN what resistance. I heard a loud snap, and though I broke the socket!! So I undid everything. Then put CPU back in socket, and lowered load plat. No problems and after using LOTS of thumb force I got the lever down and under the latch.

The load plate looks perfectly level with the CPU heat spreader (actually, the heat spreader rises slightly above it). BUT, the CPU socket lever/bar is pressed so tightly up against the latch it has a bit of a 'bow' shape to it. Is this normal? Did I get my panties in a jumble for all of this (I hope)!!

Take a look:
http://net1994.smugmug.com/photos/749652010_R7Gjr-XL.jpg

 

[sadhappyrunner]

It was like that for my i7 as well, you're fine.

 

[AVAFREAK182]

Just make sure the cpu is flush in the socket before you latch it in.

If its in there fine, its just the latching mechanism.

 

[Rubycon]

Looks normal to me.

Well when it's running at 200MHz base clock.

 

[nyker96]

that would have scared me as well, but since I only had 775/am2 systems I don't remember the level bent up like that. It's always flat for the systems I installed after the lever is closed. from other comments it looks like a socket 1366 glitch.

 

[thatsright]

Oh jeeze, now I think I may have put too much Arctic Silver 5 on the heat spreader?? I'm using the specific Arctic Silver instructions for Intel i7 series and place a horizontal line of AS over the cores of the CPU. Then, when I put on my massive Coolermaster Hyper Plus 212, it will flatten the grease to cover all cores.

Just enough or too much:

This is the only part of building a new rig that I super nervous over....

 

[Rubycon]

Should be OK as pictured.

 

[thatsright]

Oh man I hate this stuff....

 

[F1N3ST]

Lol, I was nervous putting in my first 775 CPU, so hard of a latching mechanism.

 

[supaidaaman]

when i helped my friend install his core i7 cpu it made the most horrific crunching grinding noise. We both froze and looked at each other for a few seconds and held our breath...undid the latch and looked into the socket to see if we had destroyed it...

..but everything was fine and flush.

I think its just the damn socket. My buddy was a first time builder but i told him "yeah, thats totally normal"

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

For my first build I had a comp sci major friend of mine help me put it together. When we got to the CPU install, I tried to make her do it cuz I was nervous about breaking it, she looked at me and said, "Hell no, if its gonna break you're gonna do it." Thankfully there was no crunching noise, I would have flipped.

 

[Absolution75]

There was quit a bunch of crunching whenever I've done either Socket 775 or Socket 1156 CPUs. Even 939 heatsinks required a ton of thum pressure to get the latch down,

 

[Tsavo]

Intel had a good thing going with the P4 heatsink retention mechanism...don't know why they went to the current abomination other than $.

 

[nyker96]

There was quit a bunch of crunching whenever I've done either Socket 775 or Socket 1156 CPUs. Even 939 heatsinks required a ton of thum pressure to get the latch down,

yes you do need to apply pressure for 775s and 939s levers to close but they lie flat after the lever is closed, not like the 1366 which bents upward like that in the picture.

 

[SanDiegoPC]

yes you do need to apply pressure for 775s and 939s levers to close but they lie flat after the lever is closed, not like the 1366 which bents upward like that in the picture.

Mine is flat, just like the one on my Quad 6600 MB.

 

[Zebo]

Oh jeeze, now I think I may have put too much Arctic Silver 5 on the heat spreader?? I'm using the specific Arctic Silver instructions for Intel i7 series and place a horizontal line of AS over the cores of the CPU. Then, when I put on my massive Coolermaster Hyper Plus 212, it will flatten the grease to cover all cores.

Just enough or too much:

This is the only part of building a new rig that I super nervous over....

Looks like a lot to me - I just put a rice sized dot in middle. Stuff spreads end to end with heat and pressure.

Oh and crunch and bend in normal for this socket. GL

 

[frostedflakes]

That does sound scary. I'm sure it's fine, though. LGA CPUs need a lot of pressure to make sure the pins are making good contact. The pins are actually supposed to "dig" into the pads on the CPU to increase contact area, maybe that's what causes the crunch sound. Just a guess, I've never actually installed an LGA CPU before.

 

[thescreensavers]

For my first build I had a comp sci major friend of mine help me put it together. When we got to the CPU install, I tried to make her do it cuz I was nervous about breaking it, she looked at me and said, "Hell no, if its gonna break you're gonna do it." Thankfully there was no crunching noise, I would have flipped.

Pics now

 

[Snapster]

Normal, even if it's a bit unsettling whilst doing it.

 

[wwswimming]

Then, when I put on my massive Coolermaster Hyper Plus 212, it will flatten the grease to cover all cores.

Just enough or too much:

This is the only part of building a new rig that I super nervous over....

i wouldn't worry about it. the way you have the thermal interface compound, it will squish out the sides. it's better if you can use a popsicle stick shape - e.g. one of those wood things to stir the coffee from a coffee place - and make a very thin, as-even-as-you-can-get-it layer but keeping about 3/16" away from the edges. to make a square area of goop about 3/4" inch square.

when you put the heatsink on, it will squish the goop out to the edges.

no big deal if it does squish out, it's non-conductive & everybody else does it.

as far as the force for the connector - that latch/ lever thing has to generate a force enough to seat 1366 connections. that's a LOT of connections.

 

[Rubycon]

That pic doesn't look like AS5. Mine is older and is quite darker.

That said, I don't know if this works with AS5 but I found with MX3 it does!

Line method, mount and run for a day or two FULL LOAD. Remove HS, wipe down HS and CPU with clean rag. Do NOT clean off/polish just remove bulk so there is a haze on both surfaces.

Apply a fresh line and remount. Temps were a good 3-4C lower this way! It wasn't necessarily a bad mount before as I can do this many times with reproducible results. Like I said I don't know if AS5 will do the same.

 

[thatsright]

That pic doesn't look like AS5. Mine is older and is quite darker.

That said, I don't know if this works with AS5 but I found with MX3 it does!

Line method, mount and run for a day or two FULL LOAD. Remove HS, wipe down HS and CPU with clean rag. Do NOT clean off/polish just remove bulk so there is a haze on both surfaces.

Apply a fresh line and remount. Temps were a good 3-4C lower this way! It wasn't necessarily a bad mount before as I can do this many times with reproducible results. Like I said I don't know if AS5 will do the same.

Ummm yeah, no. I'm not going through that nightmare again to re-seat and reapply AS5. I'm still unsure if I have the Hyper 212 installed properly. But I will run Prime 95 for a full day and see where the temps are at. Even if 3-5 degrees C above the ideal, its good enough for me.

Can I get your opinion if the heatsink is properly mounted? The Hyper 212 Plus is at a very slight angle on the CPU. Perhaps 1 degree off axis. So if you look at the mobo if its mounted in the case, the heatsink is tilted 1 degree down on top of the CPU heat spreader, if you twist it slightly counter clockwise. VERY slight, but noticeable. See below pic.

I also had a bit of a disaster mounting the bracket. The center pin of the 'X' came off and both 'arms' came apart. So I had to re-assemble the arms with center pin, screw etc. Like I said earlier, this is the part I HATE the most. F'n nightmare. How does it look? Does this look secure and properly mounted:

 

[kranky]

I had a heck of a time getting that center pin on the mounting bracket aligned with the heatsink. As aggravated as I was, now I can be glad that it didn't come apart! I don't think mine is perfectly flat either as I see a 3-4 degree difference in core temps from the warmest to the coolest core. But overall my temps are fine.

If it was me, I'd fire it up and monitor temps. Can shut it down quickly if it's getting too hot.

 

[Rubycon]

If it was me, I'd fire it up and monitor temps. Can shut it down quickly if it's getting too hot.

This. It's the only thing you can do. (outside of taking radiographs of the board!)

 

[sadhappyrunner]

Ummm yeah, no. I'm not going through that nightmare again to re-seat and reapply AS5. I'm still unsure if I have the Hyper 212 installed properly. But I will run Prime 95 for a full day and see where the temps are at. Even if 3-5 degrees C above the ideal, its good enough for me.

Can I get your opinion if the heatsink is properly mounted? The Hyper 212 Plus is at a very slight angle on the CPU. Perhaps 1 degree off axis. So if you look at the mobo if its mounted in the case, the heatsink is tilted 1 degree down on top of the CPU heat spreader, if you twist it slightly counter clockwise. VERY slight, but noticeable. See below pic.

I also had a bit of a disaster mounting the bracket. The center pin of the 'X' came off and both 'arms' came apart. So I had to re-assemble the arms with center pin, screw etc. Like I said earlier, this is the part I HATE the most. F'n nightmare. How does it look? Does this look secure and properly mounted:

nice. I have the same heatsink on my i7 920. like others have said, you should be fine and the only thing left to do is see if it turns on and monitor the temps. I actually had to slightly force the heatsink to tilt in order to screw the motherboard into my case, i was not pleased by that at all but in the end it worked just fine.