Is it possible a Heatsink 'divot' formed during use?

[Gothch1ck]

So recently I decided "it's well past time to clean out the PC" so I powered down, disconnected, moved, unscrewed, dusted with a brush, air can and anti-static cloth every fan, blade, wire, screw, and cubby hole in my Cooler Master HAF 932.

Needless to say, I wasn't impressed that only about 1C change in temps, so I investigated further, and pulled my GPU stock cooling off, a million little screws later I had it, cleaned it out... decided "you can't just put it back on, you pulled the thermal grease apart" I decided to clean off the used compound from the GPU and HeatSink Block (HSB)

There is where I panicked. The HSB had a rather large (in scale size) 'dent' or 'divet" (spelling?) in it, creating a air pocket, or at least a gap where more thermal compound would be needed to fill it up.

Is this something that should truely worry me? I got scared, contacted XFX and have a request ticket with them, but I guess I am the only one not lucky enough with XFX and they don't carry replacement parts for my card (no heat sink, no fans, no other coolers) so were emailing back and forth trying to find a solution were both happy with (EXCELLENT customer support btw, highly recommend!)

My temps on it are the same as they were day 1 with it, somewhat high during idle (43C) and ranging in the 60-70C range when gaming (Was told that's 'ok' with the card?) so it really doesn't bug me that much.. just trying to make sure it's "safe" for use.


I can't game though. My CPU has a bigger issue. Not sure what it is but it's hittin high 90's C when gaming. Idle at 56-60 (idle is a wide term for me, basically just web browsing right now, no music or game sor nothing and its 55C/53C/54C/54C) so it's not a huge rush to fix/replace the GPU stuff.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Reapply grease on your CPU. Can we see a picture of your GPU? that might be a busted chip.

 

[Gothch1ck]

It'll take some time, and the CPU is a BI******CH because of the generic tab/pin system, I actually bent one of the stupid legs trying to put it back on properly and really don't want to take it off again until I know for sure (it's bee 1.5 days, trying to see if its needing to 'cycle burn in' the arctic 5)

The GPU pictures can happen in a bit, gotta lug it up and open it up again.

 

[Peter.Cort]

if your gpu is within normal temps I wouldn't worry about that, but with the cpu, definitely something to worry about, and if reapplying thermal paste doesn't work then buy a new heatsink for it.

 

[Gothch1ck]

So I should go ahead and clean off the arctic 5 i put on there, and re-apply on the CPU? (even though it hasn't had time to cycle and 'burn in') ?

Just making sure my proceedure is correct before shutting down - gently with cotton swab and paste removal drops - remove the compound, use 91% rubbing alchohol to make both the chip and the heat sink shiny, wait 2 minutes for all the alcohol to evaporate, apply a very small, grain of rice size dribble of Arctic Silver 5 to the chip - gently spread it evenly with applicator paint brush, make contact with heat sink at an angle to prevent bubbles, and push firmly to secure heat sink to motherboard, right?

 

[Peter.Cort]

you don't have to smooth it around, you just need to put the rice sized bit down on the cpu and then put the heatsink back on. And while there is a 'burn in' period, if you're temps go up into the 90's under load there's a problem other than it not being 100% 'burned in'. And you don't have to be so meticulous about removing the paste, not that there's anything wrong with how you're doing it, but you don't have to wait for the rubbing alcohol to evaporate, just blow on it until it evaporates.

 

[Gothch1ck]

I just like to be very very careful because when this system was new, it was around $1,600 and I can't really afford to replace any parts directly right now (CPU, GPU, etc) and don't have spares, and am very addicted to my games and internet. lol.

 

[MindoverMaster]

Mine is $1,150. I switched out the CPU 4 times now.

 

[Gothch1ck]

I won't be takin picture of the GPU thing.. unless it causes heat problems soon, gonna concentrate on the CPU thing - but while we find out if it was the paste or whatever,

Newegg.com - Scythe SCMG-2100 Sleeve CPU Cooler

Good choice? Bad? Other options? Case is in the sig - so I should have plenty of room for it.

Might add another 120mm to add push/pull to that one too, although air transfer is pretty good listed as 74.25 CFM (at noisy setting, but hey, whatever, my GPU is loud too)

Wonder how loud 26.50 dBA really is

 

[Slaymate]

I actually bent one of the stupid legs trying to put it back on properly and really don't want to take it off again until I know for sure (it's bee 1.5 days, trying to see if its needing to 'cycle burn in' the arctic 5)

I'm betting that's the problem.

And Arctic Silver 5 is just bad. Even after it "cures-in" it's still a poor performer compared to todays modern pastes. But Arctic Silver does have a new paste that performs pretty good, requires no cure-time and it's priced cheaper than the old AS5.

Newegg.com - Arctic Silver MTX-2.5G Matrix Thixotropic Premium Thermal Compound

but for a mere $1 more Newegg has the Tuniq TX-2 back in stock

Newegg.com - Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound

That Scythe is huge, I would go with this Corsair if I ordered something today. It's only $26.24 after a rebate
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm Dual-Fan CPU Cooler