Heatsink seems to make very little contact

[Burning_Ranger]

Hello.

I had a C2D E4300 with a Abit QuadGT Motherboard.

I installed it with the stock heatsink using Arctic Silver thermal
paste (very sparingly). It didn't work. So I unplugged everything to
send motherboard back but I noticed the heatsink contact surface which
is circular seems to have hardly made any physical contact with the
CPU. The thermal paste on the CPU is mostly untouched except for a
circular ring which corresponds to the edges of the heatsink.

Anyway, I sent mobo back and got a exact replacement. This time I used
a Zalman 9700NT but I STILL get the same problem, the CPU and heatsink
barely seem to make any physical contatc, the thermal paste is not
disturbed very much and seems to be mostly untouched. What could be
the problem? The CPU? Surely not BOTH heatsinks? Both motherboards?

I've sent everything back except the Zalman and now got a new E4300
and Abit P5BE Plus motherboard, gonna try it this weekend, but a bit
unsure especially with the past experiences I've had. I've built
plenty of systems before and am pretty sure I'm not doing anything
obviously wrong.

 

[GT]

Hello.

I had a C2D E4300 with a Abit QuadGT Motherboard.

I installed it with the stock heatsink using Arctic Silver thermal
paste (very sparingly). It didn't work. So I unplugged everything to
send motherboard back but I noticed the heatsink contact surface which
is circular seems to have hardly made any physical contact with the
CPU. The thermal paste on the CPU is mostly untouched except for a
circular ring which corresponds to the edges of the heatsink.

Anyway, I sent mobo back and got a exact replacement. This time I used
a Zalman 9700NT but I STILL get the same problem, the CPU and heatsink
barely seem to make any physical contatc, the thermal paste is not
disturbed very much and seems to be mostly untouched. What could be
the problem? The CPU? Surely not BOTH heatsinks? Both motherboards?

I've sent everything back except the Zalman and now got a new E4300
and Abit P5BE Plus motherboard, gonna try it this weekend, but a bit
unsure especially with the past experiences I've had. I've built
plenty of systems before and am pretty sure I'm not doing anything
obviously wrong.

What do you mean in the first big paragraph - 'It [the heatsink] didn't
work'? A heatsink cannot NOT work!

You only need a small amount of thermal 'stuff', perhaps 'very sparingly'
was not enough. Apply it near the middle of the heatsink and when you put
the heatsink onto the CPU, carefully put it in place, then apply some
pressure and gently 'wiggle' the heatsink a little until you feel the paste
working its way round - the heatsink will feel like it starts to grip more.
Then fix the heatsink in place using the 4 corner posts, or bolts or
whatever the heatsink uses. You did fasten the heatsink down before, didn't
you?

 

[Burning_Ranger]

Hello.

I had a C2D E4300 with a Abit QuadGT Motherboard.

I installed it with the stock heatsink using Arctic Silver thermal
paste (very sparingly). It didn't work. So I unplugged everything to
send motherboard back but I noticed the heatsink contact surface which
is circular seems to have hardly made any physical contact with the
CPU. The thermal paste on the CPU is mostly untouched except for a
circular ring which corresponds to the edges of the heatsink.

Anyway, I sent mobo back and got a exact replacement. This time I used
a Zalman 9700NT but I STILL get the same problem, the CPU and heatsink
barely seem to make any physical contatc, the thermal paste is not
disturbed very much and seems to be mostly untouched. What could be
the problem? The CPU? Surely not BOTH heatsinks? Both motherboards?

I've sent everything back except the Zalman and now got a new E4300
and Abit P5BE Plus motherboard, gonna try it this weekend, but a bit
unsure especially with the past experiences I've had. I've built
plenty of systems before and am pretty sure I'm not doing anything
obviously wrong.

What do you mean in the first big paragraph - 'It [the heatsink] didn't
work'? A heatsink cannot NOT work!

You only need a small amount of thermal 'stuff', perhaps 'very sparingly'
was not enough. Apply it near the middle of the heatsink and when you put
the heatsink onto the CPU, carefully put it in place, then apply some
pressure and gently 'wiggle' the heatsink a little until you feel the paste
working its way round - the heatsink will feel like it starts to grip more.
Then fix the heatsink in place using the 4 corner posts, or bolts or
whatever the heatsink uses. You did fasten the heatsink down before, didn't
you?

I meant motherboard didn't work, not heatsink. I DID everything as
normal, applied a uniform coating of thermal paste, put the heatsink
on carefully, fully locked it down etc (I'm not new to CPU building).
I did this with the stock heatsink and a Zalman 9700 NT heatsink which
has a mounting bracket and screws into place. Same problem with both
of them. It's strange... well maybe it was the CPU, maybe it wasn't
level or something.

 

[GT]

Hello.

I had a C2D E4300 with a Abit QuadGT Motherboard.

I installed it with the stock heatsink using Arctic Silver thermal
paste (very sparingly). It didn't work. So I unplugged everything to
send motherboard back but I noticed the heatsink contact surface which
is circular seems to have hardly made any physical contact with the
CPU. The thermal paste on the CPU is mostly untouched except for a
circular ring which corresponds to the edges of the heatsink.

Anyway, I sent mobo back and got a exact replacement. This time I used
a Zalman 9700NT but I STILL get the same problem, the CPU and heatsink
barely seem to make any physical contatc, the thermal paste is not
disturbed very much and seems to be mostly untouched. What could be
the problem? The CPU? Surely not BOTH heatsinks? Both motherboards?

I've sent everything back except the Zalman and now got a new E4300
and Abit P5BE Plus motherboard, gonna try it this weekend, but a bit
unsure especially with the past experiences I've had. I've built
plenty of systems before and am pretty sure I'm not doing anything
obviously wrong.

What do you mean in the first big paragraph - 'It [the heatsink] didn't
work'? A heatsink cannot NOT work!

You only need a small amount of thermal 'stuff', perhaps 'very sparingly'
was not enough. Apply it near the middle of the heatsink and when you put
the heatsink onto the CPU, carefully put it in place, then apply some
pressure and gently 'wiggle' the heatsink a little until you feel the
paste
working its way round - the heatsink will feel like it starts to grip
more.
Then fix the heatsink in place using the 4 corner posts, or bolts or
whatever the heatsink uses. You did fasten the heatsink down before,
didn't
you?

I meant motherboard didn't work, not heatsink. I DID everything as
normal, applied a uniform coating of thermal paste, put the heatsink
on carefully, fully locked it down etc (I'm not new to CPU building).
I did this with the stock heatsink and a Zalman 9700 NT heatsink which
has a mounting bracket and screws into place. Same problem with both
of them. It's strange... well maybe it was the CPU, maybe it wasn't
level or something.

If you had said that in the first place I would have said there is nothing
wrong with your heatsink - its just a lump of metal. Either your CPU or
motherboard is fried!

 

[kony]

I meant motherboard didn't work, not heatsink. I DID everything as
normal, applied a uniform coating of thermal paste, put the heatsink
on carefully, fully locked it down etc (I'm not new to CPU building).
I did this with the stock heatsink and a Zalman 9700 NT heatsink which
has a mounting bracket and screws into place. Same problem with both
of them. It's strange... well maybe it was the CPU, maybe it wasn't
level or something.

The motherboard is a wildcard... maybe the problem was the
CPU overheating, or maybe not.

Regardless, pull the CPU and see how concave it is by laying
a ruler across it. If it's very bad you might add more
thermal compound next time and retry it, or you might see if
Intel will exchange it, or lap it so it's flatter (which
will void the warranty). This assumes both of your
heatsinks were flat (not always the case) and you had
properly mounted them, including that nothing on the
motherboard was interfering with it seating properly.

 

[Trimble Bracegirdle]

I have Intel Retail pack E6600 .
I've seen one or 2 other comments Re: that slightly raised ring on these .
If your not happy with that perhaps use Thermal tape / pad ..The Arctic
cooler I have on my CPU
was fitted with a pad & seems to connect fine.
Mouse
@@@

 

[GT]

The motherboard is a wildcard... maybe the problem was the
CPU overheating, or maybe not.

Regardless, pull the CPU and see how concave it is by laying
a ruler across it. If it's very bad you might add more
thermal compound next time and retry it, or you might see if
Intel will exchange it, or lap it so it's flatter (which
will void the warranty). This assumes both of your
heatsinks were flat (not always the case) and you had
properly mounted them, including that nothing on the
motherboard was interfering with it seating properly.

But even with an unsinked CPU, the OP would have at least seen a DOS/BIOS
screen for a few moments before it throttled itself to stop.

 

[Moo]

Hello.
I had a C2D E4300 with a Abit QuadGT Motherboard.
I installed it with the stock heatsink using Arctic Silver thermal
paste (very sparingly). It didn't work. So I unplugged everything to
send motherboard back but I noticed the heatsink contact surface which
is circular seems to have hardly made any physical contact with the
CPU. The thermal paste on the CPU is mostly untouched except for a
circular ring which corresponds to the edges of the heatsink.
Anyway, I sent mobo back and got a exact replacement. This time I used
a Zalman 9700NT but I STILL get the same problem, the CPU and heatsink
barely seem to make any physical contatc, the thermal paste is not
disturbed very much and seems to be mostly untouched. What could be
the problem? The CPU? Surely not BOTH heatsinks? Both motherboards?
I've sent everything back except the Zalman and now got a new E4300
and Abit P5BE Plus motherboard, gonna try it this weekend, but a bit
unsure especially with the past experiences I've had. I've built
plenty of systems before and am pretty sure I'm not doing anything
obviously wrong.
What do you mean in the first big paragraph - 'It [the heatsink] didn't
work'? A heatsink cannot NOT work!

You only need a small amount of thermal 'stuff', perhaps 'very sparingly'
was not enough. Apply it near the middle of the heatsink and when you put
the heatsink onto the CPU, carefully put it in place, then apply some
pressure and gently 'wiggle' the heatsink a little until you feel the
paste
working its way round - the heatsink will feel like it starts to grip
more.
Then fix the heatsink in place using the 4 corner posts, or bolts or
whatever the heatsink uses. You did fasten the heatsink down before,
didn't
you?

I meant motherboard didn't work, not heatsink. I DID everything as
normal, applied a uniform coating of thermal paste, put the heatsink
on carefully, fully locked it down etc (I'm not new to CPU building).
I did this with the stock heatsink and a Zalman 9700 NT heatsink which
has a mounting bracket and screws into place. Same problem with both
of them. It's strange... well maybe it was the CPU, maybe it wasn't
level or something.

If you had said that in the first place I would have said there is nothing
wrong with your heatsink - its just a lump of metal. Either your CPU or
motherboard is fried!

I read it the way he meant it, you must have read it wrong.

 

[kony]

But even with an unsinked CPU, the OP would have at least seen a DOS/BIOS
screen for a few moments before it throttled itself to stop.

If everything were right, yes. If the system had some
problem posting AND the 'sink wasn't on, there's no way to
know except trying the CPU in another system.

The processor cannot necessarily throttle itself to stop.
It "might", but it might not. That feature depends on an
internal sensor that cannot respond as quickly as a
processor heats up from a cold-off state. It is possible to
fry them and people have. The real protection provided by
the throttling/shutdown is from a slower temp rise
scenario, like having a heatsink on it but very high
ampbient temp, poor airflow, fan failure, etc.