All Questions
56
questions
127
votes
6
answers
16k
views
Tiny copper waffle squares inside computer
I've been hearing a sound from inside my MSI GE60 laptop for a while now, so I opened it up to find that these two tiny copper waffle squares came loose. They were originally stuck to the board with ...
- 1,056
62
votes
8
answers
126k
views
Is it OK to use toothpaste instead of thermal paste when fitting a CPU?
I was told many years ago to do this by someone who at the time knew more than I did. The CPU was a celeron in the Pentium 2 era. It ran cooler with the toothpaste between the chip and the heatsink ...
- 958
31
votes
3
answers
18k
views
Does the color of a heatsink affect its performance in dissipating heat?
I know that heatsinks come in different fin forms and those different fin forms affect the way how they dissipate heat. However, there's something I could not get about them and it's their color.
Can ...
- 321
29
votes
4
answers
121k
views
Can I remove and put back the heatsink of my processor without reapplying thermal paste?
If I remove the heatsink from my processor temporarily, then later put it back without changing the heatsink or CPU, do I need to reapply thermal paste?
- 437
19
votes
4
answers
32k
views
What's the proper way to remove thermal paste from a CPU?
I'm replacing the heatsink on my CPU, and want to clear the current thermal paste.
What should I do?
- 293
17
votes
2
answers
65k
views
Heatsink compatibility for the new Intel Skylake processors (LGA1151)
The new Intel Skylake processors have just released, but they don't come with a fan/heatsink. As a result, I have to purchase a third party heatsink, but it seems there are none yet listed on popular ...
- 637
14
votes
3
answers
8k
views
What is the gum like thing on the heat sink?
See the attached picture. What is the gum like thing? Should I replace it with thermal paste? Thanks!
Update
Thank you guys! I replaced it with new thermal paste and my laptop is not burning anymore!...
- 599
13
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Five year old unopened boxed CPU – is the stock thermal compound still good?
I have obtained an unopened, sealed, boxed CPU dating back to 2009. It’s an Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 with heatsink + thermal compound pre-applied. Is the stock thermal compound still OK to use after ...
- 11.4k
8
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is it safe to place heat sink such that it joins multiple voltage regulators?
This is quite possibly a stupid question, but the GPU cooler I bought leaves me with little choice but to position heat sinks such that they straddle and join multiple voltage regulators. Is this a ...
- 325
7
votes
1
answer
23k
views
Can I use an LGA 1156/1155 heatsink on an LGA 1150 motherboard?
I'm considering moving to Haswell from Nehalem by just getting a new mobo and CPU, but I'm not sure if I can keep my current heatsink.
Can an LGA 1156 heatsink be mounted on to an LGA 1150 ...
- 24.8k
6
votes
3
answers
33k
views
Replacing fan on stock AMD AM3 heatsink with a quieter one? [closed]
I've recently built a new PC which includes the AM3 Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition processor.
I've been using the stock heatsink and fan because I can't get any aftermarket coolers to get my CPU as ...
- 9,491
4
votes
1
answer
639
views
Can I use an old sempron stock heat sink with a Phenom II processor?
I'm upgrading from an old AMD Sempron 140 to a Phenom II 945. The motherboard will be the same.
Assuming I'm not planning to overclock, can I still use the same stock AMD heat sink that came with ...
- 2,690
4
votes
1
answer
332
views
Serious CPU overheat issue
So I have had a look at this post and am still somewhat in the mire. My computer is:
CM Stack Case,
Tagan 900W PSU,
Gigabyte K8NSNXP,
2 Gig Corsair something or other RAM,
AMD 64 X2 4400+,
3 HDD (2x ...
user15968
3
votes
2
answers
6k
views
Does the height of a CPU's heatsink affect the cooling?
The CPU of my computer has a quite tall (about 1.5in I think) heatsink compared to the one my friend's computer had, and this question has been in my mind for a while. Does the height of a CPU's ...
- 145
3
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can the operation of a Banana PI M3 without any heat sink cause damage?
My pure Banana PI M3 board has just been delivered. However, it has come without any heat sink.
The specifications are:
CPU: A83T ARM Cortex-A7 octa-core,512 KB L1 cache 1 MB L2 cache
GPU: PowerVR ...
- 133