Large heat sink doesn't make contact with processor

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osmiumusa

Hello,

I'm building a computer from slightly-outdated parts (they're the parts I had laying around). I'm using a motherboard with an LGA775 socket processor.I got a heat sink with a fan and the thing is HUGE. It sticks out from themotherboard almost the entire width of the case, and gravity is getting the better of it. The problem is when I try to stand the computer up. The heat sink stays attached to the motherboard but it angles a bit and looses contact with the processor, effectively rendering the whole thing useless. I'mfairly sure that it's attached to the motherboard correctly. The pins seemlocked into the board. Plus on the back side of the motherboard, it looks like the pins did their job. But the heat sink just won't stay on the processor. The pins don't move, the heat sink moves up and down on the pins, leading me to believe there's a step I've missed. This isn't the first computer I've built, but this is by far the weirdest heat sink I've dealt with. The processor is a Pentium 4, the cooler is a CoolerMaster TX3, and the Motherboard is... well... some kind of Dell ATX board. Any advice or suggestionswould be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
 
This
Click to expand...
isn't the first computer I've built, but this is by far the weirdest
heat sink I've dealt with. The processor is a Pentium 4, the cooler is
a CoolerMaster TX3, and the Motherboard is... well... some kind of
Dell ATX board. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.

-
I've one of those or similar. I'd consider laying my computer on its
side.
 
Hello,

I'm building a computer from slightly-outdated parts (they're the
parts I had laying around). I'm using a motherboard with an LGA775
socket processor. I got a heat sink with a fan and the thing is HUGE.
It sticks out from the motherboard almost the entire width of the case,
and gravity is getting the better of it. The problem is when I try to
stand the computer up. The heat sink stays attached to the motherboard
but it angles a bit and looses contact with the processor, effectively
rendering the whole thing useless. I'm fairly sure that it's attached
to the motherboard correctly. The pins seem locked into the board. Plus
on the back side of the motherboard, it looks like the pins did their
job. But the heat sink just won't stay on the processor. The pins don't
move, the heat sink moves up and down on the pins, leading me to believe
there's a step I've missed. This isn't the first computer I've built,
but this is by far the weirdest heat sink I've dealt with. The processor
is a Pentium 4, the cooler is a CoolerMaster TX3, and the Motherboard
is... well... some kind of Dell ATX board. Any advice or suggestions
Click to expand...
would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The arms affix by eight screws, to the base. The instructions show
a different spacing for 1156 versus 775, but I don't see how that's
supposed to work (if there is just one set of holes for the screws).

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/upload/download/162/files/Hyper TX3 manual.pdf

The push pins rotate. You arm them before snapping them into place.
Around 4:17, 5:11, 5:34 in the video.

http://web.archive.org/web/20070208...ww.intel.com/cd/00/00/24/12/241209_241209.wmv

(Possibly the same video - 45MB, higher bitrate, not any clearer)
http://cache-www.intel.com/cd/00/00/45/62/456267_456267.zip

The plastic pushpins can be damaged, rendering the heatsink useless.

Paul
 
I'd like to avoid laying this one on it's side if at all possible.

I'll take a look at the board and do it exactly as in the video you sent (nice use of the internet archive, by the way!) and see if it'll work any better.

Just in case, how does one tell if the pins are broken?

Thanks again!
 
I'd like to avoid laying this one on it's side if at all possible.
Click to expand...


I've got one system on the side, but, come to think of it - when I put
mine in a year or more ago, pretty sure I would have bought metal
backplates, screws and such for that large of a CPU cooler.

Been thru it, done it w/ those plastic inserts, which aren't really in
the same class, especially when getting into quad cores drawing
125watts of power;- even some MBs may skimp and not be drilled for
setting up a monster cooler. (Mine's like a 95watt x2 Athlon at 3G -
runs on the toasty side w/ vid encodes coupled to complex sound
normalization modules, around 130F. May have to get a nibbler or
something to cut some holes in the case. On a slower dual Intel,
however, it hardly ever breaks a sweat over 90F - @/an ambient
70-80F.)

Best to research CPU cooling, easy enough to get PDFs from the makers
for exactly what's packaged and included for a given MB. EBAY btw -
I've had occasional luck sourcing for better CPU coolers.
 
I'd like to avoid laying this one on it's side if at all possible.

I'll take a look at the board and do it exactly as in the video you sent (nice use of the internet archive, by the way!) and see if it'll work any better.

Just in case, how does one tell if the pins are broken?

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

I was hoping to find a picture, a cross-section
of one of those pins. All I can suggest, is there
are two prongs

| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
| | | |
=========== <---- Pin shoulder rests on top
=========== of printed circuit board.
| | | |
/ | | \ <--- When nothing is in the central
\ | | / channel, these press together.
\_| |_/ If a rod is shoved down the central
channel, it "locks" the prongs so
they can no longer move inwards.

If the prongs are completely mutilated, they will no longer
be guided into the drilled hole in the motherboard. As
long as the prongs are unbent, and look like my
drawing, they're OK. The fiberglass motherboard is
pretty strong, and the hole is unlikely to be reamed
out - unless you pulled the pin through the board
the hard way. Using the screw release method, allowed
the pin to be eased back out (eased out as easily as
the guiding process to seat it in the first place.

So the first stage, is getting the prongs below the
level of the motherboard, then additional pressure pushed
the rod in the center to "lock" the pin.

That's my understanding of how it works, but without
a patent drawing to use for reference, or any good
pictures, I can't verify that for you. My push pin
LGA775 is installed right now, and I'm not taking it
apart :-)

There have been some attempts at replacement kits to
take the place of pushpins, but I doubt they're still
be for sale.

Paul
 
I'm using a motherboard with an LGA775 socket processor. I got a
heat sink with a fan and the thing is HUGE. It sticks out from the
motherboard almost the entire width of the case, and gravity is
getting the better of it. The problem is when I try to stand the
computer up. The heat sink stays attached to the motherboard but
it angles a bit and looses contact with the processor, effectively
rendering the whole thing useless. I'm fairly sure that it's
attached to the motherboard correctly. The pins seem locked into
the board. Plus on the back side of the motherboard, it looks
like the pins did their job. But the heat sink just won't stay on
the processor. The pins don't move, the heat sink moves up and
down on the pins, leading me to believe there's a step I've
Click to expand...
the cooler is a CoolerMaster TX3,
Click to expand...

Notice that each pin has a white cone-shaped tip that's split
down the middle, and when you press on the black part of the
pin, a locking rod is driven between those halves to spread
the tip apart so it wedges in place. I think the problem is
that the rod may spread apart those halves before the tip
completely clears the hole, causing it to get stuck a bit
higher than it should and resulting in that pin to not
press the heatsink enough against the CPU. You can avoid
that by pressing on the top side of the white pieces
directly with a screwdriver to snap them in place, then
press the black part as usual.

The instructions warn to first unlock each pin by turning
the black part in the direction of the arrow (counter-
clockwise), but they don't seem to mention then turning
them clockwise so the pins will be locked. BTW don't
turn a pin clockwise except when it's completely pressed
down, or you could crack the hard black portion of the
locking mechanism. That plastic, polycarbonate, can be
fixed with super glue or solvent (brush-on plastic model
glue only), but you have to align the pieces exactly.

Some people replace those pins with nuts and bolts, but
you have to torque them evenly for good contact with the
CPU, and you need jam nuts to hold the nuts in place, not
only for vibration but also so you can get by with less
torque. Metal hardware has to be electrically insulated
from the motherboard with nylon or fiber washers, but
real hardware stores also sell nylon nuts and bolts that
don't need this.
 
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