touching the back of the cpu's

Gabriel Rios

Honorable
Aug 13, 2013
148
0
10,690
So I touched for one small second the bottom of my new and CPU and was wondering does that make it slow or damage it? The computer works FYI. Thanks.
 
Solution
If your computer is stable and working then it is most likely fine, but electrostatic discharge (ESD), while not always instantly fatal to a sensitive component, can cause transistor damage that will shorten the life of a chip.

If you scraped or damaged any contacts on the CPU, yes it would stop working, but since your computer is still working. I think you are safe. And no, its not going to make your computer slower just touching the back of the CPU, although I guess you could compromise contact a little if you got an oily fingerprint on a contact, which would change your termination resistance, and cause some signal distortion... but its unlikely and probably won't matter anyways lol.

EDIT: Assuming bottom of CPU is the pin side...

onichikun

Distinguished
Nov 13, 2009
304
1
18,860
If your computer is stable and working then it is most likely fine, but electrostatic discharge (ESD), while not always instantly fatal to a sensitive component, can cause transistor damage that will shorten the life of a chip.

If you scraped or damaged any contacts on the CPU, yes it would stop working, but since your computer is still working. I think you are safe. And no, its not going to make your computer slower just touching the back of the CPU, although I guess you could compromise contact a little if you got an oily fingerprint on a contact, which would change your termination resistance, and cause some signal distortion... but its unlikely and probably won't matter anyways lol.

EDIT: Assuming bottom of CPU is the pin side.

If top side, you can get some fingerprint oil that can compromise a perfect thermal contact, but you're prolly OK.
 
Solution