I built my first computer and made a HUGE mistake.

Zack Teater · Mar 21, 2014

I built my first computer and made a HUGE mistake. I misunderstood where to put the thermal paste and I placed it (the whole tube) directly on the CPU pins. Is there any chance of saving my MB and CPU or are they pretty much toast at this point?

MB: MSI 970A-G43 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.1GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 95W 6-Core Desktop Processor FD6300WMHKBOX

Deophobic · Mar 21, 2014

As far as i know there is no easy way to take that paste off the pins without possibly damaging them :/ however someone else may know a way

I myself have never seen this

aldan · Mar 21, 2014

take the cpu and put it in a container (dish) of isopropynol and let it soak.then carefully,and i mean carefully use a soft bristle brush to gently wipe the compound off of the pins.this could take a while.make sure not to bend the pins.once the compound is cleaned off let the cpu dry and install normally.relax,its not the end of the world.obviously you cant soak the motherboard but if you put some iso in a spray bomb and spritz it and use the tooth brush method you should be able to get it clean.

bryonhowley · Mar 21, 2014

Soak the CPU in rubbing Alcohol that might take care of the past just be careful to not bend the pins. Soak it in the Alcohol and then use a soft Bristol toothbrush to remove the rest. Just do it slow and easy so as to not bend the pens.
The motherboard is another story but I would use the same thing use a toothbrush soaked in Alcohol and scrub the socket clean and let it dry before you even try to power it back up. If you do not bend the pins on the CPU you can salvage them both. Just be very careful with the pins they are very delicate and just trying to bend one back in place is enough to break one of them off.

Since you used the whole tube you are also going to need another tube of thermal past and apply it correctly to the "top" of the CPU this time and not the whole tub.

Zack Teater · Mar 21, 2014

bryonhowley :

Thanks, I will try the iso + toothbrush method. Also, the CPU seems to be stuck to the heat sink. Since I didn't have thermal paste in the right spot, is it somehow melted together? I turned it on and off many times trying to figure out why I couldn't get a video feed, but it was never on more than 5-10 minutes at a time and all of the fans were running.

Edit: I was able to get it off, there seems to be some adhesive or other paste there.

Jaxem · Mar 21, 2014

and, so you know, you only need a very small amount of thermal paste:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/thermal-paste-heat-sink-heat-spreader,3600.html

the last part of this is good information that you should read through about different application methods and their merits

Jaxem · Mar 21, 2014

Zack Teater :

bryonhowley :

Thanks, I will try the iso + toothbrush method. Also, the CPU seems to be stuck to the heat sink. Since I didn't have thermal paste in the right spot, is it somehow melted together? I turned it on and off many times trying to figure out why I couldn't get a video feed, but it was never on more than 5-10 minutes at a time and all of the fans were running.

Edit: I was able to get it off, there seems to be some adhesive or other paste there.

Stock heatsinks usually have some compound on them so you don't have to buy any...that may be what saved your CPU from frying

BFU2Miners · Mar 21, 2014

Yes, the FX-6300 comes with thermal paste already applied, now that you finally managed to get the thermal compound out of the CPU, is when you need to buy and apply a thermal paste, best of luck getting it fixed.

mickypheonix · Mar 21, 2014

OMG you poor guy ,
good luck m8

irishgek · Mar 16, 2015

Chevy_Monsenhor · Mar 17, 2015

No way you did that!
Man, watch some videos before doing something again!

Alectfenrir · Mar 18, 2015

I am a horrible person but when I saw this and I LOLed too hard when I shouldn't have, now I feel guilty >.<

Thermal paste has an adhesive-like trait to it, so when the CPU is stuck to the heat sink, its normal for that to happen.

Anyways, is your PC working fine now?

green giant 2 · Mar 18, 2015

OctopusMan · Mar 18, 2015

You done goofed sir :lol:

aldan · Mar 19, 2015

well,if you look at the date of the first post,hes had a year to get over it.lol

Bassblaster505 · Jul 17, 2015

Zack Teater :

HAHA!!

country25strong · Oct 1, 2015

O brother that's a pretty crappy mistake. Good thing it is salvagable. Hope you where able to remove 99% with the Alcohol and brush. We have all made mistakes on our first builds. Hell even a lot of guys who have building pc's for 20 years or more make mistakes. Most important thing to remember is learn from those mistakes.

How was your MOBO by the way?

Michael29 · Oct 1, 2015

This was featured on gigabyte facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/GIGABYTE.US/posts/10153625848053695

marshal11 · Oct 1, 2015

LOL. Funny mistake. I too come from Facebook, gotta get an update. I can predict the possible outcomes though. My guess is that you used a electrically conductive thermal paste like Artic Silver 5 instead of a non-conductive one like MX4 (which also performs better and lasts longer...). If you used a non-conductive paste, it shouldn't have been a problem at all because the connectors would still be making contact with the motherboard and not shorting the CPU or motherboard as normal (it shouldn't have blocked the signals due to how the LGA socket is designed). However, because you tried and it did not boot, this means that it was shorting something (unless there is another problem) and this could mean that it either killed one of or both components depending on if the shortage caused damage to the CPU or motherboard, or both components are totally fine and once the paste stops causing a shortage (which may be very difficult unless you disassemble the CPU socket and clean it thoroughly) everything should be fine. My hopes are for the latter my friend, and I also hope you're more involved in computer guides before you've gone and tried overvolting your components or something like that... lol!

Gregory_3 · Oct 2, 2015

These previous comments are on the right track. Once you get those pins clean you will still have some residual paste in the socket holes. This may or may not be a problem. An alcohol treatment with a soft cloth rubbed over them may help. Beyond that, plug it in and pray. With regard to application of paste on the die surface; the best info I ever got was to dab in on with a finger by patting until the entire surface was covered with a thin coat. This should be optimal. Don't slather; it's not desireable.

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