Does replacing the stock heatsink void the warranty?

Technically, yes. If you use any heatsink other thank the bundled heatsink/thermal gunk, they won't replace your chip if its dead.

But in any respect, just by opening the box wrong voids any warranty...if you read the fine print.

Getting a better heatsink is always a decent idea, even if you don't plan to overclock. They are fairly cheap and will perform better than the stock cooler. Just ensure good case airflow and become informed on applying thermal paste (TIM).

thanks for the reply. I was wondering what is the percentage of people actually doing it(using a third party heatsink) and the percentage of the CPU would die? It seems like I have to do it, but then if something goes wrong, they won't replace it, it's pretty frustrating......

they wouldn't know by looking at the CPU whether the stock heatsink has been detached before?

A large percentage of people use a different heatsink than one provided, especially people that build their own machines. That being said, I am betting a very, very small portion of people actually have chips die from overheating. Almost every motherboard protects against thermal and BIOS setting damage in some form or another.



When you ship back the CPU they also want the boxed cooler. When they see it in pristine condition (no dust, no sign of the thermal paste being 'used' or any sign of wear) they'll know you didn't use it.

Not being rude but that was a silly question you asked there. They would never know.

I just bought a new core i7, and im using a coolermaster v8 (awesome), and i kept the original heatsink as well, so if i ever have to send it in, i can just clean off the processor, install with the original heatsink ( which, btw, has thermal gunk in 3 lines across the contact surface, so they WILL know), and then let it run for a while, and maybe crank up the fans and open a used vacuum bag, so it gets nice and dusty