Hilarious Heatsink Issue

[RuthlessMurder]

I built my computer in October 2010. I have an i5 760 installed. When I went about hooking up the heatsink to the CPU i thought that the installation was really weird. I remember installing heatsinks on pentium 4s years ago and the heatsink felt secure. The plastic pins that this thing used seemed like they didnt work. I however followed instructions and tugged on the cpu to ensure its attachment and it didnt come off.

Flash forward to last night. I was at my computer and I heard a thunk, I looked around didn't notice anything and then my computer shut down. I thought it was weird so I glanced around the comptuer and nothing. I turned it back on, it posts and then it shuts down. I look inside the case and my heatsink was sitting on my video card.

I reattached the heatsink to the CPU and turned on the computer and gamed for a few hours.

My question is this: Is it necessary for me to clean off the old heatsink compound (which was a pad that was applied at factory) and apply new stuff or is the old dried stuff ok?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

You should ALWAYS apply new thermal compound anytime the heatsink is removed.

 

[popatim]

depends on the age of the cpu compound with me and wether its a hardening type or stay soft type, but in the case of a pad type, yup, always scrape them off to go with the good stuff.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Best answer selected by mousemonkey.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey