Heatsink Rattle

[Sherbanjo]

I bought a new rig a month ago and only recently realized higher-than-average CPU temps. Took a look inside and whaddya know, heatsink wasn't locked in properly. After re-centring the heatsink (temps are a cool 35c now) I've been hearing a loud rattling noise coming from the heatsink. I've stopped all the fans inside the case with my hand, so I know it's not any of them, but it seems to be the heatsink itself. If I push on the side or on the middle of the heatsink, the rattling goes away, but as soon as I let go, the noise comes back. It's just the stock heatsink that comes with the i5. Does anyone know what could be wrong?

 

[rds1220]

I bought a new rig a month ago and only recently realized higher-than-average CPU temps. Took a look inside and whaddya know, heatsink wasn't locked in properly. After re-centring the heatsink (temps are a cool 35c now) I've been hearing a loud rattling noise coming from the heatsink. I've stopped all the fans inside the case with my hand, so I know it's not any of them, but it seems to be the heatsink itself. If I push on the side or on the middle of the heatsink, the rattling goes away, but as soon as I let go, the noise comes back. It's just the stock heatsink that comes with the i5. Does anyone know what could be wrong?

Are you sure it's definitly on all the way. If you have a cutout on the back of your motherboard tray like pictureed here

.
Take a look to make sure the black pins are ALL THE WAY through the clear female adapter. Also make sure none of the wires from the heatsink fan are getting caught in the fan or are to close the fan. I had a fan making some weird noises on an I3 build and I couldn't figure out why. I played around with it for awhile then moved the heatsink fan wires just a little bit and it stopped making the noise. The wires weren't getting caught in the fan but the fan blades were just touching enough of the wires to make a weird noise.

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

I know this isn't necessarily helpful, but if it's not the fan itself, I honestly have no idea why it should be rattling. There are situations I've seen with a "whining" HSF (rare by itself), but not rattling, if it wasn't caused by the fan. Was it the CPU fan that you stopped?

And rds1220 is right, the HSF might not be mounted securely, but the temps look fine, so I'm not sure if that's it.

 

[Sherbanjo]

Yes, I stopped the CPU fan and the case fans and neither were the cause of the issue.

The heatsink looks to be pushed in all the way as well:

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Yeah, that looks ok, and like I said, your idle temp looks good, so I wouldn't think that's it. How about the wire, as rds1220 mentioned, as well?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

On second thought, if it still rattles with the fan stopped, the wire couldn't be it. Maybe it's some really strange resonance thing going on? An odd problem, for sure.

 

[Sherbanjo]

Yeah played around with the wires too but still no improvement. Once I put the side of the case on and slot the rig under my desk, the rattle is barely audible. It's just strange that it's there at all. Just wondering if anyone knows what it is -- more disconcerting than annoying.

 

[rds1220]

What case do you have? Is it a very thin metal like aluminum? On a diffent build I went CHEAP. I used a cheap Diablotek case made out of very thin aluminum. It was ratteling like crazy I literally checked everything. Then when the computer was on I just lightly pushed on the side panels and the ratteling stopped ans when I let go it started again. So What I figured is the the heatsink fan was causing vibrations within the case which in turn caused an annoying ratteling noise. There was nothing I could do but get a different case.

 

[rds1220]

Yeah played around with the wires too but still no improvement. Once I put the side of the case on and slot the rig under my desk, the rattle is barely audible. It's just strange that it's there at all. Just wondering if anyone knows what it is -- more disconcerting than annoying.

That sounds exactly like what happened to me with the Diablotek case mentioned above. If it's not th heatsink and not the fan then the only other thing I can think of is vibrations within the case causing a ratteling noise.

 

[Sherbanjo]

I have a Cooler Master HAF 912 -- not the most luxurious but I wouldn't call it cheap either. Haven't heard of a problem like this with any of 'em, anyway. I tried lightly pushing on the side panels, but the rattling still happens. The only thing that seems to stop it is pushing on the heatsink itself.

 

[Sherbanjo]

Just an update: rig's been running all day at cool temperatures inside a hot room. The rattling is still an oddity, but hopefully that's all it will ever be.

EDIT: And thanks everyone for the quick responses. Really helped me rule out a lot of possibilities and get some peace of mind. Great forums, I think I'll stick around

 

[Richie Ricardo-1359559]

I have a Cooler Master aftermarket heat sink in the computer I built back at the end of October (Now being July of next Year). I never had this problem until just a few days ago. My cpu temp has gone up slightly too but that may be due to it being summer in a non air conditioned room. The rattling is so subtle yet its driving me crazy. It seems as if its way too big for its own good and its slowly but surely starting to lean at such a slight angle that its not even visible yet it causes the noise. The reason for my theory is that if i gently push against the bottom with my finger, the noise goes away.

 

[DJAspire]

Yeah i have the same problem on my hp pavilion g7 laptop. turns out that there is a fine layer of adhesive fromt he factory that when its broken the adhesiveness vanishes instantly. i hadto improvise with electrical tape to secure the heatsink to the motherboard. makesure if you use this method to not cover any micro circuitry and be liberal with the tape because heat will wear down adhesives. i also went through and madesure this was not the fan, that only left one alternative.