Broken stock AM3+ cooler tightening lever.

Bryce Allgood

Honorable
Dec 5, 2013
1
0
10,510
The cooler took an unusually large amount of force to get the two side clips hooked on, much more than the last time I've done this, and was unable to tighten the lever. The plastic lever broke from the force of trying to tighten it and I am worried about possible CPU damage. I have removed the CPU and there are no bent pins, but I can't tell if any of the cores are crushed (there is no surface damage on the top of the chip).

Link to motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128627
Processor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285

I ordered a hyper 212+ which is the same cooler I use, but I am unable to test for CPU damage until the cooler arrives.

What do you think the chances are that the chip is damaged? Faulty motherboard or cooler? Also, what do you think the chances are of getting an RMA or other compensation?
 
if you broke the plastic mounts you will need a new cooler that has its own mounting brackets. by the looks of it you should be able to do this with ease as it seems they are screwed into the motherboard and not mounted with plastic rivets.
the problem is that not many coolers actually use independent backplates for amd am3+ mountings. so it may be a hard slog to find a new 1.
 

False_Dmitry_II

Distinguished
No, he's talking about when you lever/lock the cooler into place he broke the actual lever that does that and now can't lock down the cooler.

Most probably the CPU itself is just fine. Heck, the problem was that you were unable to get enough force on the CPU from the heatsink in order to get good thermal conductivity. You can tell newegg that the stock cooler was faulty, but you have to send the CPU and everything to get a replacement. Since you've already got a 212 on the way I'd just use that and when it's all set up put the defective cooler in the circular file.