Discrete Vector

What’s with Intel and their stock heat sinks anyway? Every time they change the socket type they end up changing the heat sink installation design? Mind you, change doesn’t always mean improved.

I have been assembling computers for a long time now. I should know. The computer I had few years back was a Pentium 4. The 423 PIN one. Boy, was that heatsink a nightmare or what.  There were these damn clips that had to clamped on. It was pure physical work. If installing them were bad you should try removing them.. The wretched things never seem to come off.

(The clamps. Remember these characters?)

Intel finally go some hold on things and released the best heat sink I have installed. Drop ‘em in, turn the levers and you are done. (See below) To remove just release the levers. Easy.

(The 478 PIN Pentium 4’s Heat sink)

The latest introduction for the core 2’s is this contraption below. This one has no levers or clamps. Your place it on the motherboard, align the legs to the four holes on the motherboard and press them all in place. That’s it. Unfortunately its not so straight forward. For one, pressing the legs down doesn’t always seem to lock them in place. When you lock one leg in place, the rest of the three corners tip away from the motherboard and you have to put extra pressure to lock the others, all the while worrying whether you will break the damn thing or with some luck damage the processor itself.

(Core 2 Duo Stock Heat Sink. Picture courtesy PCStats.com)

Installing the 775 Socket processor stock heatsink

Here are some tips for installing the 775 socket stock processor.

Always install the processor, heatsink and RAM before screwing the motherboard onto the casing. There is less hassle this way. Once you put in the motherboard inside the case you will have to work inside the constraints of the case which can be a pain at time.

Before inserting the processor check for bent pins on the motherboard. The LGA design moved all the legs from the processor to the motherboard making it easier for Intel. Bad news for the mobo vendor though. More replacement orders due to bent pins!

To install the processor, hold it parallel to the motherboard socket. Ensure that the golden triangle one of the processors corners is aligned with the corner of the socket which has a pin missing. Its foolproof design actually. Two notches on the socket ensure that the processer can only be inserted the right way. Once its aligned hold it at a height of around 1 cm above the socket and just drop it in place. Run your finger around the sides to ensure that its seated properly.

The stock heat sink comes pre applied with thermal compound. Look at the bottom of the heat sink, you’ll see three strips of grey. The thermal compound ensures that the heat is efficiently transferred off the surface of the processor onto the heatsink. Do not wipe it off do something stupid like that. I have had a friend call me up once for help because he wiped the thermal compound clean off the heatsink because he though it was a sticker or something that had to be removed before installation.

“Ok Bob, the heatsink’s protective sticker is off. Now what? ”.

“Uh… what protective sticker?”

For the same reason, do not rest the heatsink somewhere with the compound side touching it. Only remove the heatsink from the plastic housing when you are ready to install it.

Ok, now we come to the tricky part. Ensure that the legs are aligned properly before inserting them onto the motherboard. The cut on the top of each of the legs should be pointed towards to the side of the heatsink, NOT away from it. Oh one more thing, even though you can insert any of the legs in any of the holes its easier if you align the heatsink so that the fans connector is closest to the corresponding socket on the motherboard.

Place the heatsink gently down on the processor ensuring that all four legs have gone through all the four holes. Now comes the benefit holding off installing the motherboard inside the case. Hold the heatsink in place and turn the motherboard around. Make sure the ends of the legs are protruding through the holes.

Now comes the tricky part. Hold the heatsink down with one hand and press one of the legs down till you hear a solid click. Now do the same to the leg diagonally opposite to the one you just locked in. Do the same for the other two. Sometimes you will have difficulty pushing in one of the legs or you may not hear the satisfactory click. In such cases give all of the legs a good push and then turn the motherboard around. All the legs should now have a black ‘stick’ in between. More importantly the end of the black stick should be aligned with the end of the white tip. Then and only then are the legs properly locked in place.

(The heatsink after insertion. Note the base of the pin and the direction of the cut on top of the pin head)

As an ending note I really hope Intel ships heatsinks that are more easier to install. One that doesn’t involve installing a heatsink more painful than pulling teeth.

PS: If you have issues while assembling your PC, drop me a line and I’ll help you out.

Additional Links

PCStats  has an excellent processor and heat sink installation guide on their site. Say it with pictures. Great for the newbie.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2231&page=6

Happy assembling,
Alex