Did i Damage my northbridge?

[dermotti]

I have the Biostar Tforce 965pt.

I wanted to overclock, but because my arctic cooler 8 pro does not push any air across the northbridge passive heatsink, i could not overlock much past 410mhz.

So, wanting to overclock more, i purchased this northbridge HSF:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835116018

I installed it, and i was able to get up to 441mhz stable (e6300@ 3.1ghz). Ran Orthos for 12 hours, played Elder Scrolls oblivian for 4 hours straight. 100% stable.

So im like cool this is a good HSF! So i reccomend it to a friend, and he asks me for a link. I link him to Newegg, and i start reading reviews.

And one review says "DONT FORGET TO REMOVE THE PLASTIC FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HSF". Oh Crap, I did forget!

So i power off my machine and pull off the HSF expecting to find a melted mass of plastic.
But when i go to peel off the plastic, it does not look like heat touched it at all.

Did i do any permanent damage?

Heres a pic of the plastic piece:
http://www.redgoblin.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26

 

[BenchZowner]

Nope, if you're computer is still working ok, then no problem at all.
But...here's a tip:
Next time be carefull, read the installation manual ( just in case.... ) and don't rush into installing something without checking everything up.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: dermotti
I have the Biostar Tforce 965pt.

I wanted to overclock, but because my arctic cooler 8 pro does not push any air across the northbridge passive heatsink, i could not overlock much past 410mhz.

So, wanting to overclock more, i purchased this northbridge HSF:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835116018

I installed it, and i was able to get up to 441mhz stable (e6300@ 3.1ghz). Ran Orthos for 12 hours, played Elder Scrolls oblivian for 4 hours straight. 100% stable.

So im like cool this is a good HSF! So i reccomend it to a friend, and he asks me for a link. I link him to Newegg, and i start reading reviews.

And one review says "DONT FORGET TO REMOVE THE PLASTIC FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HSF". Oh Crap, I did forget! -- those are NOT reviews--they are at best uninformed customer comments!!So i power off my machine and pull off the HSF expecting to find a melted mass of plastic.
But when i go to peel off the plastic, it does not look like heat touched it at all.

Did i do any permanent damage?

Heres a pic of the plastic piece:
http://www.redgoblin.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26

 

[bjp999]

Did you install the thermal compound? The plastic looks pretty clean in the picture.

If you were able to push your OC obviously this cooler was doing better with the plastic in place than the old one was doing. I'd have been concerned if the pastic had made a gooey mess. You were lucky!

I put a small 40mm fan on my NB (see my Antec review and look closely at the last couple of pictures). It is a good way to get some air movement with a monster HSF blocking it. I am not sure how to replace my NB cooler since it has heat pipes over to the voltage regulators.

Read the directions, review, AND ADVICE OF OTHERS before installing something new. The later can often give you insights and help you avoid common mistakes.

 

[dermotti]

Yea i used thermal compound. I wiped it off to see if the plastic got burned or melted.

 

[dermotti]

Originally posted by: BenchZowner
Nope, if you're computer is still working ok, then no problem at all.
But...here's a tip:
Next time be carefull, read the installation manual ( just in case.... ) and don't rush into installing something without checking everything up.

Funny thing is, I just looked trough the instruction again and nowhere does it mention removing the plastic film. The bottom of this heatsink is so polished its almost impossible to tell that there was plastic on it. There are no warning graphics on it at all.

 

[BenchZowner]

Originally posted by: dermotti

Originally posted by: BenchZowner
Nope, if you're computer is still working ok, then no problem at all.
But...here's a tip:
Next time be carefull, read the installation manual ( just in case.... ) and don't rush into installing something without checking everything up.

Funny thing is, I just looked trough the instruction again and nowhere does it mention removing the plastic film. The bottom of this heatsink is so polished its almost impossible to tell that there was plastic on it. There are no warning graphics on it at all.

Oh well
Sorry if my sounded offending in any way.
Well I hope you've learned your lesson ( good thing is that you've learned your lesson without losing any hardware ), so in your future adventures ( buys ) check the surface for any "partially" visible stickers

 

[bjp999]

Originally posted by: dermotti
Funny thing is, I just looked trough the instruction again and nowhere does it mention removing the plastic film. The bottom of this heatsink is so polished its almost impossible to tell that there was plastic on it. There are no warning graphics on it at all.

Seems like a dirty trick they played on you! Lucky you were on the ball!

 

[dermotti]

Maybe that was Thermaltakes way of showing off how uber the heatsink was