Is it bad if the heatsink base touches any solid capacitors?

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 7:39 pm

So I finally got this heatsink (XP-90) on my board, and it's very slightly pressing into this row of capacitors:

The heatsink is like 1mm too short to go on top of the capacitors, so that's the small part of it which is touching/pressing. This shouldn't cause any problems, should it?

(If it makes any difference, the processor is an E8400.)

santacruzbob · Post by **santacruzbob** » Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:56 pm

I'd be most concerned about getting proper cpu/heatsink contact/pressure.. it's not gonna do any damage to the caps, so if temps are good you've got nothing to worry about

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Wed Apr 09, 2008 6:39 am

OK cool. Yeah my main concern was if heat transferred from the processor to the caps (since it's at the level before it filters up and out) that the caps can't get overheated or anything. If it actually absorbed their heat too, that would be nice

There is the slightest of slight pressure on the caps, but again the area of overlap is less than 1mm, so I can barely tell they're even being pressed unless I look at the board from a certain angle.

The reason I had the heatsink arranged that way was so it would line up with the side exhaust duct on the case. I could flip it 180Âº, but then only the left half of the fan would use the duct, so I'd rather use that.

vick1000 · Post by **vick1000** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 11:54 am

Take some sand paper and sand that corner off of the base.

tehfire · Post by **tehfire** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 1:30 pm

I had a similar issue installing an XP-90 onto an ASUS P5K-VM board. In that case, the caps were really in the way, and my CPU was not getting good contact with the HSF (I pulled off the heatsink, and my thermal paste had virtually not been spread out at all. If your HSF is getting good contact with the CPU, I wouldn't worry about it, but I'd make sure it is.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Thu Apr 10, 2008 4:17 pm

Hello,

If you have a rotary tool, you can grind off a bit from the base, by putting a chamfer on it?

D Incorporated · Post by **D Incorporated** » Fri Apr 11, 2008 10:07 am

Yeah, I ended up filing off the corner:

It was quite a hassle, took about an hour and a cramped hand, but worth it for something I'm intending to last for years