Bending boards

[stevo1210]

Hello Everyone.

I have a few socket 478 motherboards here at the moment and I just noticed that if I lock the heatsink+Fan down, the boards will bend very slightly.

Could I have installed my CPU wrongly or loose? I can see that the heatsink sits flat on all four corners.
The PC currently POSTs and passed all burn-in tests and a Windows installation. It has been on for hours without issues at all.

I looked through my IBM desktop and found it had something behind the CPU area, it looks like a large metal plate thing and it prevents the board from bending at all.... what is that thing called and is it recommended that I get one?? (The manual says I shouldn't get one because I may damage my board)

I'm just paranoid to why my boards are bending slightly.... some people tell me that it is a very normal socket 478 thing to have a board bend very slightly once the CPU heatsink is locked in place.... is that true??


Thanks.

[Galvanized]

Re: Bending boards

That is why it's nice to have a slide-out motherboard tray for bench testing, because once the board is mounted, it won't flex as much. A slight flexing is normal and can get radical when the retail heat sink with it's .019" thick thermal pad is inplace. I have removed the retail thermal pad and used a quality paste, like CoolerMaster Premium or Ceramique. That is quite a difference in crush, .019" to what? Maybe .002".

I did read a post where the fella only latched a P4 sink, with retail thermal pad, half way, ran Prime 95 for an hour, then latched it all the way.

[pentium]

Re: Bending boards

I have seen some nasty stock coolers do some insane stuff.
I pulled a socket 370 board once (foret the model) that was having intermittant problems and the cards had trouble seating (hint).
You put this thing on a flat surface and you could see a half centimeter (or more) bend in the board.
Not only was he using a dirty thermal pad with way too much heatsink compound but he also rigged a socket 478 heatsink to fit over the cpu!

This is the same person who thought it was safe to replace cards while the system was on. That board humanely put out of it's misery (and circulation).

[Maxxarcade]

Re: Bending boards

I put an Athlon Socket 754 system together with an ECS motherboard that did that as well. It had a cheap plastic plate mounted to the back of the board under the cpu socket. It also didn't fit into the old HP Pavilion case I was trying to install it in, because the back plate was thicker than the board standoffs.

I like the newer way that heatsinks are mounted these days, but not when they use flimsy retention brackets with rediculously tight clips.

[Galvanized]

Re: Bending boards

ThermalRight does offer a metal back-up plate for < $5 here State-Side.