Let me preface this with some background. This isn't my first rodeo. I have been assembling my own PC's since the mid 90's so I have seen my fair share of motherboards and the corresponding chipsets. Ok now that I have that out of the way on to my question.
Often times when assembling a new PC I make the assumption that the heatsinks on the chipset have had the proper application of thermal compound or tape applied to them. I know I should never assume and usually I tell myself that I really need to check EVERYTHING when I get a new board. Then by the time I build a new one I go back to my assumption and general laziness. Perhaps it is just a desire to get my new toy up and running as quickly as possible.
Today I received my Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H motherboard and something about the large heatsink just didn't sit right with me. It didn't feel like it was making the proper contact against the chip. I decided to take it off and inspect it before screwing the board into the case. Luckily I did as the thermal paste applied to it was hard as a rock and appeared uneven. While this is only an HTPC board and won't see any type of OCing or extreme duty use it is still a reminder that I (we?) should always take an extra few minutes and fully inspect everything.
Ok back to my build.
Often times when assembling a new PC I make the assumption that the heatsinks on the chipset have had the proper application of thermal compound or tape applied to them. I know I should never assume and usually I tell myself that I really need to check EVERYTHING when I get a new board. Then by the time I build a new one I go back to my assumption and general laziness. Perhaps it is just a desire to get my new toy up and running as quickly as possible.
Today I received my Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H motherboard and something about the large heatsink just didn't sit right with me. It didn't feel like it was making the proper contact against the chip. I decided to take it off and inspect it before screwing the board into the case. Luckily I did as the thermal paste applied to it was hard as a rock and appeared uneven. While this is only an HTPC board and won't see any type of OCing or extreme duty use it is still a reminder that I (we?) should always take an extra few minutes and fully inspect everything.
Ok back to my build.