OEM Wraith Cooler - OEM Thermal Tape/paste seeped onto CPU pins

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Limp Gawd
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Mar 25, 2012
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Board was running hot with FSX. 84C
OEM Wraith Cooler that came with it.

Decided to remove the CPU and remove the OEM tape/paste and apply Arctic Silver. S-P-A-R-I-N-G-L-Y as in VERY LITTLE.

BUT....

When I removed the CPU, I noticed that there was so much of the OEM tape/Paste that came from thye AMD applied TIC on the Wraith cooler that it had melted and run down two sides of the cpu.
Upon removing the CPU, a small amount had seeped onto the pins.

I had added nothing....changed nothing. Simply installed supplied CPU with Wraith Cooler onto it.

Dabbed it off with a tissue as best as I could and cleaned gently with a Q-Tip and alcohol. However, it's apparent that some TIC was on the CPU socket.

Considering returning the board and cpu just to be safe (I have 30 days)

If I decide to return it, do I need to be sure to clean the Socket so that no trace of the TIC remains?

If I decide to keep it, should it be OK?
 
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After almost 4 hours after putting it back together and running FSX I haven't had any issues yet.

I changed a few parameters in BIOS to reduce automatic overclocking voltage adjustments and it's running WAY cooler.
HWInfo64 is reporting Tdie MAX of 65.4C after about two hours of flying in heavily congested complex areas like LAX so maybe all is ok.

That combined with the change in Thermal paste. Not sure which or if both but the temps are well under control now.

I'm a tiny bit concerned about long term with this CPU and board, but the way these things go, if I do go for a different board, I could possibly end up with a glitchy board while this one could remain rock steady.
Dunno.
If I donts have any crashes, BSOD's or any other problems I might just keep them both (CPU and Mainboard).

So far so good.
 
glad its working for ya. trying to return it would have been immoral.

Thx.

Ya, maybe.
I wonder how "moral" AMD would be if I contacted them and asked them to replace the CPU and Motherboard? I'm sure their conscious would be their guide.
The CPU was installed according to their exact directions exactly as it came out of the box. There should not have been enough excess to over flow onto the socket.
Many people have had this same issue according to searching Google.

If AMD's negligence caused them both to fail, I should just toss the board and CPU and buy another. I can afford it...AMD and Asus....not so much. What's $400 ?

But definitely not Asus's fault either way. At least not this time.
 
this has been an "issue" with all sorts of pro-applied pastes on heat sinks. it's quite common in oem systems. ive always cleaned up the excess before removing the chip to prevent it from getting everywhere.
 
this has been an "issue" with all sorts of pro-applied pastes on heat sinks. it's quite common in oem systems. ive always cleaned up the excess before removing the chip to prevent it from getting everywhere.

I did too. but it was so much that it had over run the edges and gone UNDERNEATH the CPU.
NOTHING you can do about that except remove ALL the OEM paste before ever installing the CPU to begin with. My NEW procedure from now on.
 
I don't think I've ever run pre-applied thermal compound on any CPU. I clean it off with 99% alcohol and apply Noctua NT-H1 and off to the races I go. While acceptable in most cases, I've just never liked the stuff especially since good aftermarket TIM can be had to your door for less than $10 and in some cases can make a pretty good difference. Hell, I even go as far as to do the same for my video cards, remove cooler, clean up, and apply new TIM. I do the video cards mostly because I like to tinker but still...
 
I don't think I've ever run pre-applied thermal compound on any CPU. I clean it off with 99% alcohol and apply Noctua NT-H1 and off to the races I go. While acceptable in most cases, I've just never liked the stuff especially since good aftermarket TIM can be had to your door for less than $10 and in some cases can make a pretty good difference. Hell, I even go as far as to do the same for my video cards, remove cooler, clean up, and apply new TIM. I do the video cards mostly because I like to tinker but still...

Long ago, I built a lot of machines. Today, maybe one every 3 or 4 years? So I forget some of that critical stuff like that.

But after this....I'll do the same from now on.
 
The paste is non-conductive so nothing would have happened anyways. Worst case you can spray it with electric cleaner and let it dry, good as new.

Moosic to my ears. But, I heard (read through Google research actually) that conductivity is not the "Gotch"....it's "Capacitance" ?
 
Moosic to my ears. But, I heard (read through Google research actually) that conductivity is not the "Gotch"....it's "Capacitance" ?

Huh? Those are two different things. Conductive TIM like one of the metal based ones and you'd have fried your board/cpu. TIM's that have capacitance would only slightly change electrical readings and not result in the former.
 
Don't worry about it unless the OEM was dumb enough to use silver-bearing paste, about the only kind that can ever conduct. Paste won't hurt conduction of electrical signals because any film of paste will be pierced when the contacts touch.
 
yeah that happened to me with the cooler on my wifes 3800X. pulled the wraith to install an H115I and had some seepage on the socket. an acid brush and a little deoxit cleaned it right up. no issues at all.
 
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