9800 Pro, problem with stock heatsink

[sweatlaserxp]

A couple of weeks ago I installed a SapphireTek 9800 Pro 128Mb in my computer, and this morning I removed it to get the S/N and P/N for registration, when I noticed that the heatsink gave in while I was pulling on it! Of course, the down-force from the spring pushed it right back into place, but I'm a little bit concerned here...

Basically what's wrong, it appears, is that the heatsink does not have enough thermal compound, or the thermal compound simply hasn't hardened yet. It's bad though- when I lightly push on one side of the heat sink, the other end rocks upward, and I can see into the core and all of the paste oozing everywhere, so there's no way that there is a solid seal inside there when the springs push it back down. I should remove it and re-seat it properly, which I have done with my Ti4200, unless someone has another suggestion. I have Arctic Silver Thermal compound, and I was wondering if that was appropriate to use as an alternative to the white silicone crap that everybody supplies with their heatsinks.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by sweatlaserxp on 03/19/04 12:12 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[sweatlaserxp]

Well I received an e-mail from Arctic Silver and the guy said that Arctic thermal compound will work fine with VGA heatsinks, as long as the HS has an attachment mechanism, i.e. pushpins. I'm going to remove the HS and re-attach it using Arctic Silver 3.

 

[Crashman]

Those springs aren't very strong, but are supposed to hold the thing flat (as long as you're not pushing on it)!

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