Aftermarket Heat Sink Put In Backwards

[truest]

This is my after market heat sink

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185096&Tpk=katana3

I built my computer about 2 months ago using ARCTIC SILVER 5 thermal compound with this heat sink. I hardly turn off the computer so for about 2 months it has been running for at least 15+ hours a day.

So i recently found out that i put in my after market heat sink in backwards.. right? i know.. the fan is facing the rear end of the computer. so my antec 900 front fan takes in air, but then the air flow gets messed up when it hits the heatsink. what should i do?

I want to correct this problem and put it in the right way, but I am unsure if i should clean and reapply the arctic silver 5 thermal compound or if i should just go ahead and reverse it.

My computer has been working fine. idling in the high 30's low 40's. Im unsure about on high. I have an antec 900 case with fans blowing at medium speed.



In conclusion. should i keep it as is? reverse the heatsink alone? or reverse the heat sink and reapply the thermal compound.

 

[ekoostik]

From your description, it doesn't sound like your fan is backwards. You have a front case fan that pulls air in towards the back. And, I assume, a back case fan that pushes air out the back.

Now, you say the fan is facing the rear of the computer. Does that mean that as you work your way from the front towards the back, you first encounter the heatsink, then the fan? And is the fan working in push or pull mode?

If you have the HSF so that the heatsink (e.g the fins) is closer to the front of the computer and the fan is closer to the back of the computer, and the fan is pulling air across the fins of the heatsink and pushing the air towards the back of the case, then you have this installed correctly.

If that is not the case, preferrably you want the fan moving air towards the back of the case. Without removing the heatsink, can you take the fan off the heatsink and turn it around so that it moves the air towards the back of the case? If so, that might be worth a shot. Compare your temps afterwards to make sure they got better and not worse.

Otherwise, your temps are not horrible. They are higher than what they probably could be, depending on your ambient temps. You should keep an eye on them when your CPU is under load. If you want to go to the trouble of reinstalling the heatsink, and you cannot do as I described above, take it off completely, clean the base of the heatsink and the CPU to remove the thermal compound, and then reinstall the heatsink with fresh compound.

 

[OvrClkr]

If the fan is not on the right hand side blowing the hot air towards the rear exhaust then YES it is backwards, all you need to do is remove the cooler wipe off the old paste, re-paste and re-seat =)

 

[truest]

Best answer selected by truest.