Case fell over, cpu fan came off. Could this affect performance?

[Meaning_Raptor]

Ok so I'm 13 and I just finished building my first gaming pc. I accedentaly knocked over my case though and everything was fine except for the CPU fan. I am really paranoid that something happened because I just finished building it yesterday. The fan was still running when it came off so I turned off the computer before the fan could damage anything. So I turn my computer back on and I was downloading from Steam right then and i guess since I turned my computer off while steam was running (I hit the power button, not shut down.) then it deleted all of my files because I had to install Steam and login again like it was my first time logging in. I am using the stock intel cooler. here are my specs

Intel core i5 4690k
Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-x
Kingston 8GB Ram
Asrock Z97 Pro4 Motherboard
600 watt power supply

those are the important specs anyway.

It cost me $1300 with the monitor and OS (windows 7) and everything. I got it from christmas money and months of working. So since i have joined the "Master Race" I have loved it so far except that scared the shit out of me! So would that affect anything? my fan falling off? Also I could see the thermal paste. A little was on the fan but most of it on the CPU. everything seems ok except I am really paranoid.

One other thing, could you tell me if these benchmarks are good for my build?

Minecraft with Sonic Ether's Unbelievable Shaders FPS- Minimum 50/ Maximum-120/ average-80

Unturned with water set on decent (ultra water lags the crap out of any PC ive heard) minimum-70/ maximum-120/ average-about 100 or 110

 

[Sig2525]

the cpu fan fell off? with the heatsink? im glad you did not fry your pc sa it was still turned on when the cpu fan came off.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I would think the fan would be perfectly fine. Plus, it's just a fan, so it's not like a replacement even would be a lot of money. But you might want to reapply thermal paste onto the CPU now that the fan came off. Clean the paste off the fan and then reseat the fan.

Also, I am assuming you incorrectly installed the fan in the first place because it should not pop out of place. On the pushpins the arrows point in the direction to unlock the fan which I am guessing you did thinking it meant to lock it in place.

 

[JobCreator]

If that was me, I would rebuild it. Not only will it give you better familiarity of the parts/process, but it will at least ensure that everything is back in place. I wouldn't risk something being out of place/bent/broken if the fan were to fall off like that.

The stock fans are attached to the heatsink, so if that comes off, you reapply the thermal paste. Since it's stock, you probably don't have any handy. I'd go out and buy some Tuniq TX-4 and reapply a pea-sized amount after cleaning the old stuff off the heatsink and processor. Use rubbing alcohol (90% if you have it).

Be certain the clips on that heatsink are fully clipped into the motherboard. Those stock fans can be stupid sometimes.

That's my 2c.

 

[RazerZ]

Unless you want to fry your brand new gaming computer remove the heatsink, clean off the paste, and order a new tube of thermal paste. Do not turn on the computer again.

A tube of Arctic Silver 5 will work great. When the heatsink fell off the seal created between the thermal paste and CPU was broken and your cooling performance can be severely affected due to uneven coverage and air bubbles that can be formed after putting the heatsink back. If it fell of by bumping your PC that means it wasn't installed right in the first place.

edit: JobCreator beat me to the punch :lol:

 

[Sig2525]

like every1 said reapply thermal paste to avoid overheating, and also check if the other components are in place or if nothing is damaged. i fall like that i would worry about the hard disk drive and the motherboard pcb.

 

[Solandri]

As long as the heat sink + fan didn't dent anything important or short out some traces on the motherboard, you should be fine. Solid state electronics are very rugged - they can be shot out of a cannon without much problem. There's a cool story by a guy designing gas guns for Lawrence Livermore Labs to shoot stuff into orbit (imagine a cannon several hundred feet long). He spent a year trying to find electronics which would survive the >100g acceleration. Finally a friend who worked on classified electronics for Army munitions told him to just try the regular electronics he had on hand, and whaddaya know, it worked.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_gun#Acceleration
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erax53WQX5s

Just make sure no moving parts are rubbing against each other, and that the screws holding the heat sink in place are still secure. The only other thing which could be easily damaged in a fall is the HDD. But it sounds like that is working. Run a chkdksk with scan for bad sectors. If the read/write heads scraped any of the platters, that will find the bad sectors and map them out so your drive won't use them. (If you've got a SSD, you've got nothing to worry about.)

 

[Meaning_Raptor]

ok i see everyone saying apply new thermal paste. the paste still seemed sticky when the fan fell off so it stuck back on to the cpu pretty easily. it was an intel cpu so it was preapplied thermal paste. is there a temperature monitor for windows 7? and what temps should i be getting (for a 4690k) on idle and on load?

 

[Sig2525]

30-40 idle 60-70 on load, he does use an intel stock fan afterall.

you can use msi afterburner, aida64 or hw monitor.

 

[JobCreator]

Whether or not the thermal paste is "sticky" is completely irrelevant. Reread what RazerZ said about the "connection" between the heatsink/thermal paste/processor. You should reapply new thermal paste.

 

[Solandri]

Whether or not the thermal paste is "sticky" is completely irrelevant. Reread what RazerZ said about the "connection" between the heatsink/thermal paste/processor. You should reapply new thermal paste.

No, thermal paste is not the main heat conduit between the CPU and heat sink.

Most of the heat is transmitted by metal-on-metal contact between the CPU's heat spreader and the heat sink. Unfortunately, these things often aren't machined completely flat, and there are always microscopic pits. When you mate the two surfaces, these mismatches and pits become air gaps. Air is a great insulator.

The only role of thermal paste is to fill these gaps, eliminate the air, and allow slightly more heat transfer. I'll repeat - the "connection" between the CPU and heatsink should be mostly via metal-on-metal contact. The thermal paste is only supposed to fill in the tiny gaps which form when you mate the two surface together. You are not supposed to have a continuous layer of paste between the two.

Most of the time, people put on too much thermal paste. You want as little of it as possible. Just enough to fill the tiny air gaps formed when the metal heat sink plate sits directly on top of the CPU's heat spreader without paste. No more. If the thermal paste reduces the amount of metal-on-metal contact, it's actually hurting more than it's helping. Since this is a relatively new build and the paste is still gooey, it's perfectly fine to reuse it (as long as it hasn't been contaminated by dust or hair or other stuff which may prevent the heat sink and CPU from contacting each other as much as possible).

Spread an even and thin coat of paste on top of the CPU - if you can barely see the CPU's metal through it, that's the right amount. If you can't see the metal, you have too much. I've found about a half pea sized dollop or even quarter pea sized is enough. Place the heat sink on top, then squish it around as if you're trying to squeeze all the paste out the sides. Because that's exactly what you want to do - squeeze out as much excess paste as you can to maximize metal-on-metal contact. When you feel the metal start to grind solidly on metal (i.e. not just a corner), that's when you know you're done and all the excess paste has been squeezed out.

 

[Meaning_Raptor]

ok so i just installed msi afterburner and it says that my temperatures on idle were about the 33-37 range. Just like sig2525 said were good levels for the stock intel cpu. So am I good if I am getting good temperatures? I mean i can order thermal paste but what would be the reason if I am getting good temps on my CPU right now? I didn't have the thermal paste on there long before it fell off anyways (just a day.)

 

[turkey3_scratch]

ok so i just installed msi afterburner and it says that my temperatures on idle were about the 33-37 range. Just like sig2525 said were good levels for the stock intel cpu. So am I good if I am getting good temperatures? I mean i can order thermal paste but what would be the reason if I am getting good temps on my CPU right now? I didn't have the thermal paste on there long before it fell off anyways (just a day.)

Those are good for that CPU, but pay closer attention to how they are under more stress.

 

[Meaning_Raptor]

ok while playing a game (unturned on max settings) I was getting temps of 59-61 or so. I might see how it is on Battlefield 4 because I just got the game today. So is 60 a good temperature if it is on load? What would you consider to be a high temperature? (you got to remember I am using a stock intel cooler.)

 

[turkey3_scratch]

ok while playing a game (unturned on max settings) I was getting temps of 59-61 or so. I might see how it is on Battlefield 4 because I just got the game today. So is 60 a good temperature if it is on load? What would you consider to be a high temperature? (you got to remember I am using a stock intel cooler.)

Yes that is good. Over 70 while gaming is high.