Cooler push pins

[Palova]

Guys i broke 1 of the 4 push pins holding my cpu cooler on the motherboard. It looks solid enough with 3 but i wish you could tell me if it is safe of i should change the cooler (it is not my main pc, it's just an old one i'm putting back together to use in my garage so if the problem is not that big i could stick with the 3 pins)

 

[ryguybuddy]

Its fine if it works, you just will have the fan at 100% speed all the time.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

If your temps are fine , then it's fine to use it.

 

[geofelt]

Safe enough, but you are not likely to get advertised cooling.
Without the 4th pin, you will nave uneven pressure.

$30 will buy you a cryorig h7 as a replacement.

If you want, you could remove the broken pin and thread a suitable nut and bolt through the opening to secure the cooler evenly.

 

[4745454b]

I had an old P4 with a broken pin on it. Temps were so bad I couldn't install XP without it blue screening. Had to install the OS with a house fan pointed at the CPU. It wouldn't blue screen while in the OS, but it never ran at it's rated speed either. I think it was locked at 800MHz and was dog slow. I'd get a new cooler. I'd be careful with Geo's idea as a metal bolt can short out on a board. But it could work if you get the right parts.

 

[geofelt]

I had an old P4 with a broken pin on it. Temps were so bad I couldn't install XP without it blue screening. Had to install the OS with a house fan pointed at the CPU. It wouldn't blue screen while in the OS, but it never ran at it's rated speed either. I think it was locked at 800MHz and was dog slow. I'd get a new cooler. I'd be careful with Geo's idea as a metal bolt can short out on a board. But it could work if you get the right parts.

I was thinking about a short as an issue.
But, all aftermarket coolers use metal attachments that go through the motherboard to affix the mounting hardware.
Of course, one needs to have the length of the bolt to be appropriate so as to not short anything.
If one put the head on the underside, and used a nut and washer on the top it should work.

 

[4745454b]

I was mostly worried about a nut with a "fat" or wide head. Something that would cover too much of the motherboard and short two things together. Can be fixed by using a non conductive washer. As long as you know what you are doing it should be fine. But I felt a word of warning about the possibility of a short was in order.