Dent in heatsink of CPU cooler

[nb7760]

So when I bought my CM 212X, there was a tiny dent on the bottom of the heatsink where it makes contact with the TIM and CPU. It's amount 1mm in diameter.

I contacted CM too see if I could get an RMA but they told me that the dent won't affect performance. What do you guys think? Because if a piece of lint can affect the performance of a CPU cooler, then obviously so will a dent.

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you fill the dent with a tiny amount of thermal paste, in addition to what you normally apply, with a very, very slight bit more than what is needed to fill the dent, it should eliminate it as a potential issue, however small. The fact is it's not a problem. Something in between the heatsink bottom and cpu lid is an issue because it will keep the entire heatsink base from touching the cpu head spreader. A dent in the bottom of the heatsink will not have the same effect as it doesn't interfere with it laying flat.

 

[nb7760]

Should I continue with the RMA?

 

[rdc85]

It's a defect.. they should accept the RMA..

but they also right about it will not effect performance.. it on the "outer" side part of the contact surface...
since the most heat origin from center.. (where the actual chip was bellow)

So it's up to u to try for RMA or just using it..

 

[AlmightySofa]

You'll be okay. Most of the CM 212 coolers I seen have small dents because the material is very soft.

 

[RazerZ]

It's fine. As the thermal paste heats up and spreads across the bottom of the cooler the gap will be filled.

 

[synphul]

As others said it will probably be ok. Better an indentation that a protrusion that would keep the cooler from mating flat with the rest of the ihs on the cpu. I wouldn't be thrilled with it and personally I get where you're coming from. Budget cooler or not, you pay x amount for something you expect to get one in good condition. The copper isn't that soft, it's a sign of poor quality control. Pine is soft too but it doesn't make it ok for a pine wood dining set to be sold as 'new' with dings and scratches all over it 😛

 

[Darkbreeze]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with it. It's not worth the twelve or more dollars it will cost you to send it to them, despite the fact that they will pay to ship the new one back to you. They may not even accept it as an RMA if they determine that the product IS functional. I've seen RMAs be rejected when the issue is a non-visual (Meaning you can't see it once it's been installed) irregularity, which is what they will call it. If it doesn't affect performance or cause the product to look bad, it's a waste of time to bother with it.

That little pore will not make any difference in overall performance. Just make sure that you use the correct amount of thermal paste and that you don't forget to tighten the center screw down after you get the four outer hold down screws started, but before you fully tighten them. Lack of tightening the center screw on the EVO, Plus and X are the primary reasons for poor cooling performance with those units.

 

[nb7760]

Personally, I wouldn't bother with it. It's not worth the twelve or more dollars it will cost you to send it to them, despite the fact that they will pay to ship the new one back to you. They may not even accept it as an RMA if they determine that the product IS functional. I've seen RMAs be rejected when the issue is a non-visual (Meaning you can't see it once it's been installed) irregularity, which is what they will call it. If it doesn't affect performance or cause the product to look bad, it's a waste of time to bother with it.

That little pore will not make any difference in overall performance. Just make sure that you use the correct amount of thermal paste and that you don't forget to tighten the center screw down after you get the four outer hold down screws started, but before you fully tighten them. Lack of tightening the center screw on the EVO, Plus and X are the primary reasons for poor cooling performance with those units.

I decided to follow your advice and cancel the RMA, but I realized that when I installed the heatsink, I forgot to tighten the center screw before installation. Now my motherboard is installed in my case and it'll take me hours to take it out. Can I reseat my heatsink without taking my motherboard out of the case? If I reseat my heatsink inside the case, then I can't tighten the center screw after I get the four outer screws started. Do I tighten it before placing it onto the CPU? It's hard to imagine that the poor cooling I've experienced may be due to a single screw. 😵

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you have already installed the heatsink, and you can get your fingers or carefully get a small pair of needle nose pliers into the area under the heatsink, you should be able to tighten it down with it mounted. A lot of people do it that way anyhow. You'll probably need to remove the fan and the RAM to get in there, which should not be a problem. Those are easy to remove and replace.

When tightening the center thumb screw, use slight downward pressure on the screw while turning it. It will NOT fully tighten like a bolt does. It's designed to free spin once you reach a certain point, like a spring screw, but it WILL increase the mounting pressure if your give it five or ten good clockwise turns.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Be sure to press firmly downward while holding the center screw and turning. There is a relief slot in the bottom of the center pin that should match a raised notch, very small, in the bottom of the alignment hole at the center of the heatsink base. It seems the screw DOES bottom out when entirely tightened, as I just checked the one I have sitting on the shelf, but it probably won't get that far before tightening down to the point where you can no longer turn it anyhow.

Don't OVER tighten it, if using pliers, just snug it down and then maybe give it another quarter turn. IF your using your fingers, go as tight as you can get it with two fingers. If you can loosen the outer screws by a few turns, then re-tighten them after you've tightened the center screw, you'll likely gain a little more mounting pressure. Be sure to only tighten the four outer mounting screws to the spec outlined in the manual, which I believe goes something like "until the backplate nuts begin to turn".

 

[Darkbreeze]

This is a quote from the final post on a thread by a guy who was having similar issues as you. I think I'm going to do an in depth tutorial on installing the EVO as there is a lot of misinformation regarding the center screw, after just having looked at about fifteen similar forum posts across the web, and most of them were incorrect.

Even most of the installation tutorials on Youtube don't mention the center screw AT ALL, which is probably why a lot of people have had poor performance with the EVO due to incorrect mounting pressure. The first time I used one, I also had issues until I discovered that the center screw DOES increase the mounting pressure.

This however, IS accurate:

There is a pin that sticks out on the heatsink (next to the central hole the plate slots into) that corresponds to a groove at the bottom of the plate, so pin slots into groove. If you force it with plate in wrong position, it may be applying more pressure to the CPU than intended!
In the correct position the plate screws should all sit on the standoffs, ie. one side shouldn't be higher than the other.