[SOLVED] Dropped Cooler "bar" onto the CPU

Jan 16, 2021
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5
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Hello,

During removal process of my BeQuiet Dark Rock Slim cooler I forgot to remove bar which screws into the bracket on the motherboard and it dropped on the new Ryzen 5 5600X CPU....

I can't see any damage at all on the CPU and the PC works fine , but I'm worried now that I could damage something in it... Is the outer CPU shell solid enough ?

Probably panicking too much, but spent quite much on that PC and stupidly I didn't remove that "bar" after removing the screws.

Thanks!
 
Solution
IHS (which is "the outer cpu shell" if i recall corectly) on AMD's latelly manifactured cpu's is really 'glued' onto the CPU so dropping a almost weightless bar on it wouldnt cause damage.Also the cpu works fine
Jan 16, 2021
12
5
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Nothing visible with a naked eye , so looks like it will be working fine ! Next time I'll need to pay more attention when removing / installing coolers!

Thank you guys so much
 
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Jan 16, 2021
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I don't know why I always thought that these components are really fragile and that it can be damaged with a small force ( I know you can bent the pins etc ) but also thought that the top of the CPU is not rigid at all and if something will hit it even with a small force it could broke it :p
 

Karadjgne

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The fins on those towers are somewhat delicate and almost razor sharp, I've sliced myself bloody on more Zalman copper donuts than I care to think about. Ppl seeing and touching the fins also come to that conclusion very quickly and as a consequence tend to hold those heavy coolers somewhat loosely. One little slip when trying to slide them in a small space because they put the gpu in first and the base goes corner first into the IHS.

Not uncommon, especially when repasting. Even seen multiple reports of ppl dropping the screwdriver used to loosen the hold-down screws, doing everything from no damage to cracking chipsets to gouging motherboards so badly the traces were cut.
 
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Jan 16, 2021
12
5
15
The fins on those towers are somewhat delicate and almost razor sharp, I've sliced myself bloody on more Zalman copper donuts than I care to think about. Ppl seeing and touching the fins also come to that conclusion very quickly and as a consequence tend to hold those heavy coolers somewhat loosely. One little slip when trying to slide them in a small space because they put the gpu in first and the base goes corner first into the IHS.

Not uncommon, especially when repasting. Even seen multiple reports of ppl dropping the screwdriver used to loosen the hold-down screws, doing everything from no damage to cracking chipsets to gouging motherboards so badly the traces were cut.

Yeah incidents happens and nothing we can do about it - luckily in my case everything seems to be normal. There wasn't lots of force when this thing dropped on the CPU and I think it didn't actually hit it directly too. I've checked the motherboard nearby and the CPU itself they seemed to be fine from the outside.

Is there actually any programs that I can use to check if my CPU is working as intended?
 
Yeah incidents happens and nothing we can do about it - luckily in my case everything seems to be normal. There wasn't lots of force when this thing dropped on the CPU and I think it didn't actually hit it directly too. I've checked the motherboard nearby and the CPU itself they seemed to be fine from the outside.

Is there actually any programs that I can use to check if my CPU is working as intended?
Cinebench,run that test while monitoring the temps
 
Jan 16, 2021
12
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I have the same cpu and cooler as you, as others have said, that bar weighs next to nothing and I cant see it doing any damage.

Thanks , I also think that if it only slided onto the CPU during cooler removal it won't do any permanent damage.

Thanks all for help and sorry for panicking - always trying to give a good care to my PC parts to keep them in a perfect condition :) .
 
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I don't know why I always thought that these components are really fragile ... :p

Probably from the days when we got bare dies, like Athlon XP processors. Those days are gone, we now get heat spreaders to protect the die....or dies plural in the case of Zen2/3/.

One thing to watch for, though, is a nick in the surface of the IHS. It can break up the smooth surface which would prevent the cooler from making uniform contact as intended. That could leave a thick layer of thermal compound in a large area, degrading heat transfer. Your finger should detect it though and it's easy to fix: just gently sand it smooth with extremely fine grit (600 or so) sand paper laying flat on glass surface until you can no longer feel the nicked area.
 
One thing I did notice with the 5600X, there is a small raised indentation on the heat spreader, (some logo, 'zen 3' or 'amd' cant remember now?) which wasnt on the Zen 2 cpu's. I did wonder if it would affect the contact with the cooler but it's very small so I dont imagine it does.
 

Phaaze88

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Stuff just happens.

Sometime before I direct die mounted my 7820X, I accidentally dropped the cross plate for the Thermalright Silver Arrow IB-E Exteme Rev. B onto the IHS.
The piece in the middle of the bracket:
iu

It fell at an angle too, so it left a nice little pit - now filled with paste - in the 'helmet'.
The cpu and thermals were still alright after all. [Direct die was completed soon after anyway.]
 
One thing I did notice with the 5600X, there is a small raised indentation on the heat spreader, (some logo, 'zen 3' or 'amd' cant remember now?) which wasnt on the Zen 2 cpu's. I did wonder if it would affect the contact with the cooler but it's very small so I dont imagine it does.
Just rub the surface with your finger or fingernail...if you can't feel it then it won't matter in the least. You'd be surprised how small of a surface detail you can feel with your finger that way.

I can't feel any imprint made by the laser etching of mfg. data.
 
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Thanks , I also think that if it only slided onto the CPU during cooler removal it won't do any permanent damage.

Thanks all for help and sorry for panicking - always trying to give a good care to my PC parts to keep them in a perfect condition :) .
You are good to panic first and check. Too many times, people are in the opposite camp, thinking 'it will be alright' and then realize years later that a small mistake is now the source of all their problems--and they're out of luck now.

These are precision machines and require precision. Anything less is just sloppy. :D