how fragile are cpu's

[sok644]

my old pIII system has a 4 year old heatsink and fan on it, so im going to replace it. so i got a coffee filter and began trying to remove some of the thermal compound off the processor, and in the process, it looked like some got on the chip itself, not just the raised portion, (i could have just been seeing things also) so i wiped a the green part of the processor a bit. but unfortuantly, my nail dragged against the processor a bit, and you could see a small indent where it had done so, could i have really damaged the processor? or should i not worry?

 

[ytoledano]

Getting thermal compound on the chip instead of the die isn't too good since it can join pins to conduct electrical signals to each other, that is, if the compound is conductive which is almost never the case. Get some alcohol and clean it, shouldn't be a real problem.
About you, umm, denting the processor... Since it's not the die which is the important part and just the surface/pin area I wouldn't worry too much about that, I think it's mostly plastic.
Also, why would you change a heatsink on a working, not overheating system? (If it ain't broke, don't fix)

Got a nice overclocked overvolted system to keep you warm at night? That's great. Guess I'll have to settle for a woman...

 

[Crashman]

WTF? The die isn't important? How do you explain all these dead chips with chipped/cracked dies?

BTW, those things are glass hard, how does one scratch it with their fingernail?

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[ytoledano]

I think you got it the other way around, he scratched the plastic/pin area, not the die.

Got a nice overclocked overvolted system to keep you warm at night? That's great. Guess I'll have to settle for a woman...

 

[Crashman]

Oh, hehe, the pin grid is nearly industructable (the pins are a lot easier to wreck).

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>