thermal paste?

[xxcoop42xx]

hey guys, i just bought an evga 780i SLI mobo (upgrade from dell's crappy 650i SLI mobo) and the cpu cooler on my Q9300 is huge and it screws in. i didnt know they were made also to screw in, anyway i go and replace the mobo and go to put the cooler on and it doesnt fit the screw holes that the cooler uses. so now i have the cooler on as best as i can get it with the side of my case open and a fan blowing air in it, if dont use the fan the cpu will run for maybe 5 minutes then the pc shuts down. and if i dont use the cpu cooler and use just the open case and fan the pc shuts down during post, so using both at the same time is working but im not gaming/overclocking ( which is why i bought the new mobo in the first place) until i replace the cooler. but the question is this, how do i remove the previous thermal paste off of the cpu? or should i leave it there and when i get the new cooler will it will be fine? should i buy some thermal paste and re-do with the new cooler? if i need to remove the previous paste what should i use? any help is thanked in advanced, cause i really need help or im gonna melt my cpu. the cooler and paste i am buying is this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134 is the cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007 is the paste

i know the cooler is arctic 7 and the paste is arctic 5, does that matter at all? thanks for all who help a fellow pc builder/gamer (ive built only one pc and i games flawlessly, im not an expert yet)

 

[fatty35]

When you remove the cpu clean both the HS and Cpu & apply new Paste.

Here is some cleaning/purifying solution
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100010

It doesn't matter what brand of thermal paste you use. If you want/need a new HSF get this:-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

Also never run the computer without the HSF on the cpu as you could/will burn it out which has a risk of taking every thing down with it. Hope this helped you, Good luck

 

[spathotan]

Never turn on the PC with no heatsink, ever.

The reason the AC7 dosent fit on your board is probably because of that ridiculus NB heatsink that nvidia boards have, check for clearance issues.

 

[xxcoop42xx]

Never turn on the PC with no heatsink, ever.

The reason the AC7 dosent fit on your board is probably because of that ridiculus NB heatsink that nvidia boards have, check for clearance issues.

no im not using that cooler right now (dont even have the money for it), im using the original dell cpu cooler

 

[B-Unit]

Try rotating the cooler and see if theres a direction that makes everything line up. The holes are universaly spaced for Skt775 so it will fit if it was on the old board.

Also as mentioned this may be a clearance issue with the NB heatsink.

 

[xxcoop42xx]

Try rotating the cooler and see if theres a direction that makes everything line up. The holes are universaly spaced for Skt775 so it will fit if it was on the old board.

Also as mentioned this may be a clearance issue with the NB heatsink.

well its not that the holes dont line up, there is a black bracket thing under the mobo for the hsf screws to go in and those dont line up with the mobo's cooler holes.

 

[spathotan]

Thats because your Dell motherboard was a propritary design. Youre going to need to remove that backplate and buy a new HS

 

[xxcoop42xx]

yeah i ordered the arctic cooler freezer 7 pro just now so on monday it will be overclocking city over here, woohoo. ive waited so long to be able to oc my Q9300 but the 650I SLI that dell installs didnt fully support 45nm cpu's, sure they worked with the mobo but it couldnt oc them. so i got the EVGA 780i SLI and now my xps 630i will kick ass like it shouldve when i bought it (stupid dell and their limited p.o.s. mobo's)

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Sorry pal. but if you can RMA that CPU too then do it. You might have fried it and it will die soon, or more likely shaved around 80% of its lifespan off. Most of the time a CPU without a heatsink will totally burn out when it is turned on even for a few seconds! Overclocking is most likely not an option. Hopefully you will get a couple of years out of it, but overclocking will lower that a good bit, even at nice temps. To remove thermal paste use 70% or greater rubbing alcohol and lighty wipe it away with an alcohol damped Q-tip or coffee filter. Make sure not to EVER touch the sides or the bottom of the CPU with it. If you overclock (I assume you will ignore my warning, it happens) then you should read up on it. You should know (but might not) that you should NEVER let the CPU cruise over 65c. The PC automatically shuts down at 110c with nVidia chipsets so... just be careful and maybe save for a new CPU just in case. Don't blame dell (can't believe I just said that), it is nVidia's fault since their 600 series motherboards had low quality voltage regulators, and well they are totally low quality.

 

[xxcoop42xx]

Sorry pal. but if you can RMA that CPU too then do it. You might have fried it and it will die soon, or more likely shaved around 80% of its lifespan off. Most of the time a CPU without a heatsink will totally burn out when it is turned on even for a few seconds! Overclocking is most likely not an option. Hopefully you will get a couple of years out of it, but overclocking will lower that a good bit, even at nice temps. To remove thermal paste use 70% or greater rubbing alcohol and lighty wipe it away with an alcohol damped Q-tip or coffee filter. Make sure not to EVER touch the sides or the bottom of the CPU with it. If you overclock (I assume you will ignore my warning, it happens) then you should read up on it. You should know (but might not) that you should NEVER let the CPU cruise over 65c. The PC automatically shuts down at 110c with nVidia chipsets so... just be careful and maybe save for a new CPU just in case. Don't blame dell (can't believe I just said that), it is nVidia's fault since their 600 series motherboards had low quality voltage regulators, and well they are totally low quality.

thanks for info/concern, no i cant rma the cpu its the cpu that came with the pc. but i only turned the pc on 2 times w/o hsf and after second shutdown i put the old cooler on as good as i could and it hasn't shutdown since, i have the case open with a fan blowing on it and the temps are around 50C. i refuse to play games as im afraid the temp might rise to much, i only use the pc for browsing the web and easy light cpu usage. my pc hasnt froze or locked up and its running at stock speeds so i think the cpu is fine but if it does go out i do have the bank for another. but again thanks for your help.
also thanks alot for the cleaning tips, i ordered thermal paste remover from newegg and its shipping with my new cpu cooler.