Question What to do with a removed motherboard's chipset heatsink?

[Vineet is genius]

Hi fellas !
My younger brother is just 6 years old and he removed my motherboard's chipset heatsink....i am a nerd when it comes to hardware so i asked my friend what to do?
He told me not to turn on my cpu and i didn't do that but i actually wanted to ask that what will happen if i run my motherboard without that heatsink and how to put it back on it as the heatsink,from the bottom, is having a thermal pad so can i simply put it back?
Please tell me how to do it and it would be a great help if you would post some info about what chipset heatsinks do
I have intel dh55tc mobo and an i3 550 processor

 

[Traditore]

you can just put it back if you kept thermal pad clean.

 

[Vineet is genius]

you can just put it back if you kept thermal pad clean.

But my brother kinda scratched it up
So should I purchase a new thermal pad or i can still use the old one

 

[Traditore]

But my brother kinda scratched it up
So should I purchase a new thermal pad or i can still use the old one

better get a new one

 

[lynx1021]

I see it has a metal clip that holds it down, If it was mine I would clean it off the chip and heat sink with 91% alcohol using a coffee filter, then evenly spread thin coat thermal compound with a nitrile glove. Thermal pads are hard to com by in my neighborhood unless you have a Fry's or microcenter nearby. If you run it without the heat sink it can fry your chip/board! Why is your computer open around 6yr olds? they could get hurt! Finger in fan, shocked ECT!

 

[Karadjgne]

Paste doesn't work well on chipset heatsinks, the hold down clip/screws don't pull the heatsink in tight enough as it's designed with the thermal pad in mind.

As long as it's clean, shouldn't be an issue just replace the heatsink back on. If the thermal pad is torn or damaged, you'll need a replacement.
Light scratch won't hurt, mostly cosmetic, but if it's a deep gouge, you'll need to buff that out carefully.

As of lga1156, the ram/igpu memory controller was moved from the motherboard Northbridge chipset to the cpu. That chipset is now the pcie chipset (PCH) instead.

 

[Karadjgne]

Paste doesn't work well on chipset heatsinks, the hold down clip/screws don't pull the heatsink in tight enough as it's designed with the thermal pad in mind.

As long as it's clean, shouldn't be an issue just replace the heatsink back on. If the thermal pad is torn or damaged, you'll need a replacement.
Light scratch won't hurt, mostly cosmetic, but if it's a deep gouge, you'll need to buff that out carefully.

As of lga1156, the ram/igpu memory controller was moved from the motherboard Northbridge chipset to the cpu. That chipset is now the pcie chipset (PCH) instead.

 

[jsmithepa]

what chipset heatsinks do

What chipset heatsinks do? like all heatsinks, HEAT+SINK literally HEAT DISSIPATION. Very basic PC stuff.