pc smell

[thesnake]

hi, i have a question please :

dose heat sinks smells in different ways??

after i changed my heat sink my PC is start to give  smell  like some kind of heated metal

could it be the  materials  used in the heat sink?? or maybe because it has stronger fan

so now i can smell the exhaust ..

i had some problems installing the heat sink because of tight clips so i remember pushing the

heat sink base a little hard on the CPU as i posted before

so far i didn't notice any change in the system  and the CPU temp is 45  degree

system:

p4 3ghz

1g ram

6200 geforce 256m

[Cyborg]

It should smell of nothing. Sinks don't smell. Perhaps what you smell is dust, if your computer is old and dusty.

45 degrees is quite ok. Seems like it was correctly installed.

Did you remember to use thermal paste?

It's perfectly normal to apply some force when attaching a cooling device. The harder it is mounted, the better it cools.

[Megashrap]

Also, some heatsinks come with a pre-applied square area of thermaltape/paste. Usually the cheaper ones, sometimes those have give off a smell. Has the smell stopped now? or what?

[Cyborg]

Also, some heatsinks come with a pre-applied square area of thermaltape/paste.

People with dignity and self respect don't buy such crap heatsinks...

[gryphon]

People with dignity and self respect don't buy such crap heatsinks...

Last time I bought a Xeon CPU one was provided in the box. .. and Xeon's don't really come cheap .. not here anyway.

[thesnake]

no it didnt stop ,but i stopped sniffing ..

its a matrix titanium heat sink,,, i think its very good one , cpu temp was 60c when the old heat sink was new..and when the fan got slower it was 80c..

now the cpu temp is 45c..

[Megashrap]

I did have one that smelled that way once long ago, but that was due to using way too much arctic silver thermal paste. But that was a long time ago before I really knew how to apply it properly. At that time, I just thought the more the better.  :P

[Cyborg]

Last time I bought a Xeon CPU one was provided in the box. .. and Xeon's don't really come cheap .. not here anyway.

But you don't buy the CPU because of the heatsink... The sink just comes included.

[Megashrap]

Only retail CPU's come with a heatsink/fan,and they are NOT always the greatest. The OEM CPU's do not, and then your left deciding which heatsink/fan to buy along with possibly having to buy thermal paste also. Although most have the thermal paste included.

[Cyborg]

Well, for me there's nothing called thermal pad... Everything with it is usually junk anyways.

[Megashrap]

Well, for me there's nothing called thermal pad... Everything with it is usually junk anyways.

I don't understand,are you saying you don't use thermal paste? Cause it is a crucial part of cooling with the heatsinks. I mean you can get by without it, but it's gonna run much hotter. And I'm talking about those like Spicy has (air cooled heatsinks).

@Spicy,I did take a look at it btw Spicy. If it's the same model I looked at, it's a nice beefy one, should keep it nice n cool.

Another thing that can cause a smell is If your new heatsink has a thermal 'pad' mounted on it, this pad must be removed before using something like Arctic Silver 5. If your heatsink has thermal interface material applied to it, it must be removed first. After the pad or thermal interface material is removed, ONLY Arctic Silver 5 will be between the CPU heatspreader and the heatsink.

Thermal pads are made with paraffin wax that melts once it gets hot. When it melts, it fills in the microscopic valleys in the heatsink with wax. To minimize permanent contamination of the heatsink mounting surface with wax, the thermal pad should be removed before it is used and melted. Never use heat or hot water to remove the pad, as heat will melt the wax into the heatsink. Take care not to scratch the surface of the heatsink when removing the pad, a plastic tool is recommended in the removal of thermal pads or other thermal interface material. You can then optimally remove the remnants of the wax or other thermal interface material by using ArctiClean 1 and 2. You can adequately clean the remnants with a xylene based cleaner, (Goof Off and some carburetor cleaners) or high-purity isopropyl alcohol. Again it's just one possibility to the smell factor.

Everyone has thier own way of applying thermal paste compounds. The way I do it is I put a small amount in the middle of my CPU then I rub it into the core so that it fills the micro crevases. Then I do the same for the heatsink but not as much, just enough to rub and fill any factory micro lines on it. So when I apply the heatsink onto the CPU there are no air pockets, it's just a nice and smooth contact between the two. I am so glad they did away with the older ones that require using a screw driver to force the older socket-A type zif sockets. here's the one I just got.

[thesnake]

i don't know anything about pads.. the bottom of the HS is metal flat. and there is nothing on it..

the HS pack have a small bag of thermal in it.. so i open it and use it..

the smell is not that strong  and maybe it smelling less now..

sometimes i am  paranoid about about things ( i was heavily addicted to weed) and as you all know me, i fall sometimes into the traps of my mind,.. well  nothing much i can do even if i take it to the techs i mean  everything looks and works normally so they wont know what to fix.. plus

they are not so smart about that stuff around here so if its going to smell let it be..

ill wait until something burn at me when i am sleeping.. then we will all find out what the

dam thing was.. lol .. that's were all the fun starts

[Cyborg]

I'm talking about the pads, scar. Not the paste.

Paste good.

Pad bad.

Pad even rhymes with bad.

[Megashrap]

  ( i was heavily addicted to weed) and as you all know me, i fall sometimes into the traps of my mind,.. well  nothing much i can do even if i take it to the techs i mean  everything looks and works normally so they wont know what to fix.. plus

they are not so smart about that stuff around here so if its going to smell let it be..

ill wait until something burn at me when i am sleeping.. then we will all find out what the

dam thing was.. lol .. that's were all the fun starts

Spicy, are you sure that the metallic smell isn't from your bong.  :D  Just kidding.

I don't do Intel's at all never have, never will. I've just always stuck with AMD and AMD compatable components. Ever hear the expression let sleeping dogs lay? If you used the paste, placed it correctly on your CPU and you have normal Pentium CPU temp readings,and no overheating alarms going off for the one you have, then it sounds ok.

[thesnake]

  i stoped everything long time ago. i dont smoke anything or drink anything.. health

is a hard thing to control speacialy mental...

anyway i noticed the start of summer here and its not that cold anymore.. maybe i got used to

its smell at the winter..

[Megashrap]

Well, i'm glad your PC is working ok then. BTW mine now has a smell too, it's almost like a new car smell sort of thing lol. Only it's the smell of a new mboard. New Asus boards smell nice.  ;D

[Cybopache]

well anyway

Smell can also come from fans if installed.

Scarman what kind of MB you got your hands on ?

cybo