My heatsink fell off, HELP?

[Vishera]

Okay, so i recently got a new heatsink. I installed thermal paste, the heatsink and fan, everything looked to be okay. however, upon turning the PC on and vibrations passed through it....it fell off. i hadn't attached it well enough i suppose. now, as soon as i saw it move, the PSU cord was on the floor. i had it unplugged before the heatsink hit the desk. what are the chances of:

A) My CPU still took damage

B) I killed my PSU


i haven't tried turning it on yet, even though the heatsink and fan are now properly installed. if anyone could tell me if i need any new hardware or should take it to a shop it would really help.

 

[Theocnoob]

Did the fan connector for the heatsink tear off and bend the pins (on the fan connector)?

I doubt your CPU took damage. It would just have overheated very quickly and shut itself down.

I don't see how you could have killed your PSU.

It's not LIKELY that you killed anything. Might have bent the pins on your fan connector when the heatsink fell off, taking the fan(s) with it. That's about it.

Having said that, don't let it happen again.

 

[Blaylock]

If you killed power that quickly you should be fine. Only one way to find out for sure. "Fire" it up. (pardon the pun)

 

[Vishera]

thanks for the insight guys. i'm typing this on said PC and everything is great! temps are fine, i put it through Prime95 (i didn't OC but i wanted to see if maybe it would perform at a lesser rate) and everything passed. i guess lesson learned: make sure the screws are on correctly

 

[lopgok]

For the last 4 or 5 years, both AMD and Intel chips have had very quick responding thermal sensors, that will protect the cpu if the HSF falls off. Years ago (when amd made the 2000+ or so) they could overheat and fail if the HSF fell off. tomshardware did an article about it. Of course it is a rare thing to happen.

 

[Blaylock]

Also, I'd be more concerned with whatever the sink fell on. If it feel on the back of your video card with the power on. ... well that could be devastating.

 

[Vishera]

no i use the mobo video. so no actual card. it fell straight to the desk. but on that note, what card would be a good replacement for the ATI Rdeon HD 4200 and between $40-$80?

 

[BlackJack10]

Well, you're in luck, this 7770 happens to be only $80.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-r7770pmd1gd5

 

[Vishera]

and another question: am i better off getting an AM3+ board so i don't need to buy new (my lower end build i'm making for the experience will include an AM3 CPU) when i want to upgrade my CPU? or is there no difference?

 

[lopgok]

and another question: am i better off getting an AM3+ board so i don't need to buy new (my lower end build i'm making for the experience will include an AM3 CPU) when i want to upgrade my CPU? or is there no difference?

If your cpu is supported on your current mb I suggest you keep it. When you need a new mb, hopefully they will be 'better' than the currently available ones. i like buying stuff when I need it, not years before,

 

[Blaylock]

If your cpu is supported on your current mb I suggest you keep it. When you need a new mb, hopefully they will be 'better' than the currently available ones. i like buying stuff when I need it, not years before,

I agree. Plus the AM platform is antequated now. Buying an AM MoBo at this point would be pointless unless you wanted to keep an existing rig running.