Hi guys, Today I got $15, and I found a new OCZ Vendetta cooler on Craigslist for $15. So I went and picked it up. It's compatible with AM2 sockets so I Figured it would work on AM3 since every other cooler i've seen on AM2 works on AM3. But just wouldn't work. The clip wouldn't shut after I hooked the two sides. After trying hard, I realized if I tried any harder, it would break the motherboard or HSF, and that something's not right. I lifted the HSF out of the CPU area and found that the surface of the CPU now had a large black scratch down the middle of the silver cover-plate thingy on the front of the CPU. As far as I could see at least, there was quite a bit of thermal compound on it. I flipped the HSF and voila. The clip worked, and it's safely on their , pressed against the CPU solidly. The PC seems to be working fine. I'm wondering if scratching the CPU plate could do any real damage. I'm running S&M test and CoreTemp right now and it seems to be working fine. I'm only on the L2 Cache test right now, but the L1 Cache test passed just fine. In regards to improvements from the OCZ Vendetta, the CPU now idles at 38 C, as opposed to 44/45 on the stock. It's an improvement, but less than I expected. Granted i'm using a mini-tower, so improvements may be limited. Advice?
I can't see it having any effect on the actual function of the CPU at all and as you've stated it still appears to be working fine. Your temps seem alright as well so I would just forget about it, if it really bothers you, you could always have a go at lapping the top of the CPU to give a smoother surface but unless you plan on doing some extreme overclocking I wouldn't waste the time or effort required for it.
The aliminum heatspreader is designed to prevent the core from being crushed. You may have diminished the heat transfer slightly by scratching it, but otherwise I doubt you did any immediate harm.
Thats exactly what the heatspreader is for. The amount of muppets that crushed old xp and original athlon chips
