I ordered a used Dell 990 from a refurbishing company. The computer looks like new with the exception of the chipset heat sink is missing. I have seen these systems in videos running without one. Will it hurt anything running it like this? I have one ordered. What would be the best way to attach it?
I could only find an aftermarket heatsink so I can not use the original hooks on the board if they are still there. Could someone recommend a product that could hold it on securely?
I have seen videos that show the little loops pulling out of the board over time. I would rather not try soldering on the board anyway. I know there has to some kind of epoxy or thermal tape that could hold it in place. I just have no idea what would work well in an application like this.
I might be worried about nothing but I would rather have a heatsink installed on it. I pulled one off an old HP desktop just to see how hot the chipset gets and it gets pretty warm.
Yeah. On my motherboard, the chipset has a heatsink and a fan. Just sitting here at idle the chipset is running at 55C.
So they DO get hot.
You can find adhesive thermal pads on Amazon easily.
For example...
Amazon.com
Double sided adhesive thermal pads are the same stuff they use to keep the heatsinks on RAM sticks.
If you have an old dead RAM stick sitting around... try and pull the heat sinks of that.
This stuff is really sticky.
Thanks Ghot! I ordered the 3M product that you suggested. The description I read on eBay specifically mentioned the chipset and that the product could handle high heat. I greatly appreciate you pointing me in the right direction! 3M is a good brand and this looks like it will solve the problem the right way. Thanks again!
Been doing some research on the missing heatsink on some Dell computers. Seems Dell actually left them off! I kept seeing different Optipex MT's in videos of people turning them into budget gaming machines and they were also missing the same heatsink.
I found posts on a Dell forum mentioning this over and over, along with the problems they were having. Not to be confused with the models that have the heatsink that the retaining loops come out of the motherboard. What got me looking into all this was a message I got from the company I am buying a budget refurbished Dell from. The guy told me they had ran out of the model I had ordered but said he had another model that he would upgrade the processor and hard drive on if I was interested.
The specs were better, it was spotlessly clean but I noticed it's heatsink was also missing. I asked about it and the guy said he had never seen one on any of them. Well, he was right! My neighbor has a current Optipex, we removed the side panel and you guessed it! No heatsink!
I am glad I asked about this here! The model I will receive has room for a better heatsink I pulled from an HP and I will cut the thermal pad to attach it as soon as it arrives. Intel's own spec sheets show that there is supposed to be a heatsink on these boards! .
Got the Dell and the heatsink today! They sent me two heatsinks, I only paid for one! I gave the other one to my neighbor that has a Dell with the exact same issue. It came with thermal tape already on it! The description did not mention that but it was super easy and worked like a charm!
The computer runs great! It's nearly silent and it's in immaculate condition!
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