Zalman 9500LED Sloppy on E6400/DS3

[Norco]

Has anybody else had a problem after installing the Zalman CNPS9500LED that they can grab the heatsink and move it around a bit? I've tightened the screws as tight as they'll go without stripping out, but I can still budge the heatsink. Using the included EasyTune program in Windows, it says my CPU temp is 34C, but my bios says its around 44C (idle). Once I start overclocking things get hot quick, so theres gotta be some trick to getting this thing tighter so it has better heat transfer. Anybody else run into this?

P.S. I'm using AS5, thanks.

 

[Conky]

Don't know what to tell you... I will have my E6400 up and running next wednesday.

I feel like a little kid at Christmas waiting for my parts to show up! :laugh:

 

[Kyanzes]

Well, it's a tiny bit sloppy on my E6300, but the temps are very nice actually, and it really takes some effort to move it, but sure enough I could move it. You could try to rasp the legs of the mount (the one that holds the HSF) a bit.

pic

 

[markymoo]

lol@beachboy

i second that

 

[Kango2020]

It "sounds" like you have the "S" bracket upside down. When you push down on the ends of the installed "S" bracket, they should spring up and back into place. But this is just a guess. This bracket is tricky to install correctly and easy to install wrong.

 

[Norco]

I'm pretty sure I installed the S clip correctly. Basically the Clip is like the shape of a U, where the lowest part of the clip should be in the middle of the heatsink, and then where you install the screws is where the clip raises up.

Edit: So far I've used a Dremel on the legs of the mount to try to shorten the distance between the mount and the motherboard. I also used the Dremel on the plastic where the HSF screws in on the top. So far I have seen an improvement, bios reports now at idle about 39C while EasyTune reports 31C. Before doing the Dremel work on the mount I noticed on the bottom of my heatsink that there was places where there was no thermal paste on the bottom, meaning that it had not made contact with the headspreader on the CPU. I'm thinking this is due to the headspreader not being even. I know people mentioned before about "lapping" the headspreader to give it a smooth surface. Does anybody know how this is done? I think if I can get a better connection between the CPU and HSF I'll get even better temps.

 

[Skott]

I have read several people posting it does move a little but havent seen anyone post that its been big enough to hurt performance. If your case pretty much stays at home you shouldnt have a issue. Those moving it around to LanParties and the like may have an issue but no one has reported one falling off yet that I know of.