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    How bad are these CPU scratches? Should I return it?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by laptopnoob678, Mar 2, 2016.

  1. laptopnoob678

    laptopnoob678 Notebook Consultant

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    I bought a second hand CPU off eBay, and when looking at it in today in person, it ha some scratches on it.

    Here is how it looks

    [​IMG]

    And here are the eBay pictures

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    The eBay store seems pretty reputable, so I'm sure it's fine but I just wanted to check.
     
    Last edited: Mar 2, 2016
    laptopnoob678, Mar 2, 2016
    #1
  2. pathfindercod

    pathfindercod Notebook Virtuoso

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    Thermal paste is designed to fill those scratches and imperfections.
     
    pathfindercod, Mar 2, 2016
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  3. Splintah

    Splintah Notebook Deity

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    should be ok
     
    Splintah, Mar 3, 2016
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  4. laptopnoob678

    laptopnoob678 Notebook Consultant

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    Isn't this the actual core of the CPU though? Or is the bit that's scratched/dented part of a protective layer? And if so how deep is this layer?
     
    laptopnoob678, Mar 3, 2016
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  5. bennni

    bennni Notebook Evangelist

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    No, it isn't - the cores are on the other side . That part is just the bit that passes heat to the rest of the cooling system. It's pretty thick - the scratches are nowhere near deep enough to come close to the functioning part of the CPU. I'd possibly go for a paste other than Coollaboratory Liquid Pro/Ultra but otherwise it's fine IMHO.
     
    bennni, Mar 3, 2016
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  6. pathfindercod

    pathfindercod Notebook Virtuoso

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    Slap some IC7 on it and you'll be fine.
     
    pathfindercod, Mar 3, 2016
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  7. kosti

    kosti Notebook Virtuoso

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    That doesn't look bad at all. My 460M GTX has a small crack on its corner and still functions fine. Those pics show nothing to worry about.
     
    kosti, Mar 3, 2016
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  8. TomJGX

    TomJGX I HATE BGA!

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    Agreed with everyone, you'll be fine...
     
    TomJGX, Mar 4, 2016
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  9. laptopnoob678

    laptopnoob678 Notebook Consultant

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    Thank you guys! I was worried that was the actual working part of the CPU, since I could find nothing on the internet about that that part of the chip is actually made of.

    All of my searches pointed to it being the entire working part of the CPU, without any protective covering (they all said that's what the heat spreader is for, but obviously we don't have that in laptops)

    I'm still not quite sure how much of it is the actual "brains" and how much is heat transfer material.

    But regardless, I installed it, stress tested and checked temps and it's fine (reaching about 80* under the highest setting in IntelBurnTest)

    Thanks for the help everyone!
     
    laptopnoob678, Mar 6, 2016
    #9
  10. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Well, that is the actual die, but the circuitry part of the die is directly underneath that metal, and roughly similar size, so it needs to be fully covered with TIM (thermal interface material), compared to a desktop CPU where it has an actual heat spreader OVER this die, but you still need roughly enough and size of coverage to spread over this "die" to make sure there's appropriate heat transfer.

    Otherwise you'd see something like this:

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 6, 2016
    HTWingNut, Mar 6, 2016
    #10
    ZeroKelvin, TomJGX and myx like this.