I just trashed my CPU cooler

So, here’s the situation—I attempted a bit of routine maintenance by removing the CPU cooler, and I was planning to seat it back into place—mind you, this was my first time ever touching any of this hardware. Well, I managed to snap one of those little mounting clips, and now the heatsink isn't making proper contact at all. As a result, temperatures are spiking north of 100°C, and the fan sounds like a jet engine taking off in my living room. I’m running an Intel Core i7 setup—well, actually, it’s a Pentium 4 chip—so I’m wondering if this specific cooler will even work with it, and more importantly, how on earth do I fix this mess?

Jack Wood87 said:So, I tried cleaning my rig. Took the cooler off, went to put it back, and—since it was my first time doing this—I snapped one of the mounting clips. Now the heatsink isn't sitting flush, temps are hitting over 100°C, and the fan sounds like a jet engine taking off. I'm running an Intel Core i7 setup with a Pentium 4 CPU, so will a different cooler even work here? And how do I fix this mess?

Just hit up a local Best Buy or check eBay. You can find them for $6.75

And obviously, before you mount that brand-new cooler—just a quick heads-up—don't go slapping thermal paste straight onto the processor without cleaning off the old stuff with some isopropyl alcohol first.