i need to do some resoldering on a reasonably-viable tyan. radio shack stuff heats so bloody unevenly it's not funny. where can i get a soldering iron you'd trust around pcb-stuff? it's only the clip to a heatsink,no caps, etc. it's kinda dicey-going, i'm down one hook, but it's surrounded by capacitors. black heatsink=no more.

Newark

you need a top notch station

thanks have2-i think i'll just buy a new MB or try my luck mixing krazy-glue with thermal paste and hope nothing explodes.

Honestly, I'd buy a new board. The skill required to resolder a joint on a modern multilayer SMT PCB is beyond most human capability.

Are you saying the heat sink retaining clip is broken? Solder isn't that strong. You probably can't fix it that way and expect it to hold.

yeah, the clip's broken at the bottom. i'm thinking about some kind of epoxy mixed with some thermal goop. disaster? yeesss? no?

I don't think the clip carries any thermal load so it just needs to withstand the heat environment. I'm not sure what epoxy to use for strength - that's not stuff I fool with.

I don't think the heat sink needs to be held down with all that much force, just enough to avoid falling off and to be certain there are no air bubbles (really important). Anything that won't fall off, is reasonably level and has no air bubbles would work I think. But, if it's not right the CPU can fry in only a few seconds, so careful.

it's not the cpu-it's the southbridge. i think i just need enough to keep the fucker on there.

If you feel uncomfortable fixing the motherboard and don't want it going to waist, I recommend stabbing the sharp corners into a homeless person until they are dead. No muss no fuss.

i've heard they're tasty with a homemade aspic. i may try it.

I should have read more carefully. What's the chipset? There may be aftermarket (overclocking) chipset coolers available, which often use their own mountings.

The microcool southsink is $5 and attaches via a self-adhesive pad.

Review here

Buy here

thanks for the linkage ivor, i should get the thing later this week.