On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 11:44 +0100, mbm wrote:
But I then had a hard time removing the E6550 because one of the cooler locating pins refused to release properly.
Glad I am not the only person that doesn't get along with that Intel LGA Heatsink arrangement, it just seems a very dubious way of attachment to me. It puts a lot of stress on the PCB.
If you look underneath the PCB with the stock Intel HSF fitted you can see the PCB flexing and bowing around the CPU socket (ok so socket is the wrong word when talking about LGA). Reattachment is not recommended with the board in situ because of the more than reasonable force you have to apply to the clips to get them to snap in.
Really it needs revising with a support frame underneath the PCB and perhaps sprung screws to mount the HSF, Either that or the BTX form factor needs to get about more as that supports the HSF by the basepanel not the Mainboard. ATX machines with a reasonable size cooler are getting to the point where shipping them with the HSF attached is a dubious proposition.