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[iateshaggy]

its recommended to replace the thermal compound any time you remove the black screws that hold the xclamps.

[Avinitlarge]

Ive never bothered, but LPT.... I could have done a slim RGH from start to finish by the time you have read the nand twice

[GoTeamScotch]

AS is going to have better thermal conductivity than the stock paste without a doubt so if you have some paste to spare for the job then re-do it. It adds up to better cooling and less strain on the chip from thermal expansion over time. You could use the old stuff, yeah, but a big part of whether or not paste will transfer heat to its full potential is reliant on the way you apply it, and ideally you'd want to re-do your pasting procedure whenever the two surfaces come apart from one another. Old caked paste won't fill in the microscopic cracks in the heatsink/chip die like new paste will, thus less surface area to dissipate heat. And there's a much higher chance of having air trapped in between the two surfaces with used paste.

[relaxxx]

I would not bother unless the temps were abnormally high. The stress on the board to snap the clamps is not worth 3 degrees. Set the fan speed faster and you're looking at 20-30 degrees improvement in temperature. After that you'll see that a few degrees from new paste is really insignificant.  At least do the RGH first and view the temps so you can observe for yourself if it was worthwhile. Plus if something goes wrong you won't be wondering if it was something with the HS or clamps.

[GoTeamScotch]

QUOTE(jeffrey1790 @ Jan 6 2012, 11:08 AM)

If you take the xclamps off and put new thermal compound on, is it worth it just to do the xclamp fix?

If you have the supplies then yes, replace the x-clamps with sturdy M5 bolts for a better hold. You can re-use the stock x-clamps and the Xbox will run ok, but probably not for as long as if you did the x-clamp mod. The stock x-clamps work but a big reason as to why Xboxes started failing left and right all those years ago was because the clamps didn't provide proper support to hold the heatsinks in place, which causes movement of the heatsinks and less efficient cooling and then overheating issues like Rrod. Not the only cause of Rrod, but a substantial one.

Bottom line, if you have the ability, do the mod.

[relaxxx]

For the love of Jesus Christ and mother virgin Mary do NOT BOLT the ****ing HS on a good motherboard!!!

[sinclairuser]

like relaxxx said dont do it jaspers and slims should never be bolted they dont need it
as for others i say leave them alone do the glitch if clamps/heatsinks are fine leave them at least for now then if you need to troubleshoot it will be simpler

[vb_encryption_vb]

QUOTE(relaxxx @ Jan 6 2012, 08:31 PM)

For the love of Jesus Christ and mother virgin Mary do NOT BOLT the ****ing HS on a good motherboard!!!

+1



On another note, why are you removing the heatsinks anyways?

[GoTeamScotch]

Okay hold the phone, why would you not replace the clamps with bolts? I was under the impression this was the commonly method of the community. Is this untrue?

[relaxxx]

QUOTE(GoTeamScotch @ Jan 7 2012, 05:17 AM)

Okay hold the phone, why would you not replace the clamps with bolts? I was under the impression this was the commonly method of the community. Is this untrue?

It is an unfortunate internet myth that the X-clamp causes the mobo to warp. It does not. It was the steel cage and black screws warping the older consoles but the primary BGA damage of course was from heat. Bolting the GPU "fixed" RROD because it DOES warp the mobo and forces the broken BGA contacts together with pressure. The common practice of M5 bolt + 1 steel washer + 1 nylon washer does not equal the total height of a GPU's BGA + Substrate + Die. The two washers come up about .5mm short and the mobo warps to accommodate. Pretty much all processor heatsinks in the PC industry have spring tension mounts to allow for some heat expansion, even the PS3 has a leaf spring type bracket. Only the Xbox 360 has the retarded design to cancel out the clamp spring balance with black screws. This leaves all the pressure on the motherboard, it's like microwaving an egg, it's a bad design.

[GoTeamScotch]

Is it best to use stock clamps and bolts after a reball/reflow then? Why?