Here's a good one for you

[wendt270]

To begin, I will start at the beginning:

I purchased a combo mobo and cpu, it was a geforce6100pm-m2 with a athlon x2 4800+.
bought a new case, psu (580w dual fan), new memory, new pny geforce verto 9600gt, ect.

system posted no problem!

Used a HS with 4 copper tubes, but the tube tips were 1/4 inch too tall for the case, so I busted out the dremmel and cut them down to size, removed debris, reinstalled, and proceeded to cook the cpu, or so I assume.

I since purchased a amd 9600 phenom processor and a new HS and fan.

Bench tested configuration with minimum components, new cpu and stock hs, no post.

Tried multiple times, trading memory, new psu, same result, no post.

Two questions:

Are after market heat pipe heatsinks sealed with some kind of heat transfer gas inside the pipes, and by cutting them, I overheated the mobo and cpu?
and:
Is it possible to kill a mobo with heat with no sign of burning?

[wendt270]

----------> I am 90 percent sure the mobo is shot...

[Masaki 7-11]

If once you cut the heatpipes you could see that they are hollow, then they would have lost a large part of their functionality, however processors turn off once it gets to a certain temperature so not likely that the processor died. What kind of PSU do you have (make and model)?

[Lucky23]

you should of just exchanged the heatsink for a different one that fit.

[wendt270]

Well ... looking back I see my error, so please no more posts about what I should have done... this is counter-productive.

that being said, I have 2 psu's, the first is a Okia 600w switching ps used for the bench test.

the main one I am using is a Rhycom atx550d in the case.

The fans spin up, just no post. also when the first disaster occured, I felt the top of the hs base and the area around the cpu and it was physically hot to the touch, so it got pretty warm.

[flanzig1]

Haven't heard of the brand Rhycom in PSUs. If the PSU came with the case and the case/PSU cost under $50, the PSU is probably a cheap junker. Would try a good, quailty PSU.

[Ethdios]

Yes, you can fry a mobo without any signs of burning ... like I did. Like my friend said (and made a good point) you'd only have to fry one little circuit on the mobo and it's shot, so if that happened it wouldn't really be that noticeable.