Heatsink remounting advice

[jonww74]

So I bought a second-hand heatsink (not from OC) that arrived missing one of the spacers shown:



I managed to find something to replace it however it is ~1mm longer that the original part.

The seller came through and has since given me the correct part, so now I'm thinking whether to dismantle and fit the correct part or not.

The thinking is that, since the current part is ~1mm taller, the bracket height compared to the other side will be ~0.5mm (middle distance) higher.
As such the clamping bar may have a slight lower pressure on the higher side.



I was hoping the bar would not clamp fully to the bracket but I think it does.

So my questions are:

1. Is it worth replacing the collar with the correct size, or just leave it?
2. IF I replace it, should I remove the heatsink completely and re-apply the paste, or just loosen what I can and switch the collar?

Any thoughts appreciated. Cheers.

 

[Slogan]

In terms of it being worth your while, only you can really answer that based on the temps that you would be seeing at both idle and under load. If the temperatures are reasonable then you probably won't see much of a difference. Although if it was me, I would probably just re-install it so that there was no element of doubt. Also I'd probably lose the correct spacer if it sat about too long and there wasn't an original box to put it in.

Personally I would re-paste with every installation that I do. If it's a recent install (which it sounds like) then you may get away with just a quick re-install. But if you do, keeping an eye on your temperatures would be adviseable in case of uneven paste application or air gaps within it. In my experience, the paste tends to clump up on the last point of contact before the cooler is removed so you would have an excess in one area when re-installing.