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On my current CPU heatsink fan combination the "studs" (not sure if that is the right term) are broken, preventing it from seating correctly. Can these be replaced, and does anyone sell a replacement kit?

To be clear the studs that I'm referring to are four two piece plastic things that attach the heatsink to the motherboard, holding it firmly against the CPU.

Heatsink with studs circled

Photo taken from NewEgg: Rosewill RCX-Z300 92mm Ball CPU Cooler

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2 Answers 2

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A little digging indicates they are called heat sink fasteners, push lock fasteners or push pin locks, and they can be obtained from various online retailers (as an aside,i've always wondered what they were called) . You might also be able to get mounting clips for specific heat sink designs, and yes, they do seem to be replaceable .

You can also replace them with VERY carefully tightened nut/bolt combinations - hand tighten them and tighten them JUST a tiny bit more (over tightening them can be VERY bad)

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You'll need an aftermarket heat sink/fan. They're cheap enough ($15-$200)

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  • They're too cheap to bother trying to fix.
    – David Schwartz
    Dec 11, 2011 at 4:14
  • He wants the studs b/c he sheared one of them off and doesn't want the owner to know there's a different heatsink in there...or it's a 1U rackmount and a normal aftermarket heatsink isn't going to fit.
    – RobotHumans
    Dec 11, 2011 at 5:57
  • Then he should man up if he broke someone else's hardware, or buy a new one. It's the easiest and quickest way to do it
    – Canadian Luke
    Dec 11, 2011 at 6:20
  • @aking1012 Or he's just cheap and doesn't like wasting perfectly good hardware with the plastic broken. Please don't disparage my character.
    – C. Ross
    Dec 11, 2011 at 12:54
  • @C.Ross I'm in not way disparaging your character. You never said that was your reason, but he did hyperthetically. I don't care what you did, and I don't care how. I'm just offering my advice, buy a new one and be done with it so tou can use your computer again
    – Canadian Luke
    Dec 11, 2011 at 16:36

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