Is my heatsink OK

After finally getting around to putting my new AMD 64bit 3000+ rig together I found the motherboard was faulty (it made a ringing bell type noise, hangs head in shame it was an MSI :Oops: ).

Anyway took everything back off and I'm returning the motherboard but just finished clearning the heatsink and CPU (I love AKASA TIM-clean) and found the heatsink looked pretty messed up.

http://www.trigun.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/heatsink.jpg

Is this still ok to use? I don't have a clue how those marks occurred I'm always so careful, also I thought AMD 64bit stock heatsinks were copper-bottomed?

Cheers

Pretty certain the HSF that came with my CPU wasn't copper bottomed.

Difficult to tell from that picture mate but i wouldn't risk using it on an open core cpu like an athlon xp

How deep are those scratches? Should be ok imo doesn't look too bad, paste will fill gap.

It doesnt look too bad. The important thing is that the scratces do not stand proud of the surface. If they are it will prevent the HSF sitting flat on the CPU.

Seeing as it is aluminium and as long as the sratches are fairly minor you could flatten it off by rubbing it hard on a piece of card laid on a flat table. Otherwise if you have the materials you could lap it with wet and dry etc. TBH, unless you are very worried about thermal performance, I think it will be fine :)

Thanks for the advice, I think I will get a new heatsink I was planning on getting one at sometime but did not want to mess the warranty up before I had it all working for awhile.

TBH I'd use that HS no problem.

The scratches on it look superficial and rubbing with a bit of cloth/card would smooth them off.