I wonder how many of these things just end up in landfills...

March 26, 2010 9:04 PM

Has anyone found a clever or useful use of the stock heatsinks that came with your CPU? Specifically, one that came with an Intel Core2Duo and an Intel i7 (the i7 is marginally bigger and has more vanes, but they're very much alike). Please delete if considered chatfilter

I'm moving (and I hate moving) and I'm going through my stuff and deciding what to throw away. Ran across two Intel stock heatsinks - they're kinda hefty and decent chunks of metal. It feels a shame to just trash it. HDs have nifty magnets and round plates of shiney metal in them. Anything useful in a stock heatsink?

Has anyone repurposed stock heatsink+fan for something clever or useful?

Old 386/486/Pentium heatsinks make great letter/businesscard holders (not my flickr, but I use one the same way and I've scavenged heatsinks for other people to use as same). It's a shame that "thrown away" old-old computers have pretty much dried up. The new Intel heatsinks look like this. [gis]

posted by porpoise to Computers & Internet (3 answers total)

You know, one awesome thing to do is to put a rubber band around them and then put them on the underside of your wrists as you lie down. On a hot day, it's amazing how it can cool you off.
posted by No New Diamonds Please at 12:40 AM on March 27, 2010 [3 favorites]

There is nothing wrong with using the stock heat sink when you buy a new CPU. You won't need a new heat sink unless you are overclocking. Rather than spending another $20 - $50 on another heat sink just keep the one that it comes with and be happy you saved some money. Do a wire swap and have the noisy fan run at 5v or 7V and it will be quiet.
posted by abbat at 4:56 PM on March 27, 2010

Response by poster: I've replaced my last two cpus with quiet/silent heatpipes/fans. I've got two stock coolers sitting on a shelf.

<shrug> Guess they go into landfill.
posted by porpoise at 7:07 PM on March 27, 2010