Damn Zalman FX100. Did I do everything right?

Question

Iron

Hi all. I bought a passive cooler Zalman FX100 a month ago for 4000 rubles. Problems started during installation. I barely succeeded, since the designers of this piece of iron were so wise that you have to be a real pro to attach it normally. It was a piece of jewelry, I didn’t even think that I would succeed, since I had never installed coolers before. I had to tear it off the processor several times, this is not good, since the thermal paste in the kit was in a meager amount. Now it seems to me there is less than it is necessary.
Then I noticed the following problem. The cooler can scroll freely! I read reviews on the Internet, they write that indeed many have it. And my question is, is this normal? Wouldn't that have a negative effect on the thermal paste? I have suspicions that the processor is now poorly joined due to the scrolling of the cooler with the radiator. CPU temperature is now 34 degrees (core i3 2100). Somewhere I heard that in idle time it should be 28 degrees, but not 34
at all. It will no longer be possible to give the cooler to the store. Do you really have to redo this nonsense again, and buy a new thermal paste ...
the picture that I kindly took from overclockers.ua shows the same problem as mine

Answer 1

Thermal paste is needed in order to smooth out microcracks on the sole of the radiator and processor. A lot of it is not needed; it should cover the mating surfaces with a thin layer.
Almost all coolers that are not rigidly fixed with 4 bolts can turn.
The temperature at rest depends not only on the cooler, it also depends on the volume of the case, the power of the video cards, and the cooling of the PSU. the number of screws, etc., and most importantly, the temperature in the house. If you have 26 degrees in your apartment, then 28, well, you can’t do it on the process, but if it’s 18 degrees, then it’s another matter.
Better drive on resource-intensive applications, if the percentage does not overheat and there is no throttling, then enjoy the silence.

Answer 2

Thermal paste = thermal interface. If you do not drive percent, then buy kpt8 - one syringe ~ 100r. In general, as it was rightly noted above, the thermal interface should smooth out the bumps between the process and the base of the cooler, and it needs a little, just enough so that it only slightly covers the process. The maximum temperature of your processor is 69 degrees, if during resource-intensive tests it is ~10 degrees below this value, then leave the processor and the cooler alone. You can download and test the percent with the occt program, you can also see the temperature graph there, during the load.

Answer 3

ahahahaha i3 core is practically not heated and would work fine with a standard small cooler for 500 rubles
if everything is bad with thermal paste you will see an increase in processor temperature on load, start the game and if the temperature is not very high (not higher than 50-60 degrees) then everything is ok