Does A Missing Nut Matter?

Question

I received the Cooler Master V8 with one wrong nut. It's too lose to be secured with the backplate and the cooler itself. I'm using this fan with only 3 nuts on the back-plate. Is this the reason why my CPU, originally running 70 C when playing BF3 (intense load) now runs 95 C? Or is it the way I smeared...

Answer 1

remove the old thermalpaste with thermal paste remover and apply arctic silver 5 in smliley face pattern - this I have seen to have the best spread pattern in youtube demo videos.
don't use the thermal paste/material that comes with a boxed proc. it's cheap junk. clean it off.

it should knock the temp down. you can also try going with a different fan. if your case doesn't have adequate cooling, get one that does. I would suggest antec nine hundred two v3 case, it is one of the few that has ball-bearing fans, and for a cpu cooler you can think about Zalman CPNS11X or CPNS12X.
(get something that matches your CPU!). these 2 are very quiet.

the smiley face method gives the most coverage for applying thermal paste without overflowing.

Answer 2

95 C is way too hot. Try a computer shop for a replacement nut or buy a whole new cooler.

Answer 3

A missing nut never matter if the thing is tightly placed .
Else try some alternate way to pop up with the situation ...

Answer 4

It shouldn't make that much of a difference but just keep an eye on it. It may become a problem later.