XPS cooling

[dreemwarrior]

Although I always spread the thermal paste from the sides, this guy recommends to start in the middle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7rPqCvCt0g

Well I guess thats what i did, in escence. I was nervous about letting it squeeze out. No, NERVOUS would be tring to put a drop of material cleaner on the MOBO!
That's just not right I'll tell ya. haha But, it is up and running.
NOW. I know its a long shot, but this system is onlyb about 7mos old. Still under warranty. What I found in there scared me. 12v lines stretched to the point they were leaning in the socket.Lower fan not even attached to case, the SATA line to HD was stretched aroung a capacitor that was WAY leaning. And the USB power lead just wobbles in its socket, and I could see bare wires above the top of its connector.
Ridiculous. I want my money back. Or a new system done right. (with serious upgrades..)Not sure how to go about that one, but I plan to call them today. WHat I need to know is, when they ask how I know all this....I say...??? what?
"oh,I popped the sink off the processor.." But its back up and running, and I'd like to thank all of you for your guidance(or prodding):D last night. Mission accomplished.
Now I need a drink.

 

[whs]

Reason I like to scoop from the sides is then you have a smaller chance to spill some paste over the edges. If you do it from the middle to the sides, there is always that chance.
What you are telling us about the inners of your system sounds awful. Where did you buy it?

 

[dreemwarrior]

That would be Best Buy. The Geek Squad and all. And I suspect that after moving things around that really couldn't afford to be, I need to either tear it down and test voltage and continuity. I didn't test the new PSU output range either.
And would you believe my USB drives are acting up?
Here's a finished pic, with as much routing as I could,considering.
P.S.-'Dude,don't get a Dell...'

You can see the tension in the pics.

Sorry for the re-edit. Windows just crashed in me. NOTHING is running. (OK, IE8) Oh, and as I am typing this...IDT audio... It just had a fresh tune up prior to PSU swap. Irregular voltage?? Running sfc and core temp...

 

[whs]

Looks pretty orderly now. But you can't win - if the cbles are too long, they dangle around. I had one that kept getting into the way of the CPU fan until I used an extra tie.