I bent this thing sticking out of my mobo

[conradguerrero]

I was installing a new processor/heatsink/fan and accidentally bent this thing next to the cpu slot that looks like a mini water tower. I bent it back and everthing seems fine. So what is this thing and what would have happened if I snapped the thing off instead of just bending it?

 

[Vehementi]

That's a capacitor. They're usually rather large black cylinders with two pins going into your system board. The same type of thing is used in a camera's flash system: it receives electricity, stores it temporarily (like a battery), then at a given signal, it releases it all in one large burst to the other side of it's lead.
Your system board most likely would not have worked if you had snapped it off, until you unsoldered the pins going into the PCB and soldered a new one on (with the exact same ratings or the same one). They can be very easy to bend out of place when installing a rather large heatsink - like my Volcano 9. I did the same thing, but actually just scraped the rubber lining off the side and bent one a little bit. I bent it back and am having no problems thus far. If your board works, then it's ok

 

[conradguerrero]

yeah I installed a Volcano 7 ... I officially hate those clipon crap things. Next time I'll look for a screw on heatsink.

the hs/fan works good though.