Stock P4 Cooler; How is it attached?

[maarten]

I've ordered a P4 2.8c and a thermalright 900 heatsink... my question is, how is the stock heatsink fixed to the CPU ?
The same question for a Radeon 9700, how is that heatsink attached?

Since it's my first time I'll be doing this:

What will be the possible problems I can run into when removing the heatsink? And what is the best way to do it?

I could really use a step by step guide with pictures, but can't seem to find one

[ai]

You don't have to remove the P4 heatsink from the CPU as they are packed seperately in the retail box.

[maarten]

You don't have to remove the P4 heatsink from the CPU as they are packed seperately in the retail box.

Thank you that's all I need to know... I assume Zalman has supplied a manual with its passive VGA cooler, so I'll figure that one out myself.

[DeadBySundown]

The Zalman manual has great installation instructions but no removal instructions.

The 9700 heatsink is attached both by mechanical expansion fasteners and by a sticky thermal pad. Use the card in 3D mode for a few minutes to get the pad nice and warm so that it comes off easily. Remove the card from the machine.

You'll note two plunger posts sticking up from the heatsink with springs under the top of them. Pull up on the posts, compressing the springs; this will cause the bottom of the posts to no longer obstruct the expansion fittings on the bottom of the posts, visible on the back side of the card. Squeeze the expansion fittings and push them through the card; once both are disengaged, the heatsink should come off easily.

Clean the GPU with an appropriate solvent to remove the old thermal pad gunk and proceed to Zalman installation.

One note; the white thermal grease that ships with the Zalman appears to be nothing special; since you're going to the trouble of installing it, might want to have some decent thermal compound on hand (Shin Etsu, AS Ceramique, etc.) to use instead of the basic stuff.

[maarten]

an appropriate solvant? that is? hope something commonly found in the kitchen or the bathroom ?

It'll probably become a Hercules 9700, that comes with some sort of custom rond cooling design... hope that won't be a to different approach to take off. I noticed it has a heatsink on the back too: you can find some pics of the card here: http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/hercu ... 0pro_2.htm

I'll order a tube of Arctic Silver 3 with it.

Thanks for the clear instructions, I'll give that a go in the next few weeks when it arrives... I'm starting to get scared of this assembling-stuff