Removing glued on heatsinks

They make noise, too.

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Zyzzyx
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Removing glued on heatsinks

Post by Zyzzyx » Sun Sep 14, 2003 11:58 pm

Ok, I'm getting close to replacing the tiny little HSF and fan on my GF4 ti4200. The HSF has tabs for mounting, but they weren't used. It was glued on.

Now, I've read some posts that say to toss the card in a static bag and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes. The HSF should pop right off.

I've also seen comments regarding pulling the HSF off after a good long session of 3DMark.


Is there any consensus regarding either of these methods? I'm leaning towards the freezer trick. I'd expect the thermal adhesive to be thermosetting (curing and hardening with heat), and thus a bit easier to deal with when cold.

Henrik
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Post by Henrik » Mon Sep 15, 2003 2:53 am

I performed the freezer trick, look here for more info. I haven't noticed any side effects (except for the lower noise level :wink: ).

al bundy
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Post by al bundy » Mon Sep 15, 2003 4:11 am

I've popped off so many of those $@#^! glued-on sinks, and I've never heated or cooled it beforehand.

Every time I've just used the screwdriver-wedged-under-corner-of-sink-and-twist method. Although it occasionally makes me feel nervous when it's really stuck on there, the sink will ultimately just pop off with enough careful repeated twists and patience. Sometimes it even makes a respectable cracking noise too, which can be disturbing!

Every card I've done this with has been absolutely fine afterward, even when I've needed to scrape-off any glue residue that remained on the GPU.

Either I've been really lucky all these times, or else you probably don't need to be too worried about special methods!

8)

HadroLepton
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Post by HadroLepton » Mon Sep 15, 2003 10:30 am

be sure to put an old credit card between graphic card and screwdriver. otherwise the twisting will scratch some new traces in your graphic card, and you certainly don't want that, although the card would then be really silent, DEAD silent ;)

i have recently popped off a glued on heatsink from a radeon 9000 aiw. no freezing or heating, just credit card - screwdriver - twist. it made some cracking sound, then another twist and it was off.

twist firmly but slowly. you don't want to scratch that screwdriver straight across the card when the heatsink pops off.

also don't forget to clean the rest of the glue using nail polish remover or alcohol.

lucienrau
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Post by lucienrau » Mon Sep 15, 2003 11:14 am

I've both regular removal and the freezer trick. I've found that there's usually less cleanup with the freezer and it's come off faster. But then again, I'm impatient

Gxcad
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Post by Gxcad » Tue Sep 16, 2003 1:16 pm

I've used the freezer and a spoon, I think a spoon is not as scary as a screwdriver since the bottom is smooth and rounded. I should use the creditcard as well next time. Thing to remember is hold down the card on a hard surface with one hand and pry off with spoon with the other, I find it works really well (plastic spoons need not apply).

What I'd like to know is how some ppl clean off the adhesive from the gpu and heatsink themselves, I've almost ruined my 9000pro scraping off the old adhesive from the gpu! Once you see copper, STOP!!

-Ken

Henrik
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Post by Henrik » Tue Sep 16, 2003 2:06 pm

I used a (sharp) knife. Ice-cold glue scrapes of pretty easy. The end result did perhaps not turn out to be excellent, I'm sure you could have gotten the traces of glue left (when I didn't dare to use the knife anymore) off with some kind of solvent. The thermal epoxy I used was probably not of tip top quality, so I don't think I'd have gained much if had polished it even more. I have never had any problems with the card after the mod, so I'm happy :D

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