How do you remove a heat sink?

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Tue May 04, 2004 4:53 pm

One that is held on with adhesive that is! And do it without damaging the chip or motherboard.

MonsterMac · Post by **MonsterMac** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:38 pm

run prime 95 for a few hours, then take it off right away. or heat it up wiht a hair dryer and then give that a try.

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Tue May 04, 2004 5:55 pm

I take it that the adhesive tends to soften with heat. Thanks!!

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:13 pm

The other method is to use the opposite approach: put it in the freezer

The cold makes the adhesive brittle.

Put the item in question in a ziplock bag, and throw it in the freezer for an hour or two. Then use either a twisting or a prying motion to remove the heatsink.

Riskier than the "heat and twist" method, but it is effective.

MonsterMac · Post by **MonsterMac** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:28 pm

isnt it dangerous to stick computer compontents in a freezer??

i think he's trying to remove his CPU HS from his motherbaord so it wouldnt do him any good to stick the whole thin in his freezer

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:40 pm

I took a hair dryer to my northbridge cooler. It takes some patience and I think I heated mine too high. I was afraid I'd overheated the poor thing but it booted right up.

You want to twist it back and forth after it is warm and it will eventually twist off. Be sure to rub off the leftover glue before applying thermal goo.

Post by **Rusty075** » Tue May 04, 2004 6:44 pm

I doubt that his CPU heatsink is held on with adhesive. Most likely he's referring to his northbridge cooler.

There's nothing dangerous about putting computer parts in the freezer, and if the adhesive isn't softened by heating, freezing is the next best method.

Pjotor · Post by **Pjotor** » Tue May 04, 2004 9:48 pm

Rusty,

a small correction -- putting parts in the freezer may cause condensation. It doesn't have to, but there is a risk...

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Tue May 04, 2004 10:05 pm

as long as it dries out first, would that bother it?

Static electricity is probably the main danger. (which is why you put it in a static-proof bag)

maxxymus · Post by **maxxymus** » Wed May 05, 2004 12:40 am

I think you need pretty high heat.. like 85-90c (for some epoxies). So heating it up is not an option in my opinion... Will kill the CPU. Put it in the freezer in a bag. If you can get a vacuum bag then even better. I don't think it will suffer from condensation if it isnt put against one of the freezer wall panels (where the ice builds up).

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Wed May 05, 2004 6:25 am

Sorry to leave you all guessing.

It's actually the southbrigde heatsink. The northbridge and CPU (P4) are clipped. I'm running fanless so I'm going to try larger heatsinks on both the north and south.

Running Prime95 seems to be the logical first step if only because it is the simplist. I'll try twisting it off after it heats up and see if that works. Thanks again everyone.

Post by **MikeC** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:10 am

Copper, the hair dryer is quicker and just as safe -- just check to see if you can twist the HS every 10-15 seconds so as not to overheat. It is hard to damage it with heat.

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Wed May 05, 2004 8:11 am

Dental floss.

Trip · Post by **Trip** » Wed May 05, 2004 10:17 am

I heated mine till it was too hot to touch - not purposely but it heats up quickly. It twisted just as easily at a cooler temp.

If you run prime95 and pull the heatsink off, wouldn't the southbridge become pretty hot too

(though not too hot I wouldn't think) Also, it's easy to touch the mobo - be careful.

What mobo comes with a southbridge heatsink anyway? workstation mobo? if you applied arctic epoxy yourself, it won't come off.

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Wed May 05, 2004 10:31 am

I'm assuming it's the southbrigde. It's the board in a Shuttle Zen, board model# FT62. There are two heatsinks on the board. The larger one I assume is the north and the smaller the south. They are both pretty hot to the touch.

I figured that even though it's probably not necessary I'd replace them. I'm running fanless which puts the system out of spec not having the fresh air circulating as it did. The sinks are cheap, so I figured I'd give it a try.

I'll post on the effectiveness whan I'm done. Couple days probably. Depends when the sinks arrive.

shathal · Post by **shathal** » Wed May 05, 2004 10:38 am

It's a safe bet that "bigger" == north bridge, since that one's doing a heck of a lot more work / heat-generating stuff

.

Wow - so they have to cool the southbridge now in a shuttle?

What next, I wonder...

. Passive cooling for the LPC stuff?

johnmatrix · Post by **johnmatrix** » Wed May 05, 2004 3:52 pm

Hi

Is anybody currently using a Zalman motherboard heatsink like the one shown here?

http://www.trustedreviews.co.uk/article ... 6&page=931

I'm considering one for my current setup but it will have to be glued to the northbridge as my motherboard doesn't have the necessary fixing holes and I was wondering how 'permanent' the epoxy glue actually is?

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Thu May 06, 2004 6:30 am

johnmatrix wrote:Hi

Is anybody currently using a Zalman motherboard heatsink like the one shown here?

http://www.trustedreviews.co.uk/article ... 6&page=931

I'm considering one for my current setup but it will have to be glued to the northbridge as my motherboard doesn't have the necessary fixing holes and I was wondering how 'permanent' the epoxy glue actually is?

johnmatrix - WELCOME TO SPCR!!!

That is a commonly used heatsink for NB's as well as other stuff. They also make a larger version called the NB47J that clips onto mobos with the push-pin connections. Use the "search" here at SPCR forums and you'll find lots of info and comments about them.

The epoxy TIMs (like Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive) are real two-part epoxies and are basically permanent.

johnmatrix · Post by **johnmatrix** » Thu May 06, 2004 12:45 pm

Thanks for the info.

I was gonna get one of the Zalman heatsinks for my current setup with a view to replacing my motherboard in about 6 months or so. However, if the heatsink can't be removed (without damaging the contact surface) once it's fixed to the NB, I guess I might as well just wait until I upgrade my mainboard first.

Copper · Post by **Copper** » Thu May 06, 2004 8:14 pm

"How do you get a heatsink off [held on with adhesive in a Zen]?"

You twist it off, 'cause the adhesive ain't adhering to tight! No heat necessary.

The new sinks arrived and are installed. Giving it some more time, but it isn't looking to impressive at this point.

halcyon · Post by **halcyon** » Thu May 06, 2004 11:01 pm

Also, after twisting, try sliding the heatsink off parallel to the surface of the chip.

If you start tilting, the chip may come off from the socket (even with the lock on) and pins may bend really badly.

This can happen easily with P4 and Athlon64 chips which have a large heatspreader surface area.

According to preliminary info with LGA775 chips it is very easy to kill the motherboard with wrong insertion/removal, because the fragile parts are now on the motherboard and not on the chip itself.

Gooserider · Post by **Gooserider** » Fri May 07, 2004 9:04 pm

A glue down trick I've seen reported, but not tried is to blend AS thermal epoxy 50/50 with AS3 (I'd bet AS5 or Ceramique would probably work just as well) and then glue. The result is a glue bond that is still quite effective, but which can be removed with a bit of force if need be.

Gooserider

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Sat May 08, 2004 4:38 am

Gooserider wrote:A glue down trick I've seen reported, but not tried is to blend AS thermal epoxy 50/50 with AS3 (I'd bet AS5 or Ceramique would probably work just as well) and then glue. The result is a glue bond that is still quite effective, but which can be removed with a bit of force if need be.

Gooserider

I've also heard (but haven't had the balls to try it myself) of some people covering the die/core/IHS with regular thermal paste, except for the four tiny corners and using superglue (or even thermal epoxy) just at the corners themselves to actually hold the heatsink in place. This will provide the level of retention that is needed and yet be removeable if the situation warrants t.

Nate · Post by **Nate** » Sat May 08, 2004 3:20 pm

I think I like that solution, Ralf, better than mixing AS3 with AS epoxy. I'm going to put an NB47J on my NF7's southbridge because it gets so hot you can't leave your finger pressed against it for longer than a second or two.

boardsportsrule · Post by **boardsportsrule** » Sat May 08, 2004 6:22 pm

dfi infinity/ lan party has a sb cooler as a stock thing...
i just used straightthermal expoxie,and then pop a credit card over pcb, under heatsink, wedge a screw driver in andtwist...dun it with NB, SB, and Vcard ram,and all compontes still work...except nf7 which i killed with water..DOH!