Fan removal on GeForce3 Ti500

[WillG17]

Well the fan on my VisionTek Geforce3 Ti500 has decided to stop working. In attempt to see whats wrong i tried to remove the fan with no luck. Even witht he two black pegs removed the whole piece wont budge nor will the black plastic fan itself. Any suggestions?

 

[Lord Evermore]

Stick a wide flat-head screwdriver under the edge and rotate it (so the head moves towards perpendicular to the plane of the heatsink) and pry it off. They probably used a thermal adhesive (which kind of negates the need for the pins, but they'd be useful if you wanted to reattach it). Just make sure you don't gouge the board or the GPU package, you can use something hard underneath the blade to protect it. Or use a thin knife and slide it between the heatsink and the actual core (you can probably see a thick layer of adhesive that doesn't fully cover the core), and twist it to pop the heatsink off; make sure you keep the blade flat against the core so you don't cut into it.

Here's an example.

 

[Jeff7]

Are you sure about that? I once chipped the GPU when I tried prying off a heatsink like that. I've either used a razor blade to slice through the adhesive, but that's time consuming. The other method I've used is to stick the card in a freezer, take it out, lay it on its top edge on a flat hard surface, stick a screwdriver against the heatsink's side, parallel to the card surface, and tap it off with a hammer. However, I don't know how risk that method is to the core; I've not damaged anything yet, and I've removed at least 10 heatsinks so far.

 

[Lord Evermore]

It'd be hard to chip the GPU when you're not allowing the screwdriver to actually touch it, and the adhesive certainly isn't hard enough to tear a piece of the GPU off. You'd use the credit card or whatever to protect beneath the screwdriver, and only push it in enough to get leverage against the heatsink. Freezing it can make it easier. I'd be leary of hammering a screwdriver in between them, too much chance of slipping when you've only got two hands.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
It'd be hard to chip the GPU when you're not allowing the screwdriver to actually touch it, and the adhesive certainly isn't hard enough to tear a piece of the GPU off. You'd use the credit card or whatever to protect beneath the screwdriver, and only push it in enough to get leverage against the heatsink. Freezing it can make it easier. I'd be leary of hammering a screwdriver in between them, too much chance of slipping when you've only got two hands.

It could still transfer force, but granted, the credit card (or preferably something less valuable) would disperse the force a bit.

As for the "only got two hands" issue, that's why I like to work barefoot. I hold the card stable and upright with my feet, so my hands are easily free to work with the screwdriver and hammer.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Well, I still wouldn't use a hammer. I use my feet for doing work like that too, but I don't think I've ever run into a need for it with computer construction. I'd probably wear some clean cotton socks or something too, keep the oils off the card.