How do you remove a HSF from a video card?

[Muse]

I did this a few days ago and in the process may have destroyed my ti4600. I was installing a fanless heatpipe (Zalman). The fan came off very easily but the HS was firmly glued to the GPU. I tried to pry it off by twisting the blade of a screwdriver from under the HS, but it was so difficult I stopped and decided to try to loosen the adhesive by heating it up - thus, I inserted the card back into the AGP slot and fired up the computer for a few seconds. Immediately, strange characters appeared on the screen and the card stopped sending signals to the monitor before Windows could boot. I removed the card and the HS came off using the screwdriver as described and I cleaned off the adhesive with some acetone. I then proceeded to install the heatpipe, hoping things would be OK. With the heatpipe on, I got the same strange behavior - there were columns of zeros running vertically on top of the normal boot information and the card stopped outputting before the Windows splash screen disappeared. In the BIOS setup, there were many extraneous characters and some words were misspelled! I was sure I'd ruined my video card. Amazingly, next morning it worked perfectly. I will not be the least bit surprised if my videocard stops working at any time.

I'm planning to try to do the same thing with another ti4600 very soon. What is the best means for removing a HSF from a videocard in such a way as to not damage the card?

One guy in a thread suggested putting the card in a ziplock bag and putting it in a freezer for 1/2 hour, then running dental floss under the HS!

I'm thinking now of carefully running some acetone under the HS and letting it sit for a couple of minutes and then trying to pry the HS loose.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Muse
One guy in a thread suggested putting the card in a ziplock back and putting in a freezer for 1/2 hour, then running dental floss under the HS!

I've heard the same thing, except that you should just be able to pull/twist the heatsink off after the glue has stiffened up in the freezer. Certainly this would be better than jamming a screwdriver under it(!) like you did on your other card. You'll probably still need to clean off the excess glue with acetone/alcohol.

I'm thinking now of running some acetone under the HS and letting it sit for a couple of minutes and then trying to pry the HS loose.

You could try it. If there's only adhesive around the edges of the heatsink, it should work, but if they used a thermally conductive epoxy over the whole thing, you won't be able to 'soften up' the stuff in the middle of the HS.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: Muse
One guy in a thread suggested putting the card in a ziplock back and putting in a freezer for 1/2 hour, then running dental floss under the HS!

I've heard the same thing, except that you should just be able to pull/twist the heatsink off after the glue has stiffened up in the freezer. Certainly this would be better than jamming a screwdriver under it(!) like you did on your other card. You'll probably still need to clean off the excess glue with acetone/alcohol.

I'm thinking now of running some acetone under the HS and letting it sit for a couple of minutes and then trying to pry the HS loose.

You could try it. If there's only adhesive around the edges of the heatsink, it should work, but if they used a thermally conductive epoxy over the whole thing, you won't be able to 'soften up' the stuff in the middle of the HS.

True, but if only 30% of the adhesive is loosened it will still make it easier. Any amount would help. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[kylebisme]

Don't pull! By pulling you can unseat a few pins or even rip the whole chip off, twisting is much better. Also, freezing is handy from makeing the glue brittle and working at it with something thin like dental floss could be handy.

 

[Creig]

An article to remove epoxied heatsinks can be found here.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Creig
An article to remove epoxied heatsinks can be found here.

Just the thing. Thanks!

I wish I'd gotten that idea - using a hairdryer instead of installing the card to heat up the GPU. Also, the idea of using a credit card to protect the components when twisting the screwdriver blade, is a good idea, although I did look to see if there was anything there that might be hurt. I could have been wrong there, though. They should really have added acetone to the list of tools, though. It's the best thing to remove epoxy (and a lot of other adhesives).

 

[Whizzy]

Well the easiest thing (and most fun) method is:

I just installed the VGA Silencer rev.3 as follows:

Start computer
Play DOOM3 or any other intensive video game for half an hour
Turn computer off
Then the heatsink will come of like it is just stickie butter..

Whizzy

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Whizzy
Well the easiest thing (and most fun) method is:

I just installed the VGA Silencer rev.3 as follows:

Start computer
Play DOOM3 or any other intensive video game for half an hour
Turn computer off
Then the heatsink will come of like it is just stickie butter..

Whizzy

You are a smart cookie.

 

[Slogun]

I'm glad you found the answer, better late than never.

I was going to add that while (re) installing my VGA Silencer yesterday, the directions it comes with tells you to use a hairdryer to heat/loosen the heatsink if it's stuck.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Slogun
I'm glad you found the answer, better late than never.

I was going to add that while (re) installing my VGA Silencer yesterday, the directions it comes with tells you to use a hairdryer to heat/loosen the heatsink if it's stuck.

Darn. I don't think my Zalman heatpipe addressed the issue at all. Guess they didn't want to stick their neck out. I think I like Whizzy's idea best: Play an intensive video game for 1/2 hour, whip the card out of the box, remove the fan as quickly as possible and THEN attempt to remove the HS. If it's stubborn, use the hairdryer. I think that maybe a drop or two of acetone strategically placed where it can seep under the HS to loosen the epoxy might help. Also, possibly, shoving a razor blade in there. Any amount you can dislodge makes it that much easier to remove it without damaging something. Don't know why, but my card's still working after having displayed all those artifacts. I guess you would call them artifacts...

 

[imported_zenwhen]

I always prop the card against something with a blow dryer set to its hottest setting blowing directly on the heatsink for about five minutes, after having unsecured any retention clips. It takes no effort to remove the thing then, and it usually comes off CLEAN.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: zenwhen
I always prop the card against something with a blow dryer set to its hottest setting blowing directly on the heatsink for about five minutes, after having unsecured any retention clips. It takes no effort to remove the thing then, and it usually comes off CLEAN.

Sounds like the best practice. Thanks!! I think I'll be doing this again in a week or two and I'll do just this.

I'm wondering if they always use epoxy. I believe that acetone on Q-tips would be the best way to scour the GPU after HS removal.