How hard/destructive is it to remove RAM heatspreaders?

[Charlie98]

I have a set of Sniper RAM and, for the fairly cramped HTPC build it's going into I would like to remove the heatspreaders...

How hard is it to do so, and am I likely to damage the card? It seems simple enough, but looks can be deceiving... :hmm:

 

[jwilliams4200]

I've seen some that use a thermal pad that has little or no tackiness to it, and you can just slide the heat spreader right off.

But I have also seen some where the thermal pad has some strong adhesive of some sort, and you need to pull the heat spreader off straight (it won't slide), and even then it is very difficult. Sometimes you can heat it up a bit with a hair dryer to weaken the adhesive, but of course you don't want to get the chips so hot that they are damaged. It can be tricky.

 

[jacktesterson]

just microwave the ram for 45 seconds. They should come right off.

Now Seriously, most Heatspreaders on ram actually do very little. Most are just glued on. Some are simple, some will take some patience.

 

[razel]

I had to remove a heatspreader from RAM so that it fits into my small form factor workstation. I removed it easily by putting the RAM in the oven at the lowest setting. I didn't leave it there long, the oven temp barely reached 200F.

When I removed it from the oven, it was far too hot to work with using bare hands. I ended up using oven mittens then slowly using a plastic grocery membership card as cover against the PCB and heatsink while I slowly twisted a screwdriver. It came off with no effort. The heatsinks did have a tab-lock on the edges so of course, before heating those were unhinged.

I was so suprized and happy at how easy it was, I called the future better looking over and got yelled at for using the oven mittens. Funny, I swear I'm the one that bought the mittens.

 

[exdeath]

You aren't going to hurt the chips.

The black plastic package used in ICs is *extremely* tough. Even when you WANT to break them open sometimes it can be aggravating. You need to be more concerned with tearing the chip off the PCB.

It's safe to use a blade and pry between the IC and the heat sink; this will keep all the force between the heat sink and IC and not place any stress on the PCB or solder joints.

 

[SpeedTester]

I use a heatgun which softens up any glue/adhesive they use. Works like a charm.
I imagine the oven trick works just as well

 

[Charlie98]

Funny, I swear I'm the one that bought the mittens.

You've now entered the Realm of the Relationship... what's her's is her's, and what's yours is her's... ^_^

Thanks for the tips, everyone; I just didn't know if they somehow fastened/stuck/bonded/etc those silly heatsinks on there. What do I have to lose, eh? $40 worth of RAM...? D:

 

[jwilliams4200]

You've now entered the Realm of the Relationship... what's her's is her's, and what's yours is her's... ^_^

And you have entered the realm of superfluous apostrophes!

 

[Charlie98]

And you have entered the realm of superfluous apostrophes!

...English was never my strong point... :biggrin: ...I never got the whole 'possessive' thing.

I could go 'hood:' What be hersn be hersn, whats be youse be hersen, too, bro.

 

[PliotronX]

The TSOP chips were very strong so the heat blankets popped right off without further steps, possibly a little more complicated if you wanted to re-use them for resale. These days with BGA chips heating them as suggested by others is probably the safe way to go.