How not to remove memory heatsinks

[Valantar]

So I finally diagnosed the death of my ancient Core2Quad system down to a dead DIMM. Removing it made the constant BSODs and failed boots go away. Hooray! So I thought I'd pull the heatsinks off of the RAM and have a look at what was underneath. Cue a spudger and 20 seconds of prying.

Oops.


I guess that 9-year-old thermal adhesive was set quite well. Lacking a heat gun, I blasted the other side with a hair dryer until it was far too hot to touch.

No dice. I guess the moral of the story is this: Thermal adhesive is some really tough sh*t. And 9-year-old BGA solder is brittle. I'm glad the DIMM was dead beforehand.

 

[Ichinisan]

Pics don't work for me.

 

[Valantar]

Pics don't work for me.

Damn Onedrive image links. I'll put them somewhere else, I guess.

Edit: better?

 

[ch33zw1z]

lol, ripped 'em right off.

 

[sdifox]

That will buff right out.

 

[Valantar]

lol, ripped 'em right off.

Yeah, I'm actually rather impressed by how cleanly the chips came off. Not a single one cracked or (visibly) damaged in any way.

 

[PliotronX]

This is what they mean by "reseat your RAM."

 

[Mr Evil]

I was going to suggest reflowing the solder, but it's pulled the pads clean off.

 

[Valantar]

I was going to suggest reflowing the solder, but it's pulled the pads clean off.

Yep. Pulled some traces out too, by the looks of it. I guess it's not 9-year-old solder, but rather 9-year-old fiberglass/resin that's old and brittle.

 

[Elixer]

Well, at least you got a good story to tell people now!

 

[Valantar]

Well, at least you got a good story to tell people now!

True. I mean, it was dead anyway. Might as well have it go out with a bang.

Now, if I'm really patient and figure out how to get that glue off, I can disguise my new TridentZ DDR4 as Corsair DDR2! That would be a new take on a "sleeper PC", no? I'd have to shuck another DIMM, though.

 

[hal2kilo]

That will buff right out.

That and some duct tape. Good as new.

 

[mxnerd]

It's like cutting champagne bottle and failed.

 

[ReefaMadness]

Corsair uses a permanent thermal adheasive for attaching the heatsinks on the Dominator type models would explain the memory chips coming off with the heatsink.

G.Skill, as well as Mushkin and others use a sticky thermal tape but it isn't a permanent both so those can be removed. Corsair means it when they tell you that removing the heatsink voids the warranty.