How to "unlid" your athlon 64

[phr0m]

This is how you can remove your ihs from your cpu. Warning this voids your warrenty and can brake your cpu. Do this at your own risk!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Overclock, overvolt and mod at your discretion, if you break something it is your fault, and yours alone. If you can't handle it buy a Dell.
this is the cpu i will be dissecting, a 3000+ athlon 64

pic1
pic2
you will need a razor

in this picture take the razor and slide into the slite gap were the ihs and silicon meet. Do not do a sawing motion just push it along
pic4
only put the razor in as deep as in this picture
pic5
pic6

after going alongthe edges twist the ihs slighlty and pull and it should come right off if it doesnt you can use a hair dryer to warm up the rubber that holds down the ihs and make it easier to remove
pic7

taking the ihs off makes temps better and overclocking better becuase there is no metal to ruin the contact between the heatsink and cpu die, but taking the ihs off also lowers the cpu so you might need to modify the socket holder
pic8
and now your ready to overclock to the true limits of your cpu and have better temps


here are some air cooling heatsinks that work with a naked cpu:
zalman
tt big typhoon
ZALMAN CNPS9500 (works with modified screws)
the stock cooler can be moded to work with a cpu with removed ihs
the bracket has 4 little bumps in (1 in each corner) of the corner of the plastic, these can be sawed off or dremeld off to make the entire bracket an even level

(thx ribbon and racinjimy)

 

[Shimmishim]

i've taken the IHS off of my 3700 SD and 148 Opteron.

temps dropped 10C's in both case.

i find razorblades to work best and I always start at a corner. I've measured how far in the blade should go and it should be between 3 to 4 mm tops.

I put tape around the blade at where 3mm is so that i don't go in too far.

going in too far will lead to damaging a resistor?/capacitor? on the chip.

either way, it's not for the faint of heart and does void your warranty.

good luck to all who attempt this!

as for getting more overclock.. in the case of my 3700, i gained nothing.

for my 148 opteron, i gained over 100 mhz prime stable and 200 mhz 32M spi stable.

 

[MustangSVT]

now.. lap that core

 

[Corporate Thug]

nice guide

 

[IlllI]

what hsf would someone recommend if a person were to remove his ihs?

 

[Vegitto]

Originally posted by: MustangSVT
now.. lap that core

It can be done, mind you. Just take some 2000 grit sandpaper (don't have to do anything coarser, the top layer is fine enough), and sand until you have collected about half a fingernail of dust. I know, it may sound like much, but it's okay. Then lap the heatsink too, and I think you'll gain anywhere from 2 to 7 degrees Centigrade.

Good luck .

 

[evilharp]

Originally posted by: skunkbuster
what hsf would someone recommend if a person were to remove his ihs?

Look for a heatsink that is installed using screws (Zalman/Big Typhoon) or the standard A64 mounting system.

The XP-90/90C/120 coolers are installed using a method that will crush the core for sure.

 

[phr0m]

and with the ihs you can make an awsome keychain

 

[SamzAthlon]

http://img492.imageshack.us/my.php?image=10004372gg.jpg]

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What about those little resistors on the side of the core? Do they also get hot?

 

[IlllI]

Look for a heatsink that is installed using screws (Zalman/Big Typhoon) or the standard A64 mounting system.

The XP-90/90C/120 coolers are installed using a method that will crush the core for sure.

i'm not sure if the standard mounting system would still work afterwards... wouldnt there be a slight gap between the proc and the hsf b/c the ihs is removed?

 

[phr0m]

yes there would be a slight gap if you use the bracket that comes with the motherboard if you look in the last pic i took off the bracket becuase of the gap that it would cuase. there is somtheing you can dremel off on the bracket to make it work though and the little resistors do get a little hot but not nearly as hot as the core. and by taking the ihs off this can cool the little chips down too

 

[Doctorweir]

Originally posted by: phr0m
yes there would be a slight gap if you use the bracket that comes with the motherboard if you look in the last pic i took off the bracket becuase of the gap that it would cuase. there is somtheing you can dremel off on the bracket to make it work though and the little resistors do get a little hot but not nearly as hot as the core. and by taking the ihs off this can cool the little chips down too

What heatsink do you use with this "naked" setup? should spaceholders (e.g. small rubber foot like in the old PEP66-days) be used under the heatsink or are the leftovers of the rubber of the IHS enough to prevent crushing the core?

Well, sounds like I have a task for this weekend
(heat is an issue with my setup below, as the proc likes to hit end 50's under full load...)

 

[IlllI]

i was wondering about the little rubber foot thingies as well

 

[A554SS1N]

Erm, surely this is a little too extreme to do - I'd rather just pay out for a decent cooler than potentially killing the CPU...

 

[michal1980]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
i've taken the IHS off of my 3700 SD and 148 Opteron.

temps dropped 10C's in both case.

i find razorblades to work best and I always start at a corner. I've measured how far in the blade should go and it should be between 3 to 4 mm tops.

I put tape around the blade at where 3mm is so that i don't go in too far.

going in too far will lead to damaging a resistor?/capacitor? on the chip.

either way, it's not for the faint of heart and does void your warranty.

good luck to all who attempt this!

as for getting more overclock.. in the case of my 3700, i gained nothing.

for my 148 opteron, i gained over 100 mhz prime stable and 200 mhz 32M spi stable.

if you lost 10C because u removed the ihs, your heatsink was never installed properly, theres no way that if it was installed right a small thin piece of metal inbetween the core and the sink.

 

[Doctorweir]

Dunno, but in former times (before IHS), you were also forced to apply the HS directly to the flip-chip-core....so back to the roots
And the efficiency of a high tech cooler is crippled by the IHS, which is not e.g. full copper, as the IHS slows down the flow of heat to a certain extent...

 

[Tu13erhead]

With load temps of 39C and idle temps of 31C, I doubt I could lose another 10C.

:thumbsup: for those of you who have done it and it worked!

 

[MDE]

I did it to my X2 3800+ and got squat improvement (temps and OCing), but it was fun to play with potentially killing a $350 CPU and having it come out working.

 

[ribbon13]

edit: post removed because OP learned how to link properly.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Doctorweir
Dunno, but in former times (before IHS), you were also forced to apply the HS directly to the flip-chip-core....so back to the roots
And the efficiency of a high tech cooler is crippled by the IHS, which is not e.g. full copper, as the IHS slows down the flow of heat to a certain extent...

My thinking is that the heat spreader does help in certain instances. Back in the day with bare cores, the hotter chips were overheating when used with cheap aluminum heatsinks because the heatsink couldn't spread the heat out fast enough from such a small spot. The Integrated Heat "Spreader" helped cool the core more effectively when used with all aluminum heatsinks. These days the copper bases of current heatsinks help spread the heat.

The other issue was people crushing cores (remember the Tt Golden Orbs with Athlons?) and the IHS helps. Even to this day a socket A chip that has been around will often have a chipped corner, even if the CPU still works fine. With the ever growing weight of heatsinks, the IHS is IMO pretty important for keeping the core intace with high end air cooling.

 

[phr0m]

i took my ihs from my proc and turned it into a key chain (pics later to late for me) and man that little peice of metal is hard to drill through. I have taken off ihs from p4 northwoods and they are a lot thinner and smaller in size then the athlon ones. and if you just want the temp decrease you could possible take the ihs off sand it down untill teh copper shows (ihs is a thick copper core) and epox it back down. I think this would help temps out a little bit too.

 

[Shimmishim]

Originally posted by: michal1980

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
i've taken the IHS off of my 3700 SD and 148 Opteron.

temps dropped 10C's in both case.

i find razorblades to work best and I always start at a corner. I've measured how far in the blade should go and it should be between 3 to 4 mm tops.

I put tape around the blade at where 3mm is so that i don't go in too far.

going in too far will lead to damaging a resistor?/capacitor? on the chip.

either way, it's not for the faint of heart and does void your warranty.

good luck to all who attempt this!

as for getting more overclock.. in the case of my 3700, i gained nothing.

for my 148 opteron, i gained over 100 mhz prime stable and 200 mhz 32M spi stable.

if you lost 10C because u removed the ihs, your heatsink was never installed properly, theres no way that if it was installed right a small thin piece of metal inbetween the core and the sink.

It's a KNOWN fact that removing the IHS gives anywhere from a 5C to 15C drop in temperature.

Sometimes, the contact between the core and the IHS isn't very good. When you take it off, you now have direct contact with the core rather than a huge piece of metal which may not be making proper contact with the core.

Also, AMD using this really weird crusty grey thermal paste which IMO doesn't do a very good job at anything.


I am NOT the only person who has reported a 10C drop. Go check out xtremesystems.org and check out their thread on removing the IHS. you find MANY MANY people reporting the same thing as me.

 

[phr0m]

opteron 165 here i come !!!!!!

 

[DfiDude]

sweettt

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Gosh, this definitely isn't for the faint of heart.

What if you just cleaned off the thermal paste between the core and the IHS and replaced it with Arctic Ceramique or MX-1, then replaced the IHS?

Is one of the implications of this that it isn't so important to have your thermal paste cover the entire IHS surface, just the center area?