Removal Instructions for factory heatsink/fan
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"How do I remove the factory heatsink" is one of the most common questions I
seem to see in alot of newsgroups. The following instructions only apply to video
cards with heatsinks that have been glued onto the chipset with thermal glue.
These include the Creative and Diamond TNT1/TNT2's, the Creative GeForces, V3 2000's,
etc. Those who own cards with heatsinks using retaining pins to secure the cooling unit
need not bother reading any further.
My primary reason for adding this extra page is because I've seen some pretty funky solutions like sealing the card in a plastic bag and placing it in the freezer to weaken the glue. I have to say this now, that is completely unnecessary. Removing a heatsink that has been mounted onto a video with thermal glue is not that hard at all. I've removed several of them and I can tell you now, it's not rocket science. Hopefully, this will dispell a lot of these funky methods and save a few people some grief. This is what I recommend. The unit itself is actually easy to remove, but cleaning off the excess glue is a bit of a pain in butt. You'll need a A. razor blade, B. a flat-head screwdriver, C. some carborator cleaner (or similiar alcohol based solvent), D. a thin piece of cardboard or thick piece of paper, and E. some paper towels before you start. 1. Slip the thick piece of paper or thin cardboard under the existing heatsink as best you can. This will protect the board from stratches when you go to insert the screwdriver underneath the heatsink. A credit card will suffice also as demonstrated in the above picture with an ATI Radeon based card. Special thanks to Tim for providing the pic. 2. Very gently, around the corners or where you can get some good leverage, pry the heatsink off using a twisting action with the screwdriver. It should pop right off in a snap if you do it right. Do not pry the heatsink with a vertical motion like you would use if you were trying to break into a car trunk. A little finese goes a long way, folks. Note: A good way to minimize the PCB from bending during this process is to hold the card down on a flat surface while you're doing this. You'll also minimize the chances of the screwdriver slipping off and hitting any of the other components on the PCB. 3. After you get the heatsink off, very gently scrape off as much of the excess goo as possible with the razor blade. You can use the carborator cleaner to soften the stuff up some. 4. After you scape off the big chunks, you can just use a paper cloth soaked with alittle more of the carborator cleaner to wipe the rest of the stuff off. At no time do you directly spray the video card with the carborator cleaner. After you get the chip completely clean, you can mount whatever replacement unit you want. The whole process shouldn't take you more than 20 minutes and I also believe it's the method recommended by Tennmax as well. Not really complicated, is it? |