Taking Off Glued On Heatsinks

[MonstaThrilla]

I want to take the stock heatsink off my Inno3D GF2 Pro and put on a Blorb. I've been searching for any tutorials or how-to's, but the closest I got was a brief snippet at an overclockers.com article. It said to use a razor blade and "pop" it off. Well, that sounds a bit shady to me. Is there anyone who has done this before?

 

[Killbat]

IF I were going to do it, I would probably attack with a razor blade. I too would be interested to know if there's a better way.

 

[salman327]

Someone else posted to use a credit card and take a screw driver and place it on the card like this :

-----> Screw Driver
------ card

and lay the driver flat on the card, and slip in the screw driver and use a little force, and that should pop off the heatsink. The card keeps the screw driver from messing anything up on the chip which is beneath the card. You can always stick it in a plastic bag (Making sure it's air-tight), and put it in your freezer for 1/2 an hour, and it should pop right off

 

[Budman]

I also read 1 place that putting your card in the freezer for an hour or so makes the glue brittle;and much easier to pop off the heatsink.

 

[TripperJoe]

I 2nd the freezer tactic. Just make sure you don't let it soak up any moisture...

 

[salman327]

Exactly...or else you'll have a really big keychain in your freezer. Who the hell keeps that in there?

 

[datallah]

BE VERRRY CAREFUL! You could rip off the top of the chip (it is just plastic casing), i read a review once where they had it happen. I wouldn't risk it.

 

[Brian48]

When you freeze the card, it not only makes the glue brittle, but everything else as well including the silicon. Just gently pry it off. It's easy to do when done right. The glue can also easily wipe off with a paper towel soaked in carburator cleaner or similiar solvent. There a more detailed write up on how to do it here: http://home.earthlink.net/~chinmonster

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Well, I followed the instructions from the website (thanks Brian48), and the heatsink came off pretty easily. I thought everything was okay until I lifted the card up and a bridge fell off. I don't know the technical name for it, its one of the dozens of little brown bridges on the PCB. So like any self-respecting DIY guy I tried to solder it back on, but the card still doesn't work. It looks like I did a good job trying to put it back on but that doesn't mean I did. The BIOS beeps at me angrily on bootup and the monitor doesn't respond.

The worse thing is, I have no idea when or how I could have done it. I don't even remember putting anything close to where that bridge was on the card. Well, guess I'll be making a trip to the store tomorrow...

 

[salman327]

aw man dude sorry about your card. I feel bad when stuff like that happens to people, and then they gotta go spend the extra $$ for something else. Dammit America!

 

[Bumboy]

you can take off the heatsinko with almost anything flat that can act as a lever

use nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol to get rid of leftover gunk

 

[Bumboy]

arg scratch this last comment

Anyway, you can return it right?

 

[MonstaThrilla]

Well, this is the 4th thing on my new rig I've destroyed (a 1.33 Ghz TBird, an Epox 8K7A mobo, and an Enermax 350W PSU - they all went out together when my bird fried). Its really no shock to me that I did this. And yes, this is my first self-built rig so I guess I have an excuse.

Can't wait until my hole drill kit comes in and its time to mod my Lian-Li with a blowhole and side intake!!!

As for just returning it, I could be sneaky about it, well, maybe I will be, but the last time I admitted doing something immoral on this board I got some angry replies. So I'll just say I'll get a new card tomorrow.