HSF glued to my GF4!!! [H]elp

S

Shinare

Gawd
Joined
Jan 7, 2004
Messages
582
Hey all,
I have an Asyim GeForce4 ti4200 that I have OCd to 300/600 and its working just fine. I bought the Tt GF4 cooling solution which is copper HSF and ramsinks. I got the ramsinks on there just fine and have been using the stock HSF because its GLUED! on there. Now the HSF is making that dreded moaning fan noise when it spins up due to heat. I need to replace it with the Tt HSF that came with the kit.

Any ideas on how to get that GLUED on HSF off without damaging the GPU?
 
Put ur card in a fully sealed plastic bag (FULLY SEALED !!) and put it in the freezer. Then afterwards u can take off the sink without probs (well i did this with my old tnt2 card and it came off with no prob)

Or get a screwdriver and a creditcard.
Put the card on the pcb and pry the heatsink of with the screwdriver (the creditcard is for incase u slip with ur screwdriver and dont damage the card)
 
Originally posted by Overkill-X
Put ur card in a fully sealed plastic bag (FULLY SEALED !!) and put it in the freezer. Then afterwards u can take off the sink without probs (well i did this with my old tnt2 card and it came off with no prob)

Or get a screwdriver and a creditcard.
Put the card on the pcb and pry the heatsink of with the screwdriver (the creditcard is for incase u slip with ur screwdriver and dont damage the card)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I suppose I will probably have to lap the GPU to get that crap off there. Anyone lapped a GPU before? Whats a good grit to start with/end with. Also, anything I should be aware of while lapping it? Will I screw it up if I lap to much?
 
Ok, just a precautionary question, are you sure it's glued? My Asus Ti-4400 seemed to be glued on, but it was really sticky thermal compound, almost foam-like... it was the weirdest stuff i've ever worked with. First i'd check if the HS/F is bolted/pinned to the card. If you removed those pins and it's still not coming off, i'd try heating up the heatsink slightly first. Some people use a hair dryer, whtaever works... you could even run it for a few minutes and try to get the HSF off ASAP, i think that method is safer.

If the pins are out, wiggle the HSF, if you can wiggle it at all, it's not glued, probably just some thick thermal paste. Keep wiggling and it'll eventually come off... the 'suction' of some of those thermal pastes are pretty great...

Acetone is a more 'fierce' cleaner, and i prefer it over isopropyl alcohol (maily becuase i only have lower purity iso alc). The Gf4 series all have heatsink mounting holes, so i expect it's just thick thermal paste + a bolted on heat sink.

As far as the TT copper cooler, remove that gaudy plastic cover on the cooler, i know it supposedly distributes the air across the heatsink (well, this is what i thnk it's there for), but it also limits the air intake of the fan. This (like many restrictive fan grills) makes the fan work harder/whine more. The TT fan is incredibly noisy, but after i removed the plastic piece i could barely hear it (through my closed case). I also lapped the cooler, but probably isn't really as necessary as i make it out to be. The cooler has a pretty rough base, so i'd start out with 220 grit -> 400 grit -> 600 grit. The core of the card you're cooling probably isn't even that flat, so lapping may not be necessary. if you wanted to lap the core, the safest method (that i'd use) is to get some masking tape and tape off everything on your card but the core. Get a small, flat object, and affix a piece of sand paper to it. This 'sanding block' is what'll hopefully keep your core flat... put a tiny bit of water on either the sanding block or on the core, and sand away. Once you see copper you're probably going to want to stop. There is a possibility of sanding too far, but once you see copper, that's your signal ;)

I woudln't see why a manufacturer would resort to epoxying on a cooler, but the freeze method works with harder glues such as superglue and (supposedly) epoxy. heating up is probably the better method for pastes.

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the info. Yah, it really is glued on there with some kind of white thermal (probably) glue. The HSF itself is not even touching the PCB. Only point of contact is the GPU itself with this white glue stuff. It really looks to be a pain in the butt. I have taken the card out right after power down and tried to do a little twisting action on the HSF and it doesnt move one bit, not one bit. I'll add some pics to this thread when I get home and take some closeups.
 
Sorry about the blurry, my crappy cam doesnt do well closeup. you can still see the white stuff and that it is not attached any other way. bummer.

Gonna try the freeze thing.

EDIT: pic removed and is below
 
The freezer method works great. You really don't even need a plastic bag. Any condensation the card gets evaporates immediately after removing it from the freezer (at least that's my experience). I use this method everytime I use Artic Alumina epoxy and it's never failed me. Just make sure you put a credit card under the object you use to pry it off with so you don't damage any traces. Also do it upon removing it from the freezer when it is it's coldest.
 
Forget the freezer. Take a can of compressed air, turn it upside down and blast the hsf. It should freeze instantly and you can snap it off with pliers. I did this with a crystal orb I needed to remove from a Radeon 8500. Worked like a charm. As for cleaning the gpu I used a pencil eraser if I remember correctly. You should'nt have to lap it. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the replys, I guess this will have to wait till tomorrow as I cannot find my arcticsilver syringe... gonna need to go buy another one. :(

Heres my pic this time hope it works:

080104-whiteglu.JPG
 
Originally posted by csidd
Forget the freezer. Take a can of compressed air, turn it upside down and blast the hsf. It should freeze instantly and you can snap it off with pliers. I did this with a crystal orb I needed to remove from a Radeon 8500. Worked like a charm. As for cleaning the gpu I used a pencil eraser if I remember correctly. You should'nt have to lap it. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Snap it off with some pliers? Are you out of your freaking mind? If the epoxy is frozen enough to snap, what do you think about some of the hair thick legs on the GPU?. Freeze it and gently pry it off with a screwdriver and be done with it.
 
Originally posted by Shinare
Thanks for the replys, I guess this will have to wait till tomorrow as I cannot find my arcticsilver syringe... gonna need to go buy another one. :(

Heres my pic this time hope it works:

080104-whiteglu.JPG
Click to expand...

That is the exact cooler I put on my g/f's MSI GF2 400MX and the freezer trick worked like a charm.
 
Originally posted by Overkill-X
Put ur card in a fully sealed plastic bag (FULLY SEALED !!) and put it in the freezer. Then afterwards u can take off the sink without probs (well i did this with my old tnt2 card and it came off with no prob)
Click to expand...

lol, that works... except the one time on my ti500, it ripped the gpu in half. :(
picture.. half of the gpu stuck to the heatsink and the other half nestled nicely on the card
 
I've never done the freezer thing but on my GF2, GF3, and GF4 I took a hair dryer and held it about a foot away and heated up the HSF for a few minutes and then it came off. Remember that when the thermal compound gets hot is becomes soft just like the heat pads on retail P4 HSF's
 
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