CPU heat sink clean

[ChrisXPPro]

Interested to know what folks do to achieve this.

Over time the cooling fins do get somewhat choked up with lint and that of course prejudices cooling function air flow.  I have never found an easy way to remove the cooling fan/heatsink - without the CPU coming out with it ... which means it has to be somewhat forcibly but carefully pulled out of the socket even when that is locked.  It seems all but impossible to activate the CPU socket locking lever before this - not enough clearance.

One time I actually had three or four pins get bent - fortunately that was remedied.  Last time was hassle free but even so - the CPU still had to exit the socket when locked.

Over time the heat sink compound not only seems to firm up but - there is also a ''suction'' effect so - anyone have any bright ideas for releasing this bond prior to a clean up.

I have found BTW that even a compressed air cleaning with all in place does not remove enough fuzz - removal makes for a good result.

[patio]

One method i have used with success is letting the system warm up for 20 minutes or so before trying to remove the heatsink...
YMMV.

However if it still feels stubborn make sure to unlock the ZIF lever and carefully remove it in one piece.

[ChrisXPPro]

Good idea - must admit I have done this when cold.  Thx Patio.  A good way to go next time.

But - as I mentioned, last twice anyways - the ZIF did not have enough access or clearance to move before the removal.

[patio]

Not stock heatsinks then ? ?
The ZIF can at least be raised a little bit if that's the case.

[ChrisXPPro]

I'd say they were stock sinks - but there did seem a problem getting enough access between the bulk of the assembly and mobo to raise the lever much at all.

One was on an Asus mobo - no way could I get to lever ..... after clean up and reinstall - wouldn't ya know two of the plastic tensioning clips bust!    I had to jury rig things to get good enough contact - and so it all carried on another 18 months but - I was aware that CPU cooling was never as efficient.

Unless things get real bad - I work on - ''if it ain't broke ...." 

[Kurtiskain]

I was always told to "twist" the heatsink off.

Not pulling up of course, just twisting until it made a small 'crack' noise then lift off with ease.

Of course now you must replace thermal paste/padding   

You can seriously damage the sockets pulling them like that not to mention yourself when it lets go and gets you in the face 

yes that is second hand experience, not my own, just enjoyed laughing at the guy at the time when he had heatsink fin marks across his head 

[Calum]

I've only had this trouble twice - once on a graphics card where whoever assembled it had glued the heatsink to it - I used a knife to pry it apart and had to sand it down to mount a new cooler on it.  The other is a Pentium MMX chip I have, it's still stuck together because I can't physically remove the heatsink, even with a knife blade - it won't budge.
Every other chip I've had though has been fine, as Kurtis mentioned it can help to slightly twist the heatsink, and warming it up can help too.

[patio]

Calum with that MMX you can lay it on it's side on a clean cloth.
Then using a QTip and very small amounts of rubbing alcohol dab small drops of alcohol at the top leading edge and let it sit for 20 minutes or so...
Repeat this a few times and then see if it will budge.

[ChrisXPPro]

Thx guys - seems a pre warm is certainly a useful move and a slight twist - yeah that too sounds logical tho I recall one of my cooling units was so constrained within the securing pillars the only way it could move was up!

In other words, the x and y axes were almost totally limited, leaving just a z axis option.

Heat paste does tho over time seem to have great potential for bonding.

[patio]

Thermal paste is immature super glue...

[BC_Programmer]

just don't use toothpaste...

[patio]

I've heard the Blue type is the best though...

[BC_Programmer]

as far as toothpaste goes, yes. If your stuck in the middle of nowhere on a tropical island with the basic components of the PC and a tube of toothpaste, and had a choice of which toothpaste you would have, you would be best off choosing the blue kind. This actually has a double effect, since not only can you then install the CPU and have a mediocre (but usable) heat transfer, you don't get pestered by those wild bulls like you would with the red gel, or accidentally brush your teeth with seagull droppings because you couldn't tell them from your white mint toothpaste (at least not for a second...).

unfortunately, the main problem would be finding an AC power connector. Worst comes to worst, build a generator. Simple.

[Calum]

Calum with that MMX you can lay it on it's side on a clean cloth.
Then using a QTip and very small amounts of rubbing alcohol dab small drops of alcohol at the top leading edge and let it sit for 20 minutes or so...
Repeat this a few times and then see if it will budge.

Thanks for the tip, will try that when I have some time.
I tried that (with thermal paste cleaner, not rubbing alcohol exactly) on that graphics card, which was when I discovered it was actually glue or something similar, as it made no difference.  Using a hair dryer to warm it up also didn't help whatsoever.

[patio]

Chris,
   If all else fails getting those heatsinks cleaned out here's another method that's worked for me in the past...

                      

Note how tanned i was....middle of Golf Season.

patio.

[ChrisXPPro]

Hahaha -     

I almost expected you were maybe gonna suggest a small charge of C4 LOL.

Well - I guess the water treatment is ''different''!!!    Think I'll stick to compressed air.

BTW - the hose has a leak part ways along.!

Where was that anyways?  Some vacation spot?

[patio]

The reason i can't say is i was using someone else's water which you can see in the photo...
And i did quite a few machines that day.
I don't think they were happy...

[pcjoseph1974]

Thats an awfully big hose for such a small trickle of water......

I had someone tell me once that you could clean computer hardware that way but I did'nt believe them..... now I'm a believer.

[Dead_reckon]

You can seriously damage the sockets pulling them like that not to mention yourself when it lets go and gets you in the face 

This brings back many memories... Simply yanking them off CAN work with LGA775 sockets, the CPU is clamped in there to prevent getting yanked off. Though, I have hit myself in the face a few times trying this... Oh, saw my former employer hit himself in the face in late 06 when he yanked a LGA775 heatsink off that had baked on ceramic based thermal paste. He fell clean over and the heatsink went flying across the shop! It nearly clobbered a customer too! Man, that was hilarious, it even caused a domino effect with all the ATI GPU's he had stuck on the shelf behind the counter when it hit one. Rube Goldberg by accident I guess? But yeah, funny none the less.

On a side note, I once gave myself a black eye trying to remove a heatsink from the northbridge on a dead motherboard... The thermal paste was like super glue... And the chipset came off with it... It may have been adhesive. I dunno, do know a razor blade and some rubbing alcohol broke the northbridge loose of the heatsink. The boss came in and said in his Korean accent and said "What you do?" when he saw me prying the northbridge chip loose of the heatsink. I replied "You told me to pull off the heatsink, the northbridge came off with it.". He, as usual, just stated the obvious "Oh, you just pull to hard!".

Anyway, yeah, I agree with patio. Warming it helps a load, warm, remove brackets, twist, not too hard though, just carefully back and fourth and it'll come off. Don't end up giving yourself a black eye or nearly braining someone with a heatsink

[Kurtiskain]

Oh, saw my former employer hit himself in the face in late 06 when he yanked a LGA775 heatsink off that had baked on ceramic based thermal paste.

What is this stuff anyway? It was on my Radeon 9700 Pro, when I tried to remove the stock cooler, fan was broken) I had to twist this off, and it was bonded with some kind of hard, ceramic material, and was all up the sides or the GPU and everywhere, had to literally pry it off...

Is it some kind of mental thermal paste that hardens when the GPU bakes it or what?

[Dead_reckon]

Not sure, they have various type's, the white is usually ceramic or silicone based, silver stuff is usually synthetic silver and silicone. Whatever it is, it is devious, it seems to be out to wreck your hardware and or day.

I personally recommend Arctic Silver 5. It sticks a lil, but not too bad, don't take much either. I got a tube somewhere.. It *censored* sure doesn't stick at a self-face-ownage level that the other crap does.

[Calum]

"Ceramic" paste is often used on graphics cards, to hold the heatsink on as there might not be any clips, or the clips may not be designed to hold the full weight of the cooling assembly.

[Dead_reckon]

Calum, you forgot that annoying thermal tape they use. Not 3M grade thermal tape (thankfully), but still uber sticky. My 7600GT had that stuff on it, it was a PITA to remove from the RAM on the GPU when I upgraded the heatsink on it.

I've seen thermal tape used in other applications, sometimes on laptop CPU's, though they seem to prefer ceramic or silicone for laptops. Speaking of which, I need to clean out the heatsink in my laptop soon. That's a real pain, I have to pull it clear apart, LCD panel has to be removed. I think I'll wait 'till the audio ports need re-soldering again. The audio ports are held on by nothing but solder and an external aluminum jacket, which, is also soldered on. They don't stay in place well, I'm looking for some way to make them stay in place. I have problems with the headphone 1/8" jack coming loose from the daughter board it and the mic in port are soldered to.

[Calum]

Thermal tape's often used, yes, usually on the graphics memory rather than the core but it can be used on both.
In laptops, I've always seen a thermal pad, rather than tape or paste - barring one memorable incident with a Packard Bell, where it looked like they'd used an entire tube of low quality paste for the CPU.
Replacing those pads sure does help a lot with temperatures.

[ChrisXPPro]

The audio ports are held on by nothing but solder and an external aluminum jacket, which, is also soldered on.

Hate it when they cheat like that - sounds like a job for a small dab of cynaoacrilate!

[Dead_reckon]

Of what? I never took chemistry in high school... Probably a good thing, I get devious when people annoy me... Last thing you'd want is me knowing how to turn someone's soda they make me fetch into a volcano

Anyway, quick google revealed Cyanoacrylate to be what I thoguht it was, Uber Glue . Personally, I don't like messing with super glue, the tube always seems to split resulting in half my fingers being glued together before I even realize I got glue on them. I'm like my dad, I could nearly loose a finger and not realize it until I saw the blood spurting everywhere.

[ChrisXPPro]

Oops - I even mis spelled it.!   

Yes Super Glue but worth noting here re what you refer too - that satanic small tube that leaks everywhere ........ not the type to use.

As I have larger containers of the stuff for RC airplanes .... I also have a choice of thin, medium and thick.  The thicker (gap filling) type is what you need ... it is controllable and does a good job.  Cures slower but can be helped by a squirt of accelerator.

[Dead_reckon]

Alright, I'll have to look into that. Might fix the issue with my Zenith Concierge too. Its audio out port comes loose causing the speaker in it to randomly pop on and off. Probably not good for the amplifier in the TV. Got the TV from my grandma, she got it from the Hotel Roanoke when they where selling off all there old TV's in 2005. *censored*, they put a brand new samsung tube in the TV just before they sold it. Why? Who knows, or cares? Practically a new TV when I got it in 05, even though the TV its self was six years old, the tube was brand new.

Its one of those Zenith TV's with the SuperPort's, it has this flat ribbon cable that goes from the TV's motherboard to the supercard cable tuner. If its plugged in, the TV goes into a sortof Hotel Mode, you can't even access the menu. It even has a dialup modem built in for connecting to the hotel's network. This, was of course, used up until 2005 when I'm guessing the upgraded the whole hotel to a ethernet network. Anyway, the cable was still plugged in when I got it, did some research, pulled out the super card and the port cover next to it, yanked the cable loose, put the super card back in, hooked the cable back up, plugged in the TV, bam, instant "TV Installer Mode". I've got quite a bit of odd hardware around like my TV, oh, the TV has a empty port where I believe some sort of Nintendo plugged in so it was "Built in" to the TV. 'Cause there's this oval thing ontop of the TV with Nintendo in it, it also says LodgeNet, which is a hotel networking service for TV's. The TV's construction hints that it was meant to be repaired easily. The motherboard is on an EZ tray, tool-less removal assuming you've gotten it apart using tools. The tube is also industrial grade, so, I'm expecting this TV to last many years with the way I scarcely use it.