friggin heatsink....

[Thermite Paste]

i took the heatsink off of a video card to find out what it was(there were no other markings on the card) but now i cant get all the goop off of it. It has hardened, and is a mess that refuses to chip off. Is there any solvent or something i could use? ive already tried to scrape it off (accidentally put a few scratches in the heatsink, which leads me to my next question:

if there are a few scratches in a heatsink will it still work? like will the thermal paste fill in the scratches and fix them? i really need to know.

 

[Deadlierchair]

If there are a few scratches in the heatsink it will definitely still work. The thermal paste will fill in the scratches, but it won't fix it. You will have less good contact between the heatsink and the GPU, but it should still work fine.

 

[Thermite Paste]

thanks, now i just need to know how to get this stupid old thermal paste/whatever it was off

 

[Sideroxylon]

You should be able to chip off the thermal epoxy with a credit card or plastic spoon. Something that isn't hard enough to damage your heatsink. It's going to be a pain in the ass but you can do it.

Good luck!!!

 

[Carnival Forces]

thanks, now i just need to know how to get this stupid old thermal paste/whatever it was off

yeah, it'll still work okay w/ scartches in it, but i wouldn't recommend OCing it like that...

as for getting the hardened thermal paste off the heatsink surface, it's quite easy. Go out to WalMart or wherever and buy some Isopropyl (aka Rubbing) Alcohol. Get the 97% stuff if you can, if not, 90%. It costs about $2.17 (US). Get some of that and dampen a cloth with it; begin rubbing the crud w/ the alcohol-dampened cloth until it begins to dissolve and come off.

Then, as mentioned by the previous poster, use your (old, not valid anymore) credit card to chip it off....repeat as neccessary..

it'll take a while (~30 minutes, i would think, depends on how much crud there is/how hard it is) but it'll be worth it in the end...good luck...

 

[bigbadgreen]

use the isopropyl alcohol, and soak the heatsink overnight. It should loosen the gunk right up. How bad are the scratches, if they aren't bad you can lap the heatsink. That just means taking a series of gradading sand papers grits and wet sanding it down finally using an emery paper to get a mirror finish. If not to take off the scratches it's just a good idea in general.

I can't imagine you scratched deep enough to not be able to lap those things out, but if you did it's always good insurance to get a new heat sink, the $20 is worth it if it saves you an expensive card.

 

[Thermite Paste]

the only thing is this video card is a quadro 2 (forgot to mention that). i dont plan on overclocking it, so i think im safe there. there is only really one major scratch, and it really isnt deep, and its pretty small, so maybe lapping it might work. anywhere i can get a detailed guide on how to do it?

 

[Deadlierchair]

The Geforce2's really weren't that hot, I wouldn't worry about lapping it, that's too much work when you won't need the extra little bit of conductivity. Just throw the heatsink back on with the some thermal paste and you'll be fine.

 

[Darth_Fluffy]

My weapon of choice would be acetone. I got a jar of high purity stuff on my balcony.. 98%

 

[ChemBot]

get a small can of brake cleaner from any car parts store. it'll dissolve any gunk and leave a clean surface with no residue. I use it in my tech shop to clean CPUs and such all the time.