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Help Removing Stock Heatsink

E

Erasmus354

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Mar 12, 2004
Messages
9,450
The fan on my brothers 9600PRO has been crapping out lately, so I went to the store today and bought a VF700-AlCu. This is my first time removing a video cards stock heatsink. I have all of the clips removed, and there are no screws or anything still attaching the heatsink to the GPU, however it wont come off. I can twist the heatsink, but I cant get it to come off. I think that the thermal paste has formed some adhesion with the GPU.

What is the best way for me to go about carefully removing the HS without damaging the card? Thanks in advance.


EDIT : Ok right after typing this with a bunch more twisting and gentle pressure the heatsink came off. The TIM pad that they used had the consistency and the stickiness of gum...yuck. Now I have two new questions, what should I use to clean this up, and also, on the HS is a pad that sort of seems like a shim for the GPU, should I try removing this and using it with my new Zalman HS?
 
Ok well, everything went swimmingly, I had to use my fingernail to gently scrape off the stuff from the heatsink and then use isopropyl alcohol to get it all nice and shiny. The stuff was really nasty, it was like trying to get the glue off of something when there was a really sticky sticker or pricetag on it. So after a lot of wiping with the alcohol it finally got clean and I was able to start installing the new heatsink, a Zalman VF700-AlCu.

This heatsink looks very nice, and it seems to do a great job near as I can tell, I got it for something that would cool well while remaining silent, I didn't want to get a heatpipe cooler because the airflow in this computer isn't the best (only one 120mm fan and a fanless PSU). I will say with the computer placed on the ground to the right of the desk it is pretty much silent now. The installation of the heatsink went well, I was a bit worried about crushing the core, as it took a decent amount of force to screw in one side of the heatsink, although I suppose it is like that on purpose to make sure the HS makes good contact.

Overall I am pleased with the process, and am seriously considering picking up the VF700-Cu for my gaming rig I will build this summer.
 
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