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Removing vram mini heatsinks

tripleoh
By tripleoh
in Cooling
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Hi folks,

 

I hope I'm posting this in a right section. If not, let me know.

 

I used a custom cooler for my graphics card and it came with those mini vram heatsinks and an adhesive in a tube for them. I used it without questioning anything and it held well these 2 years. Now that I plan to sell the card, I need to put the stock cooler back. My problem though, is that I don't know how to remove those heatsinks. They're stuck and even pulling on them with considerable force wont move them at all.

The tube it came from didn't have any labels. The adhesive is white and a little extra, which was squeezed from between a chip and heatsink feels like silicone even now. Is there some kind of solution to dissolve it safely? Or use heat to pry them out? 

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@tripleoh Have you got a dremel with a rotary blade?

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@tripleoh Have you got a dremel with a rotary blade?

that will destroy the VRAM.

 

OP, i suggest you get a razor blade and gently attempt to slice the heatsink away. 

it could help if you heat it up first.

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Bittenfleax: I do. that sounds scary though.

 

that will destroy the VRAM.

 

OP, i suggest you get a razor blade and gently attempt to slice the heatsink away. 

it could help if you heat it up first.

I mean, just cut the heatsinks down to a level where you can put the stock cooler on.

CPU: i5 4670k @ 3.4GHz + Corsair H100i      GPU: Gigabyte GTX 680 SOC (+215 Core|+162 Mem)     SSD: Kingston V300 240GB (OS)      Headset: Logitech G930 

Case: Cosair Vengance C70 (white)                RAM: 16GB TeamGroup Elite Black DDR3 1600MHz       HDD: 1TB WD Blue                              Mouse: Logitech G602

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Bittenfleax: That sounds like a solution too. But a little dangerous as I don't really have steady hands. 

 

VioDuskar: There's pretty much no space between those chips and heatsinks. I did think of carefully scraping the adhesive with a razor. I was close to trying to fore it in between and prying it out But was worried about damaging the chip so I gave up.

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Have you tried with alcohol? Maybe it will disolve some of the glue,try to do it with an ear bud

Not yet. I'll put that in a list of things to try before getting to more dangerous solutions.

But if the adhesive really is silicone based, it won't dissolve with alcohol. I'm not sure so I'll try it anyways.

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They might come off if you gently twist them back and forth

Unfortunately, they won't even budge. I only tried to twist them with my fingers so far. Using tools to get a little more leverage might help? I'm stil scared of using too much force.

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Unfortunately, they won't even budge. I only tried to twist them with my fingers so far. Using tools to get a little more leverage might help? I'm stil scared of using too much force.

 

Do not use tools. Even with your fingers you can easely rip the VRAM off. It's only a BGA make of plastic mostly. The heat sinks  and the glue are much stronger than the VRAM, so the VRAM will give up first.

Is ther a way to mod the original cooler so you can leave the heat sinks on? Pictures?

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Ok the VRAM will give up first. I'll keep that in mind. 

 

It's a EVGA 770 with ACX cooler. I know it's already a good cooler but it was still louder than a HDD, which is the most noise I'm willing to tolerate. That is to say, I don't want to cut into a good cooler like that. It also has heatpipes which will probably get in the way.

 

I was hoping to find out what that adhesive is if somebody knows. And find something to dissolve it other tha alcohol. I don't wan to do anything drastic or more foreceful than my hands can manage.

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Ok the VRAM will give up first. I'll keep that in mind. 

 

It's a EVGA 770 with ACX cooler. I know it's already a good cooler but it was still louder than a HDD, which is the most noise I'm willing to tolerate. That is to say, I don't want to cut into a good cooler like that. It also has heatpipes which will probably get in the way.

 

I was hoping to find out what that adhesive is if somebody knows. And find something to dissolve it other tha alcohol. I don't wan to do anything drastic or more foreceful than my hands can manage.

 

Yes when you cut into the heatpipe (even if it's only a very thinn cut) it is dead and will not work anymore.

However the glue is ment to be permanent and it won't disolve in alcohol. There migth be some very aggressive stuff to disolve the glue, but this will probably hurt the PCB too.

Mineral oil and 40 kg aluminium heat sinks are a perfect combination: 73 cores and a Titan X, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Oil

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All you need to do is slide a blade into the silicone to rip it or cut it...

 

I'm sorry but if you didn't think this far ahead you've pretty much shot yourself in the balls. Another idea is to run the card using valley or something for a good while, this will heat up the silicone or TIM whatever the hell you used and weaken it.

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Try getting a piece of floss between the vram chip and the heatsink and try to "floss" through the glue. This has helped me in the past. Or try goo gone.

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Try getting a piece of floss between the vram chip and the heatsink and try to "floss" through the glue. This has helped me in the past. Or try goo gone.

 

He needs to heat up the crap he used to weaken it first, heat is his friend here.

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He needs to heat up the crap he used to weaken it first, heat is his friend here.

yup. Goo gone is great at eating through adhesives. Floss is good at cutting through rubbery glues. The heat should indeed soften it

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All you need to do is slide a blade into the silicone to rip it or cut it...

 

I'm sorry but if you didn't think this far ahead you've pretty much shot yourself in the balls. Another idea is to run the card using valley or something for a good while, this will heat up the silicone or TIM whatever the hell you used and weaken it.

Yea, I didn't think it would hold that much. I used vram heatsinks on a geforce 6800gt before and glue on those was much weaker. It was as simple as twisting them and they came loose.

 

Try getting a piece of floss between the vram chip and the heatsink and try to "floss" through the glue. This has helped me in the past. Or try goo gone.

Oh that's a great way to go with it. I completely forgot floss can work as a tool too. I'll combine it with heating that suff up as Benji_w said. 

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