My first CPU Delidding attempts (fail)

[-rascal-]

I'd personally would not use a razor blade to scrap off the solder off the Silicon die. I would re-flow the solder, since so little heat is needed (I.e. a lighter), and use a solder-sucker tool.

 

Then again, this is me coming from an Electrical Engineering point of view so...

 

Simple solder sucker tool (very inexpensive): https://www.google.ca/search?q=solder+sucker&safe=off&client=ms-android-google&prmd=ivn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7vsvQq8HLAhVI92MKHQ02CzoQ_AUIBygB&biw=360&bih=511

 

As for cleaning off the thermal paste, a clean, lint-free, static-free cloth should be perfectly fine. Just don't press down hard -- you don't even really need to apply much pressure. Use Isopropyl alcohol.

 

I don't know if you have taken apart a GPU before, especially the newer ones,  but it's basically die the Silicon die under the heatsink. There is no IHS over them. Just 'google' "GTX 980 GPU die" or "R9 290X GPU die."

[DunePilot]

1 hour ago, suchamoneypit said:

Delidded the Xeon, was extremely easy and I felt very confident the entire time. It was not soldered though, I was kinda hoping it was so I could practice but I looking at getting some more old CPUs that are soldered to practice on.

How do I properly clean this? Im nervous about damaging the silicon. How soft is it? will rubbing alcohol damage it if it stays on? Can I use a paper towel and rubbing alcohol or will the fibers be bad? What about the black adhesive? On the other CPUs I tried getting it off with rubbing alcohol and even went at it with a razorblade but it proved to be difficult and extremely time consuming, and the likelyhood of me scratching up the PCB was extremely high.

 

EDIT: regarding the black adhesive it came off super easy on the Xeon I just did, the other two not so much.

 

Also, another separate question, If its soldered, I see you scrape it off with a razorblade. I practiced this on the Q6600 because I only destroyed 1 of the silicon modules, the other ripped off but was intact with the solder still on it, But I felt I was damaging the silicon and cutting into it, and felt that even the slightly wrong angle would dig right into the silicon and damage it. Would that happen?

No, die is hard like glass. It feels much like running the razor along a glass table/bottle. Thats how you know you got through the solder and down to the die. You'll be able to scrap it all off with the razor, just keep a low angle and avoid side to side motion. Once you have all the solder off I took and "polished" it somewhat with alcohol and a coffee filter. As for the adhesive, there isn't really much of a point to clean it other than for looks. You can use a razor for most of that and finish it up with a fingernail, credit card, guitar pick, etc... to help remove some of it and then use the alcohol and coffee filter. Be real careful doing all this that you don't bump into any of the caps (the chips on the pcb), those are really easy to knock off if you slip and strike one so just be slow and careful as you scrape the die and as you clean everything up as to not bump into the caps. 

[suchamoneypit]

29 minutes ago, DunePilot said:

No, die is hard like glass. It feels much like running the razor along a glass table/bottle. Thats how you know you got through the solder and down to the die. You'll be able to scrap it all off with the razor, just keep a low angle and avoid side to side motion. Once you have all the solder off I took and "polished" it somewhat with alcohol and a coffee filter. As for the adhesive, there isn't really much of a point to clean it other than for looks. You can use a razor for most of that and finish it up with a fingernail, credit card, guitar pick, etc... to help remove some of it and then use the alcohol and coffee filter. Be real careful doing all this that you don't bump into any of the caps (the chips on the pcb), those are really easy to knock off if you slip and strike one so just be slow and careful as you scrape the die and as you clean everything up as to not bump into the caps. 

thanks for the tips. I was able to remove the solder on the chip that wasnt destroyed on the Q6600 and was able to remove the adhesive on all three CPUs.