question How to get heat sink off when it's glued on by thermal adhesive to cpu

[N0ob_C3nTR4L]

So i wanted to clean my pc for the first time(its a pre-built, don't yell at me for that), i did what the manuals saids to do to remove the heat sink to get the dust off but it wouldn't budge so then I realize its glued on with thermal adhesive. How can i get the heat sink off?

[aisle9]

Glued on? What type of PC do you have?

 

If it's an Intel socket with the CPU underneath the latch, you can twist the cooler around a little bit until it gives. If it's an AMD CPU, twisting it will jack up the pins. Your best bet there is to turn the PC back on with the side panel removed, run something like Handbrake for a few minutes to heat things up, then power down and go for the sink while it's still toasty.

[mariushm]

Heat up the heatsink with a hair dryer or paint stripper gun .. gently. Or just turn on the pc for a few minutes until heatsink warms up and then turn off the pc.

 

If it's just thermal paste, you should now be able to simply carefully and gently twist the heatsink just a bit on either side and eventually the paste would loosen.

 

If it's really adhesive...

 

Most adhesives will be softened with solvents .. try gas lighter fluid, acetone, even wd40 can work to some degree, isopropyl alcohol could work but it's somewhat too mild. Try pouring a few drops between the cpu and heatsink

 

Get a flat spudger or a screwdriver with very wide flat head and gradually slide it between the heatsink and the cpu and move if from side to side.

[aisle9]

Just now, mariushm said:

try gas lighter fluid, acetone, even wd40 can work to some degree

tbqh, I would just deal with the ancient paste at that point. Dripping any of those things around a CPU socket with all the traces running there would be a no-go for me. Absolute worst case, I'd take the PC to a computer repair shop and make it their problem if they wreck something.

[mariushm]

I made the assumption that you'd remove the cpu with the heatsink still attached first, all you have  to do is use the clip on the side of the socket

 

Then you can literally put the cpu and heatsink in a cup and drown it in isopropyl alcohol (IPA) even for an hour or so, or other weak solvents (not acetone, acetone can attack plastics and remove paint like printed text on stickers)

 

IPA, wd40,lighter fluid, even gasoline  these are all light solvents that won't damage the cpu and heatsink (gasoline and lighter fluid could affect some plastics just warning if the heatsink has some plastic bits)

[kalnick]

30 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Get a flat spudger or a screwdriver with very wide flat head and gradually slide it between the heatsink and the cpu and move if from side to side.

I would avoid the screwdriver as you could scratch or gauge the surface of the heat sink.

 

 

With AMD usually in these cases the cpu remains attached to the heat sink has you pull it straight up from the socket.

Then you just take it off the cooler and put it back.

 

It could damage the pins having it come straight out of the socket, its not likely to if you pull straight up. If you try to wiggle it or move  side it side to side you have a better chance of damaging the pins.

[W-L]

3 hours ago, N0ob_C3nTR4L said:

So i wanted to clean my pc for the first time(its a pre-built, don't yell at me for that), i did what the manuals saids to do to remove the heat sink to get the dust off but it wouldn't budge so then I realize its glued on with thermal adhesive. How can i get the heat sink off?

Put some 99% isopropyl on it to try and loosen it as said and run a thin fishing line or strong thread between the layers to cut through the thermal material. For a CPU thermal adhseive should never be used only for permanent applications.