Can you remove a heatsink that was attached with Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive?

[InTheFlow]

If so, how? I have to return my EVGA cards and am trying to get them back to stock.

I know the AS website says that it is a permanent bond but if anyone has done it anyway, they are probably on this forum!

[thunderstruck!]

Do you mean ramsinks?

[Pete]

Twsit it off, get it hot.

[lowfat]

You have a good chance of taking the memory chips along with it if you just twist if off. Use a heatgun and heat it up very hot, and you might be able to get them off. But Epoxy glue is meant to hold no matter the temerature.

[InTheFlow]

Do you mean ramsinks?

Actually, its two heatsinks on the back side of the card. (The three super hot ICs on the bottom left of the 7900s.)

You have a good chance of taking the memory chips along with it if you just twist if off. Use a heatgun and heat it up very hot, and you might be able to get them off. But Epoxy glue is meant to hold no matter the temperature.

Have you done it this way before? If I use a heatgun, couldn't that damage the board?

[Cupcake]

didnt you say you were Returning it

[Pete]

If it's dead get it as hot as you can so they come off but don't melt or chnage color of anyhting.

Guess you could use a small gas lighter toruch thing on the heatsink to get it super hot

[InTheFlow]

didnt you say you were Returning it

Yes, I am returning them but it isn't because they are totally dead. I'm having the infamous artifacting problem due (most likely) to the Samsung memory.

So, to damage them further wouldn't be right. Especially if EVGA can still fix the cards by replacing the memory or something.

[lowfat]

Unfortunately there isn't anything else that could be done besides heating them up. In the future i highly suggest not epoxying sinks to cards

[InTheFlow]

Unfortunately there isn't anything else that could be done besides heating them up. In the future i highly suggest not epoxying sinks to cards

Thanks for the help...I sent an email to AS asking if they have any ideas as well. And yeah, I won't be using that stuff again. I'll just have to find something that works as well...other than those pad things.

[Pete]

Correct me if i am wrong but i am sure it makes it clear that as epoxy is a perma fixture!

[InTheFlow]

Correct me if i am wrong but i am sure it makes it clear that as epoxy is a perma fixture!

Ah...yes it does which is why I said at the beginning "I know the AS website says that it is a permanent bond".

So yes, I knew at the time it was permanent. I was being too optimistic that there would be no issues with the cards and anticipated selling them with the IC heatsinks intact. Oh well, I'll see what happens. EVGA may decide they don't care that they are on there and if that is the case, there will be no need to remove them anyway...which would rock!

[Pete]

Angle grinder...removes anything

[Quazi]

I use one part each of the AS Adhesive parts A & B and add an equal part of AS Thermal Compound to the mix. I have always been able to just twist off the ramsinks using this mixture. The one time I used only the AS Thermal Adhesive Parts A & B I had to use a razor blade being very careful to stay up against the bottom of the heat sink(s) to remove them. It was a PIA but they did come off. It was after this I decided to add the equal part of AS Thermal Compound to the mix. Makes it alot easier to remove ram sinks.

[InTheFlow]

I use one part each of the AS Adhesive parts A & B and add an equal part of AS Thermal Compound to the mix. I have always been able to just twist off the ramsinks using this mixture. The one time I used only the AS Thermal Adhesive Parts A & B I had to use a razor blade being very careful to stay up against the bottom of the heat sink(s) to remove them. It was a PIA but they did come off. It was after this I decided to add the equal part of AS Thermal Compound to the mix. Makes it alot easier to remove ram sinks.

Thanks Quazi! I'll try that if I do attempt to remove them.

[lowboy]

Another vote in the future for mixing AS epoxy and AS5 works great at 50/50 or even a little more of the AS5 and can be removed with no problems. Good luck!

[sson74]

i freeze the sinks with the liquid from air spray and slide a razor in between. Those epoxies weaken when cold.

[vladimir]

i freeze the sinks with the liquid from air spray and slide a razor in between. Those epoxies weaken when cold.

I was just gonna say that I remember the advice of trying to remove the heatsink from a Geforce4 vid card which was to put the card in a zip lock freezer bag removing all possible air, sticking the card in the freezer for a couple of hours. The heat sink popped off with the slightest twist of a plastic card under the sink.

[InTheFlow]

Sounds like cold might be the way to go. Thanks for the help guys!

[Marci]

Yep. Cold will give more success than heat... Vladimir's advice is sound, tested and proven across the ages (so to speak)

[InTheFlow]

Well, I got them off without killing the board...

I tried cold first using the upside down compressed air idea. This didn't work for me at all. They just would not budge. In fact, when attempting to get them off after freezing them, it was still so securely attached that the fin of the heatsink bent! That freaked me out so I tried the heat idea.

I set my heat gun to the 1250 degree setting and aimed it at just the heatsinks. (At an angle so that most of the extra heat didn't hit the board directly.). It made the adhesive a sticky sort of 'goo' and then they fell off with a slight nudge. It also made the card hot as hell so I used the can of air to cool it down in two steps. First using the regular air and second by turning it upside down to get the liquid to cool it further.

There was still epoxy residue left on the chips and I tried using Arctic Clean to get it off. That didn't work at all. I then called the Arctic Silver people and spoke with a fella who said that I could use some MEK (methyl eple keytone or something) solution to dissolve the epoxy. He added that it was very noxious stuff and that it could melt the circuit board. I had never heard of the stuff but he said I could pick it up at any hardware store.

Well, I happened to have some "OOPS" brand all purpose remover and decided to try that before going to the store to buy stuff that could melt my flesh. It was difficult to remove, but it did come off. The cards were back to factory settings and shipped back yesterday!

I also found out by talking with the guy from AS that they have heard of people freezing the card for a couple of hours and then using the upside down air can to make it even colder. I didn't do that so the cold idea may have worked had I done so.

Thanks again for the help.

[XS Janus]

Maybe cooling the epoxied IHS will also work better then??

[InTheFlow]

Maybe cooling the epoxied IHS will also work better then??

I never thought about trying this with a CPU's IHS...interesting idea if you can stomach the risk.

[Shpoon]

P.S. I have a 7900 series card too, I just use cremique because it's a little tacky, stil the heatsink on there and point a 40mm fan at it.

[irev210]

the problem with removal is many people try to pry instead of twist

If you pry, you are putting all the stress on only 3 or 4 balls. If you twist, you are putting stress on all the balls.