Quote Originally Posted by Eastcoasthandle View Post
It's not heat that loosens the thermal compound found on this motherboard but cold temperatures. Once the board was chilled for 3 hours the north/south bridge heat sinks popped right off without any real force. I offer this advice as a possible solution for removing difficult north/south bridge heat sinks do to the type of thermal compound used. Below are some pics I took to show what the TC, heatsinks and chipset looks like after removal.
Just for the beginners: condensation could kill the board, so be carefull. Also, I won't be surprised if later you can get some oxydation on valuable components with such a process. Heat is more "physiological", as the board heats up on load. But, good idea for a really recalcitrant heatsink (anyhow, a really good heating would do it in all cases, just could need time)