PIII Heatsink Installation Question ...

[Koooler King]

I have a slot 1 SECC2 PIII cpu, and it has an OEM style heatsink held on with plastic clips that go through the cpu board and back plate. I want to remove the heat sink and re-grease it with Arctic Silver, and hopefully reuse the plastic clips. This may seem like a dumb question, but I can't figure out how to remove the heat sink clips without breaking them ... is there some trick as how to push, pull, or twist them so these things can be removed without breaking or damaging the back cpu cover? If they do have to be broken, any recommendations for replacement clips or fasteners (short of buying a new heat sink). Thanks for any insight.

Koooler King

[jazztrumpet216]

Generally you have to bust the clips to get the thing off. BUT- there is a way to do it that you SHOULD be able to get them off without damaging them, HOWEVER, I don't know if they can be reused.

Here it is:

1) Take a normal case screw, and put it down on a hard surface, with the head facing down so the threaded part is sticking up.

2) Line up one of the holes on the bottom of your processor with this screw, then force the processor down on the screw until the plastic thing pops out. Remember to apply pressure to the SIDES of the CPU so you don't crush the core with the heatsink. You may need to unscrew the screw with a screwdriver to get it out of the hole on the processor, depending on the size screw you use.

3) Repeat with the other 3 holes to release the two plastic brackets.

As I said, this may or may not let you use the brackets again. When I took it off (back when I had a slot 1 mobo), I just took a pair of pliers and ripped those things off, a method I wouldn't consider doing if I were you, because it is dangerous.

[Pinky]

PITA, that's what SECC2 are :p

The above methoid should work, I've removed them, but it's not easy and there's a risk of damaging something... this is why people with those motherboards use socket adapters and FCPGA chips instead.

[muddocktor]

That method works. I did it with the retail hsf that came on a slot 1 P3 1000E proc I used to have and it worked great, didn't even damage the mounting pins that you are driving out. As a matter of fact, I re-mounted the retail hsf with those same pins when I sold the proc and they were holding the hsf nice and tight.

[Koooler King]

Thanks, it worked like a charm and I could reuse the plastic retainers when done! The only thing I did differently was use a round pin rather than a screw to minimize the chance of it getting stuck in the back plate hole.

If I had to do it again, however, I would make up some kind of support frame to hold the board edges (so no pressue on the chip case) and slowly squeeze the plastic retainers out using a bench vice to drive the pin. When doing it by hand, it takes a bit of force, then it suddenly snaps when it lets go. I could envision damaging something if you slip.

Koooler King

[macsout]

I used wire ties to hold the hsf together on my PIII 500 slot 1....It's still working fine and i can o/c it to 620 with no problem

[Pecos]

I was going to say once you got them out and if they did not lock when put back together, you could use a soldering iron to kinda melt the plastic (just a little) into something that would hold.

Luckily, you didn't need to!