Removing Heatspreader from Celeron A

I was thinking about removing the Heatspreader from my Tualatin Celeron. Has anybody done this around here, and with what results..

-=UR=- Ranger said:

I was thinking about removing the Heatspreader from my Tualatin Celeron. Has anybody done this around here, and with what results..

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I havent done it to the celey, but i did for the northy. It didnt help me, but i think it may have helped a couple of people. try searching the forum for removed heat spreaders. this is my thread about me removing my IHS.
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=111191
GL to u if u do remove it.

Yeah.... I agree with AZN, there is no guarantee of hitting higher overclocking results without IHS installed. Less heat maybe, but not more MHz.

My suggestions: don't remove the IHS. It may crack-up when you installed the heat sink due to pressure. A cracked core means " bye-bye cpu" or "new intel keychain".

If you think the IHS doesn't touch the core properly, or the amount of Artic Silver between IHS and the core is too little, then you are "sick". I believe Intel have very high standards of manufacturing process.

For your reference, My Intel Celeron 1A @1450MHz is completely stable at 1.525Volts with 45C under full loads. The HSF is generic HSF made by CoolerMaster. The system temp. is 42C.

I'm going to disagree with that. There is a theory going around the forums that the crappy thermal interface compound Intel uses in the heatspreaders solidifies after enough time at high speeds/high temps. Removing it will help stabiliy in the long run, though it might not help your overclock.

Yes, that's my theory.

I removed the heatspreader of my Celeron 1GHz A last weekend and attached a copper spacer to the CPU using Arctic Alumina Adhesive. Then I lapped it alltogether until it was nearly perfectly flat(CPU die and copper spacer had the same height). Afterwards I thought it might be a good idea to also lap my AX-7.

All in all, I can't really say if it was worth it. I didn't get any temp. drop and couldn't overclock higher, but I think that I'm already running the system at its limit(undervolted, not clocked to the max and fans also undervolted --> could be the reason why the temp didn't get any lower than 35°C, it could already be a the minimum attainable CPU temp at this particular ambient temp.).
Although I have to mention that intel's thermal interface material was already quiet dry, as I had expected it to be. Very thick and quite hard.

I think you'll have to decide yourself if it's worth it for you.

Regards

Ingo

jazztrumpet216 said:

I'm going to disagree with that. There is a theory going around the forums that the crappy thermal interface compound Intel uses in the heatspreaders solidifies after enough time at high speeds/high temps. Removing it will help stabiliy in the long run, though it might not help your overclock.

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this is something i will agree with. Intel does use some crappy stuff in there. If u want u can remove the IHS then put alittle AS3 in place of that junk and put the IHS back on. I might just do that. BTW. it seems to be very durable. I dont think i will crack the core, but then again u never know. This 1.8a may very well be my first victim or casualty of OCing.

1 thing i will add about the IHS. If for some reason u dont have good contact with the HS then the IHS will be a protection for that bare core. Itself is a small HS so u will get luckier if for some strange reason the HSF fell off or wasnt in good contact. 1 time my volcano 7+ was only touching the edge... I mean about 5% contact of the HS was touching the IHS so i bet had the IHS not been there, the core might be toast. Just a thought for the people that want to remove it.

Yep, you can put some AS3 in there and use some epoxy to get the thing back on and voila, better than new.

if you ever plan on removing the IHS, MAKE SURE you have a shim that will be the same height as the core. I killed my 1.2 because the shim I made was too high and the chip went up in smoke when I booted into Windows.

If you're asking to get the lowest possible temperature, by all means, give it a shot.

Bonka said:

if you ever plan on removing the IHS, MAKE SURE you have a shim that will be the same height as the core. I killed my 1.2 because the shim I made was too high and the chip went up in smoke when I booted into Windows.

If you're asking to get the lowest possible temperature, by all means, give it a shot.

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if ur heat sink wasnt even thouching the core at all, I surprised u got past post. and to boot all the way in windows is a real shocker. that PC should have powered off during post at those temps. I did that once to a AMD. Silly me forgot to put the HSF on. I dont know what i was thinking, working to fast i guess. Well anyways it posted and immeadiately turned off. I wonder what happend so i looked at the board, and to my surprise no HSF... Lucky for me the chip was fine, no damage at all. even to this day it still works
I have never made a silly mistake like that again, but im sure i will do something silly in the future. lets hope i get lucky a 2nd time

Ok ,thanx guys I think I will give it a try. I don't think it will hurt and perhaps it will help the temps a bit.

Would I need a shim at all with a Intel CPU?
I thought about just putting on those little rubber pads you do also find on AMD's and that's it.
Or are those Intels even more fragile than AMD's?