Surely there's a way to remove Arctic Alumina?

Hey all,
I titled this thread as is because i've attached 8 ramsinks to my Radeon 9800 Pro using Arctic Alumina Thermal Adhesive, and i've applied too much, because there's a small amount of adhesive spilling from each side of each ramsink.
Also, they're only warm as opposed to hot/red hot, seeing as you can barely touch the ram chips with no ramsinks, without getting 3rd degree burns.
I know things attached together with Alumina are likely to stay so forever, but surely there's a way to seperate them? I want to redo the ramsinks.
Thanks.

I've always heard you can put it in the freezer and then pull it off after it freezes.

Since arctic alumina is not a good conductor, a little spillage won't hurt anything. The main thing is that there is good flat contact between the two surfaces. If there is, I wouldn't chance ripping those off. If you are getting a good overclock and are pleased with the performance I would leave them alone.

Sometimes it is recommended to put the card in a moisture tight static resistant bag and then in the freezer.

Once solidly frozen and the AA is more brittle, take the card out and immediately attempt to remove the sinks. A horizontal twisting motion is best - pull straight up/apply vertical force as little as possible.

I strongly recommend just leaving the heatsinks as they are. The risk of damage is too high. Most people who have successfully removed 'glued on' heatsinks applied a mixture of epoxy and thermal grease.

The fact that the heatsinks are only 'warm' just indicates that they are doing their job.

yup the heatsinks should just be warm. Also dont chance ripping off the ramsinks to maybe gain a few more mhz out of the ram.....ill almost bet you will rip the ram right off the pcb if you try to pull straight off....and if you twist you might fair a bit better...but still leave those suckers on.

I have used Arctic Alumina Adhesive on quite a few things, and I suggest you don't even try to get the heatsinks off. Once it has cured it is very strong, and you risk wrecking whatever it is attached to.

In the future dilute the Arctic Alumina Adhesive so the bond can be broken easier. I think you can dilute it with Arctic Alumina thermal compound. I think the ratio is but don't hold me to it;

1 Part Arctic Alumina Compound

1/2 Part A Arctic Alumina Adhesive

1/2 Part B Arctic Alumina Adhesive

Anit-Static bag and freezer works the best.
removed GLUE of many IC's like that without problems.

You can twist like what IMOG said, or you can get a razor and cut/pry the adheasive off aswell.

Thanks for all your input.
I think i'll leave them so, wasn't too intent on scraping excess Alumina of the ram chips anyways.

I definitely agree with leaving them alone if you did not mix the epoxy with thermal compound.

I learned the hard way 2 years ago, ripping off 2 ram modules from a GF3.

in the future, mix it like crull said, and put sticky tape over the ram legs (asuming they are not BGA ram, and have legs), then apply the epoxy/thermal compound mixture.

after you attach the ramsinks, wait a few minutes, then strip the sticky tape off. at this stage the epoxy is mostly cured so no more will spill out the edges, but also not too solid for you to peel off.

Cool, thanks.

voodoomelon said:

Thanks for all your input.
I think i'll leave them so, wasn't too intent on scraping excess Alumina of the ram chips anyways.

Click to expand...

I have never used any diluted Arctic Alumina adhesive, but I wanted the diluted recipe because I know how strong the stuff is. I have ripped off ram from a video card that I didn't want anymore, and it basically ripped the chips right off. Can't imagine what it would do to BGA ram. You might be able to break the bond by the freezer method, but thats very very risky.

Arctic Silver Adhesive is better then the Alumina, but its harder to use in my opinion. It takes longer for it to cure, and the components tend to slide around too much as its curing so I like the Arctic Alumina. It can also cause problems with electrical shorts. If you do decide to use the Silver Adhesive use tape like shiyan said or you can even use some of the Alumina adhesive to coat the pins of the ram then use the silver adhesive to attach the heatsinks. Silicon also works but takes too long to dry.