Freezer trick or card cooler?

The heatsink on my video card is apparently attached with some sort of thermal epoxy, because there are no clips holding it down. When I first got it, I didn't care, but now it has become an issue. The fan is dying. Actually, the only thing keeping it from being called "dead" is the fact that it's still moving. To keep playing games without stability problems, I have to either underclock the video card or use another fan to blow onto it.

As I understand it, taking an epoxied heatsink off involves putting the card in the freezer, then twisting it off. The thing that bothers me is what if some of the stuff remains on the chip? Isn't that a problem? Or will that just not happen? There's also the horror stories, but I think I can be careful.

The alternative is to leave the heatsink on, and get some sort of card cooler to blow air onto the heatsink, to make up for the lack of airflow from the soon-to-be-dead fan.


So I'm looking for suggestions on which is the better way to go..
Thanks in advance for any replies

Well you prob dont want to kill your GF4, I wouldnt really reccomend the freezer trick, to many horror stories. If you still want to try it, after you take it out of the freezer get a can of compressed air, hold it upside down, and spray it on the heatsink before you try and remove it. Be careful, the can will be spraying liquid and it gets VERY cold so watch your fingers.

I had the same problem with my old gf2. I did the freezer thing and then I was able to pry it off with a screw driver. BUT you have to use a piece of plasict like old credit card to put between the main board of the card and the screw driver head. I just scraped the remaining adhesive off with razor blade and washed of with rubbing alcohol.

The freezer trick is fine as long as you use proper anti static procedures.

I would twist rather than pry the heatsink off. Done it many times without a problem. To get the rest of the epoxy off a straightedge screwdriver works, or an exacto knife. Then clean the small stuff carefully with alcohol or sandpaper.

i just created a thread on this right hurrr yeah the freezer trick worked for me, u just need an anti-static bag, seal it tight then stick it in the freezer for about 2-3 hours, the epoxy will be pretty brittle by then, then all u gotta do it pry it off with a wide flat head screw-driver, but first put some sort of a plastic card between the pcb and the heatsink (library card, used gift card, old credit card...so on) then wedge the screw driver between the card and heatsink, use a twisting motion on the screwdriver, and the heatsink should pop right off, i know this works, i just did this yesterday...and it should work on all epoxies, i used AS alumina adhesive and that stuff is strong, i used so much that a lot of it was just overflowing on the sides and almost went onto the pcb

I have the same problem with a gainward gf4 ti 4200. I took out the pins holding the heatsink on, but it was still stuck on hard. It is not that the fan is weak, but the heatsink is little more than a thin piece of aluminum with a fan on it. It is so crappy I am surprised the card is still alive. Holding my finger too close to it almost burns, let alone touching it. It is like waving your finger through a candle flame; just one second more and you're burned.

that happened to me once. i ripped the old fan off and used some sort of glue to glue a new fan on. easy as cake. the new fan was better too. so the card ran cooler.

when i had to take my heatsink off i didnt even use the freezer. i just got a wash cloth and used brute strength and tore it off.

Freezer trick worked fine for my ti4600. I got it off with my student id, i didnt even use a screwdriver. I also lapped it to make sure all the stuff was off, and to make it flat (it was very concave, and at first the center didnt even make contact with the waterblock with a thin layer of as5, which I discovered when it started crashing.

-Noah

Freezer trick worked fine for my NF7-S northbridge. The NB looks about the same as a G4 ti core, roughly. Should work fine for that too.

Wow, there are lots more pro-freezer people here than I thought.

I actually already headed over to Newegg yesterday and ordered a card cooler, because I couldn't wait, and the card cooler would've at least been the easiest solution.

But now I see that the heatsink shouldn't be all that hard to remove. The card cooler already shipped, so I'm gonna see how that works. After that, I may still get a new heatsink for the video card if the cooler isn't good enough for whatever reason.

This sounds good, cause I'm going to get a VGA Silencer pretty soon to go with my SP97 I'm getting even sooner.