A Noob's Guide to Heatspreader Removal

Okay, well, I just removed mine, and I see lots of people asking on how to remove heatspreaders. So here goes...

Materials:
Razor Blade or equivalent
Thin Slotted Screwdriver
Goof Off, High purity alcohol, ArctiClean or mineral spirits


To start, get your ram a little warm. Run Memtest86 or Prime95 to warm up your RAM. Now, after about 15-30 minutes of warming up your ram, shut down your computer, and pull out the ram...

First thing's first, stick the razor blade under the spring clips holding the heatspreaders together (I have heard that some RAM doesn't have spring clips). Now, lift it a bit up, and then take the screwdriver, stick it under the spring clip(Picture 2), and push on the clip until it pops off (Picture 3). Do the same for the other clip.

Now, if you have a single sided ram stick, get the razor blade under the side WITHOUT the ram chips (this can be identified by looking at the side of the ram, and then whichever side has thicker adhesive, is the non-chip side). If you have DS RAM (double sided), just do the same, but DON'T be as aggressive, as you may damage a RAM chip or a resistor.

Push the razor through the adhesive a bit at the corner (stick the razor between the heatspreader and the adhesive, not the PCB and the adhesive), then do the same all the way down the length of the ram. Do this until you can get the heatspreader off of the ram stick with your fingers (Picture 4). It should look kind of like a sandwich, with the RAM stick on the bottom part of the heatspreader, and the top part being what you just cut the adhesive off of.

Now comes the tricky part. Do the same for the other side of the ram stick. Now, see if you can pull off the heatspreader with your hands only. If you can't, get a little help from your friend, Mr. Screwdriver . Pry the heatspreader off gently until you can just rip it off of the ram.

Now, clean up the ram, and wait for it to dry.

Stick it in, and now you have heatspreader-free ram.

Only attempt this if you have an expired warranty, or if you just don't care .

Heatspreader
Removing the Clips
Clip Removed
Heatspreader Opened


Note: These pictures were taken AFTER I removed the heatspreaders off of my HyperX. They were as close to the process as I remember. On the opened heatspreader picture (the last one), imagine the ram stick being on the bottom heatpsreader, and the adhesive residue on the top heatspreader.

Have Fun!


Thanks go out to:
-Spion, for mentioning that some ram doesn't have spring clips.
-The "Heatspreaders: On or Off" Poll/Thread, for showing me that RAM is better off without heatspreaders, and for motivating me to actually remove mine.

It works

Nice guide. Putting the memory in the freezer should also make the adhesive brittle which could help if heat doesn't work. I've always used that for Arctic Alumina adhesive.

Another way to get off those darn heatspreaders. If it works then go for it. There has to be at least three different ways to get those things off.

some heatspreaders have a non spring clip on them. be sure to include that

GUIDE UPDATED

Pics added, and non-spring clip info added,
Thanks to Spion