ahhh... clip on volcano II, what do i do?

[Tambo]

just yesterday, i figured that if i'm not going to buy a new hsf i can at least waste a bit of time and lap this one and put in bird crap thermal compound instead of the pad, like i should've done last time. well, i've never taken a heatsink OFF before, but i don't think it should be this difficult. is there something i'm missing? after slipping w/ the screwdriver 50 times, i finally was able to depress the clip to where i could see it moving downwards vertically from the socket lug. only thing is, there was NO horizontal give. i could get it down all the way vertically, but i wasn't even able to pry it away from the side so that it would come off. is there something blatantly obvious that i'm missing or are these clips just a *****? either way, is there any advice you guys could give to a newbie at heatsink-taking-offing? thanks a lot in advance.

mark

 

[cjtune]

Hmmm, your experience reminds me of the time I had to help a friend remove a Thermaltake chrome orb from his mobo. What I did was to push (gently!) the entire HS horizontally towards the clip where you can get some freeplay but won't snap out. Before this, my friend was racking his brains over how to remove that crap orb for a whole night.

 

[cjtune]

Eh, let me repeat that again:
1. Depress the clip and hold it down.
2. Push the HS so it slides horizontally (not possible if you epoxies it to the CPU) towards that clip (and away from the PSU).
3. If there's a tiny "AIEEE!!" coming from your CPU, I'm not responsible...

 

[sgt. york]

First, I always remove my MB when changing the heatsink (only takes 6-10 minutes) this allows me more room to work and provides a flat solid surface to lay the board on. When I remove any heatsink I use both hands, I press down on the clip with a flat-head until the clip is low enough to clear the tab then with my free hand I use a small blade screwdriver to move the bottom of the clip free of the tab. Real easy to do and haven't broke a chip yet.

 

[Tambo]

yeah, i made sure to take the mobo off. i have a removable tray so i'd be pretty hard headed to leave it on. it's not worth risking all that pain and all that extra time just for a few mins less effort. and i guess i was mostly on the right track, just have to keep at it. thanks a lot to both of you for your quick replies.

 

[guppie]

Tambo, have you gotten any performance increase from applying thermal paste instead of the thermal pad? I also have the Volcano II and I went to Radio Shack and bought some thermal compound... I haven't taken the hsf off yet, but good thing I read this post!

 

[CrystalMethod]

guppie (Jul 14, 2001 11:55 a.m.):
Tambo, have you gotten any performance increase from applying thermal paste instead of the thermal pad? I also have the Volcano II and I went to Radio Shack and bought some thermal compound... I haven't taken the hsf off yet, but good thing I read this post!

I think pretty much all of us here take off the thermal pad as soon as we get the HS's home. I got a 7°C drop in temperature just by using termal paste, instead of the pad.

 

[Tambo]

sorry guppie, but i really couldn't tell ya. i saw the gladiator w/ delta for 20 bux and as2 for 5 and i said what the hell, so i took the volcano off. when you do get it off though, i hope you find some good results. best of luck to ya.

guppie (Jul 14, 2001 11:55 a.m.):
Tambo, have you gotten any performance increase from applying thermal paste instead of the thermal pad? I also have the Volcano II and I went to Radio Shack and bought some thermal compound... I haven't taken the hsf off yet, but good thing I read this post!

 

[guppie]

Tambo, what type CPU and mobo you have? If simialr, I'm interested in what your temps are idle and load. Could you please post them? Also, I hear ya on the mediocre clip for the Volcano II. However, I really didn't have too much trouble with it lastnight. Definitely have to have the mobo out of case! Oh yeah, that thermal pad is garbage... I did clean it off with nail polish remover and then alcohol like you people have metioned - worked like a charm! now I need my new case/psu.

 

[Tambo]

i'm running a tbird 900 200fsb on an msi k7t turbo board. the chip is clocked to 112x9.5=1064, but hopefully that fsb will be higher once i get my new hdd. the only factor left is the hard drive as the fsb bottleneck, if not then it's gotta be the chip. i've got the gladiator w/ delta 38 and it keeps the chip at 36c idle, 40c full load according to mbm5. it's unlapped, btw. granted, i probably could've gotten similar results w/ the volcano if i had used decent thermal compound and taken the time to lap it and/or slap on a better fan, but it's easier to justify 30 bux on a better hsf that i don't really need. take care, and good luck.

mark

guppie (Jul 15, 2001 12:22 p.m.):
Tambo, what type CPU and mobo you have? If simialr, I'm interested in what your temps are idle and load. Could you please post them? Also, I hear ya on the mediocre clip for the Volcano II. However, I really didn't have too much trouble with it lastnight. Definitely have to have the mobo out of case! Oh yeah, that thermal pad is garbage... I did clean it off with nail polish remover and then alcohol like you people have metioned - worked like a charm! now I need my new case/psu.