Athlon 64 stock cooler--do I have to blast it off?

[PJL]

Putting together Athlon 64 3700 Slot 939 system. Installed CPU cooler/fan
that came with processor. Then decided that I wanted to use a bigger
Thermaltake Venus 12 cooler I have. Only problem: I can't seem to get the
stock fan/cooler unclipped from the motherboard. It only uses one clip on
each side, unlike the Thermaltake, which uses three on each side. I have
put all the pressure that I dare to in trying to unclip it, and I am
terrified of cracking the processor. Is there some trick to removing this
bad boy that I am missing? And anyway, can I live with the stock
fan/cooler? I will not be overclocking, and machine will be used for pretty
normal stuff, and only light gaming (like The Sims2, etc.) Any advice is
welcome, while I have the thing opened up and not yet put into service.
Thanks!!

 

[Chris Hill]

Putting together Athlon 64 3700 Slot 939 system. Installed CPU cooler/fan
that came with processor. Then decided that I wanted to use a bigger
Thermaltake Venus 12 cooler I have. Only problem: I can't seem to get the
stock fan/cooler unclipped from the motherboard. It only uses one clip on
each side, unlike the Thermaltake, which uses three on each side. I have
put all the pressure that I dare to in trying to unclip it, and I am
terrified of cracking the processor. Is there some trick to removing this
bad boy that I am missing? And anyway, can I live with the stock
fan/cooler? I will not be overclocking, and machine will be used for pretty
normal stuff, and only light gaming (like The Sims2, etc.) Any advice is
welcome, while I have the thing opened up and not yet put into service.

Stock cooler is fine on my 3200, with the cool and quite driver it
isn't even very noisy.

 

[Conor]

Putting together Athlon 64 3700 Slot 939 system. Installed CPU cooler/fan
that came with processor. Then decided that I wanted to use a bigger
Thermaltake Venus 12 cooler I have. Only problem: I can't seem to get the
stock fan/cooler unclipped from the motherboard. It only uses one clip on
each side, unlike the Thermaltake, which uses three on each side. I have
put all the pressure that I dare to in trying to unclip it, and I am
terrified of cracking the processor. Is there some trick to removing this
bad boy that I am missing? And anyway, can I live with the stock
fan/cooler? I will not be overclocking, and machine will be used for pretty
normal stuff, and only light gaming (like The Sims2, etc.) Any advice is
welcome, while I have the thing opened up and not yet put into service.
Thanks!!

Just use the stock cooler. I'm using it on my 3500 O/C to 3800 and
temps aren't an issue.