Getting rid of the fan on 8500DV

[Twinkletoes]

I now have a Shuttle PC which means my Radeon AIW 8500DV is installed right
up against the side of the case. I want to get rid of the fan and put on a
bigger heatsink.

a) How do I lift the heatsink off the chip?
b) Is the Zalman VGA cooler too large or is there a slimmer solution?

Thanks,
Steve

 

[J. Clarke]

I now have a Shuttle PC which means my Radeon AIW 8500DV is installed
right
up against the side of the case. I want to get rid of the fan and put on
a bigger heatsink.

a) How do I lift the heatsink off the chip?
b) Is the Zalman VGA cooler too large or is there a slimmer solution?

I've seen considerable discussion of this but I don't recall now if it was
at <http://www.rage3d.com>, <http://www.avsforum.com>, or
<http://www.silentpcreview.com>. Bottom line is that you have to pry it
off, breaking an adhesive bond, and that some folks advocate either heating
it with a hair dryer or freezing it first, but others have just stuck a
screwdriver under it and pried with good results. I don't recall how they
recommend removing the remaining adhesive. Once removed, though, the
Zalman heat-pipe rigs won't work--they require holes in the board--you need
a large chipset heatsink that you bond on--arctic silver has a thermal
epoxy made specifically for this purpose.

When you say that the 8500DV is "right up agains the side of the case, do
you mean that the side with the heat sink is right up against the side of
the case? If so, I'd be concerned about clearance for any larger heat sink
and about it getting adequate airflow.

 

[Shawn M. Winnie]

I now have a Shuttle PC which means my Radeon AIW 8500DV is installed right
up against the side of the case. I want to get rid of the fan and put on a
bigger heatsink.

a) How do I lift the heatsink off the chip?
b) Is the Zalman VGA cooler too large or is there a slimmer solution?

Before you start - does the 8500DV have the two diagonally-opposed
mounting holes around the GPU for a heatsink?

 

[scribme]

If it has thermal adhesive you need to "pop" it off. Put it in a
freezer for about an hour. You want to get the thermal adhesive
brittle cold. Put down a piece of plastic large enough to protect the
pcb near the topside of your heatsink. Carefully pry the heatsink off
the heatspreader of the VPE with a large flat bladed screw driver or a
butter knife. It is a sphincter tightening exercise, but I have never
had it fail.

If it is just held down with pins, you poke the bottom spreader pin
back up into the main body pin. You then extract the main body pin
along with the entire assembly. Much less heart-stopping.

L8r,
Em