Removing a bonded heatsink

If you want to place a bigger HSF on your video card or would like to put a bigger heatsink on and run it fanless, you will need to remove the factory heatsink. Many of these heatsinks are bonded on and need to be removed in a manner that will not damage the card.

I epoxied a stock ATi HSF on to my Rage 128 to show how this is done. There is a small gap between the HSF and circuit board. Here is the mounted HSF from a different angle. Step 1: Slide a CD or credit card into the gap between the GPU and PCB. Step 2: Slip a flat blade screwdriver between the CD and heatsink. Step 3: Twist the screwdriver untill the heatsink pops off. Your GPU will have some epoxy left on it after the HSF is removed. Step 4: CAREFULLY scrape the extra epoxy off with an xacto knife or razor ... Step 5: Apply your new heatsink to your clean GPU with Frag Tape or epoxy.