How to remove heatsink from Atom motherboard ?

Snow-Munki · 7 Sep 2009 at 13:49

Hi,

Just bought the Intel Little Falls 2 motherboard and looking into replacing the northbridge heatsink / fan as i've been told it can be very loud.

Looking at various sites like http://www.davewsmith.com/blog/?p=179 thye say to remove the original heatsink.

I have just tried but just doesn't want to budge. It is attached by two hooks and nothing has worked, any ideas ?

Thanks,

PistolPete · 7 Sep 2009 at 14:05

It's probably get thermal adhesive on it, not thermal paste/grease.
I'd be tempted to get a razor blade and start working my way in from the corners, giving it a little twist with a flat bladed screwdriver covered with a small bit of cloth to protect the board.
Be slow and gentle, but it'll eventually come off.

Snow-Munki · 7 Sep 2009 at 14:12

ah sorry bad at explaining... the whole heatsink moves quite easily.

Just the metal clips are holding it in place.

http://www.upgraderguides.com/igal.image.php?type=hires&photo=748

The one with the fan, it uses hook type things to attach itself to the motherboard. When I press the clips down there is no space for hooks to be undone...

shadowscotland · 7 Sep 2009 at 14:57

long nose plyers - and twist the hook as you press down.
that or just cut the wire if your never going to use it / resell it

AtreuS · 7 Sep 2009 at 15:45

As above but make sure you are doing it on a flat surface and have a good grip. One wrong slip and you can easily bash the pliers into the circuit board and damage something

( not that ive ever done that ) *whistles*

Col_M · 7 Sep 2009 at 16:22

On mine all I did was removed the fan and then replaced it with this.

Yes it's a 20mm fan instead of the 10mm one that's installed but I just put it on top of the heatsink instead of in the slot the old one went in. Cools well enough and is very quiet.

Snow-Munki · 7 Sep 2009 at 17:31

thanks, i'm tempted to just stick a huge 80mm fan so it cools the entire board / cpu.

Going to monitor the temp over the next few days first, only got it today

Nowhere as noisy as I thought it might be though....

PermaBanned · 7 Sep 2009 at 18:23

Would it be possible to add different heatsinks? With something like a TRUE you could easily run passive, but the mounting wouldn't work and you'd have to cool the NB as well.