Help with taking off CPU cooler

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LOLonPC

LOLonPC

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Jun 11, 2016
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So, today I wanted to go out and buy an FX 6300. I know it's nothing special, but it's a big upgrade from a Phenom II X4 850 that's 7 years old. The problem is the cooler and heatsink won't come off and I don't know how to get them off. I took some pictures. Please help if it's possible.
http://imgur.com/a/MGoiZ (the album where the pics are)
 
Solution
L
It's am3, so it has a retaining bar across the CPU socket, one of the sides would have a release lever or mechanism to unlock the cooler from the motherboard.
Problem with this is that quite often, the thermal paste has cured enough to act as a glue, making the cooler stick to the CPU.
Twisting the cooler slightly in clockwise or counter clockwise direction usually breaks this bond, allowing you to pull the cooler out without risking damage to cpu pins.

so:
1. find the cooler retaining latch. (it is quite likely visible on all but 1st picture
2. unlock latch, make sure that the cooler is no longer locked on the MB (there are those white plastic locking tabs through MB on 2-5th picture that might require you to take off the whole MB to...
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little_me

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May 9, 2015
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It's am3, so it has a retaining bar across the CPU socket, one of the sides would have a release lever or mechanism to unlock the cooler from the motherboard.
Problem with this is that quite often, the thermal paste has cured enough to act as a glue, making the cooler stick to the CPU.
Twisting the cooler slightly in clockwise or counter clockwise direction usually breaks this bond, allowing you to pull the cooler out without risking damage to cpu pins.

so:
1. find the cooler retaining latch. (it is quite likely visible on all but 1st picture
2. unlock latch, make sure that the cooler is no longer locked on the MB (there are those white plastic locking tabs through MB on 2-5th picture that might require you to take off the whole MB to get them out.)
3. twist the cooler a bit to break the thermal paste bond
4. pull cooler out

see point 2 about possible extra locking pins, twisting cooler while they are still in place is a bad idea.
 
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Solution
LOLonPC

LOLonPC

Honorable
Jun 11, 2016
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10,530


Thank you so much for answering. How does the cooler retaining latch look like? Also what can I do if the thermal paste won't break off with just twisting it? Sorry for asking so much, but I'm nothing close to a computer hardware specialist. :)

 
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little_me

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May 9, 2015
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the latch should look a bit like lever, and I think it is visible in the 2nd, 4th and 5th picture.
It's bright metal, it's between the cooler and your GPU
It should turn up and towards back of the case from it's current orientation (I think up to 90 degrees or so)

If the paste wont twist off.. you have a BIG chance (98% or more) of pulling CPU off along with the cooler. This is not world ending disaster though since you are replacing it anyway. (it should not break the socket in any way even if pulled off and even if pin or two accidentally bends, it (old CPU) is going to be replaced anyway)

 
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