Separation Anxiety: Processor & Heatsink

[kenjimurasame]

Hi All,
My question is about thermal compound and processors.
I built my system in March of 2006. Here are the specs:

2.0 GHz Athlon 64 Venice
Asus A8N nForce Ultra
1 GB DDR2 (Corsair)
80 GB Western Digital Caviar
eVGA 6600GT
NEC 16X DVD-R

System runs fine, no problems, but lacks the speed to power through newer applications.
I bought my processor when it was new, but not at the top of the charts. I’d like to upgrade, but I don’t want to throw away a perfectly good processor.

I’m planning on giving it to a friend, but they want to use a different cooling system than the stock heatsink/fan currently attached. I used a bit of Arctic Silver 5 when I attached the heatsink, and I was careful not to use too much. Now, I’m worried about what will happen when it’s time to separate them.

How strong has the bond between the heatsink/processor become?
Can they be separated?
Is there a safe way to separate them?
Is there a solvent that can help the separation that won’t damage the processor?
If they can be separated, is there a good way to remove the remaining compound off the processor?
Are there special tools that I should use? Guessing that hammer/screwdriver is not the way to go.

Would appreciate any help or advice.
Thanks.

 

[s70fan]

The arctic silver bond is not very strong.

Remove the screws that fasten the clamps that hold the heatsink to the CPU.

Now, GENTLY twist the heatsink. It will come free from the CPU.

Now you need ArcticCLEAN part 1, thermal material remover and part 2, thermal surface purifier to clean and reuse both the heatsink and the CPU.

And some more Arctic silver or other thermal paste.

Arctic silver is very over-rated.

 

[dmill89]

1. make sure all clamps are free.
2. twist the heatsink back and forth untill the seal breaks(you'll know when this happens as the heatsink will come off freely). Do not pull straight up this may yank the cpu out of the socket.
3. I find the best solvent to use is acetone. 99% isoproponol also works.(do this while the cpu is in the socket to avoid getting compound on the pins)
4. You can now remove the cpu.