I use compressed air cans, flip them upside down in a ventilated area and freeze the hell out of the heat sink, 90% of the time the epoxy will break on its own but a gentle twist usually breaks it. You can then chip the remaining epoxy off while its still frozen or you can use another method to remove it. I know ISO will eventually dissolve it with a little elbow grease, but Acetone should also work.

Acetone shouldn't hurt a ceramic CPU, one of them plastic fiber ones might fair differently but you can test that before you do it to see if the plastic is damaged by Acetone.

One of the chips is a Pentium MMX 233, so plastic body.

I might try the freezing method first and see how that works. Seems like it might be a quicker method than trying to use acetone.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-03-06, 01:09:

One of the chips is a Pentium MMX 233, so plastic body.

I might try the freezing method first and see how that works. Seems like it might be a quicker method than trying to use acetone.

Just be sure to not hit the CPU itself, that's no bueno 😁

Really concise video of glued heatsink removal on a Voodoo 5:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hB4jOCHLHc

There are other videos if you look, but the process is the same, replace 'freeze spray' with upside down compressed air as needed.

zandengoff wrote on 2023-03-06, 03:09:

Really concise video of glued heatsink removal on a Voodoo 5:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hB4jOCHLHc

There are other videos if you look, but the process is the same, replace 'freeze spray' with upside down compressed air as needed.

Thats a great explanation video !

Just do it in a well ventilated area ..unless you enjoy the trip.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-03-06, 01:09:

One of the chips is a Pentium MMX 233, so plastic body.

I might try the freezing method first and see how that works. Seems like it might be a quicker method than trying to use acetone.

Some of these use a very hard almost ceramic kinda adhesive. I really recommend that you just leave it as is. Buy a second one that doesn’t have the heatsink

But for many others, heating the heatsink with a torch can free up various glues.

Sphere478 wrote on 2023-03-06, 05:13:

Some of these use a very hard almost ceramic kinda adhesive.

Is there any way to determine what type of adhesive has been used?

Try to scratch it from the side