I recently bought a Peerless Assassin 120 cooler, but I'm having trouble with my old fan. It seems like a part of it is stuck and I can't remove it—possibly because the thermal paste is old and has bonded everything together. Can anyone offer advice on how to detach it safely?
1 Answer
It sounds like the thermal paste might be dried and essentially gluing the heat sink to the CPU. You have a couple of options here: try using a hair dryer or heat gun to warm it up before attempting to twist it off. If you’re using an AMD AM4 socket, you could also gently pull straight up to remove the CPU along with the heat sink. Just be careful of those CPU pins—don’t want to bend them!
Thanks for the tips! I’m planning to tackle this on Saturday after my thermal paste arrives. Any advice on heating the CPU without a hair dryer? I doubt I could fit it in there!