Thermal paste under the IHS was my issue the whole time

Took 2 years of my Pentium 4 sleeper running hot at 90c before I saw a forum post about delidding, turns out the old paste under the heat spreader was basically dust. Pulled the IHS off my 2004 build, cleaned it, put fresh paste on, and now it idles at 38c. Anyone else ever crack a die doing this or was I just lucky?

2 comments

2 Comments

dakota_rivera4d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly I was way too scared to try delidding for years after watching a buddy crack his core on a Core 2 Duo. He tried prying it off with a flathead screwdriver and the die just split right down the middle, total waste of money. I ended up just running my own Pentium D hotter than a furnace until I saw a video of someone using a razor blade really carefully and heating the IHS up first with a hair dryer. That thermal cycling loosened the old paste enough that mine popped off clean, so I think the trick is patience and a little heat. Sounds like you got lucky on your first try but for anyone else reading this, don't force it, let the heat do the work.

black.margaret3d ago

Actually the heat from a hair dryer is more about softening the old thermal paste than loosening the bond itself, since most IHS glue softens around boiling water temps. I found that out the hard way when my dye still felt stuck after a few minutes of warming it. Still, you're right that patience beats force, I just wouldn't rely on the heat alone to do all the work.