Warm up your thermal paste before taking out an AM4 cooler!
Warm up your thermal paste before taking out an AM4 cooler!
She was using a Ryzen 2600 for a whole year before switching to a 3600. She sold her old unit to a friend, and I thought it would make a nice Christmas gift. My plan was to match her existing white, black, and grey aesthetic by picking the Corsair H100i Platinum and swapping out her initial Fryzen cooler. But things went wrong fast. I didn’t verify if she still had the original CPU backplate. I waited too long before trying to take it off, and when I finally did, the cooler stuck stubbornly. Because my setup is mostly Intel-based, I used brute force to remove it, but it was a mistake. The AM4 socket doesn’t hold the CPU like Intel ones do—there are just two metal cutouts. So when I tried to pull it out, the CPU and cooler came out together. Panic set in! Why did this happen? Why am I so careless? My girlfriend ended up sitting next to me while I messed things up. She asked what was wrong, and I explained the situation. She didn’t get upset, which was a relief. After checking for damage, I gently tried reinserting the CPU and it fit perfectly. I turned on the PC and saw the message: “New CPU installed!” My heart sank—had I ruined her CPU or motherboard? Then I opened the AIO box. I realized I needed the original backplate, so I figured out where she kept her mainboard parts. After hours of searching, we finally found it. Once I got the backplate, installing the AIO was a bit tricky, but it worked. The temperatures dropped by 10°C during rendering, and the fan noise decreased after adjusting the thermal settings. It was a tough day, but at least everything went smoothly now. I shared this story because some of you might find it useful. If you want tips on removing coolers without damaging components, here’s a link to a before-and-after:
https://imgur.com/a/QKke19A
https://de.pcpartpicker.com/user/Noah030...iew=wGWQqs
In my country, the usual advice is to use prime95 for a short time, then disassemble quickly. Or, simply use a hairdryer with warm air gently to clear out the cooler.
It's not just about the thermal paste hardening; it seems to be forming a vacuum while spreading. I've noticed it tends to stay in a liquid state when using MX-4.
I tried it yesterday with my 3950X. It seemed quite amusing. There wasn’t much noise, more of a pop than a bang.
It wasn't truly dry, yet it was definitely drier than wet. I opted for the Noctua NT H1.