Written
: 6/13/99
Written by:
MotoŽ
Pentium III Supplied by: AMK Services
So you just got yourself a brand new retail
box Pentium III CPU and you can't wait to start overclocking it, right? If
that's what you want to do, then the first order of business it to remove that
poor excuse for a heatsink that Intel ships with their retail Pentium III's.
The
heatsink of the Pentium III is held together by a couple of clips with 2 pins
each (see left photo). These pin clips plug into the holes that's in the
heatsink and the back plate of of the Pentium III processor. Basically, the
heatsink and back plate sandwhich the CPU between them. The pin clips are what
holds them together. To remove the heatsink, you must remove the pin clips.
The clips use one way pins and are designed
to be pushed in and never come out. In the pass, I have used pliers to pull them
out, breaking the clips and pins every time. I also risked a chance of damaging
the CPU because it take a very hard pull to break those pins lose.
Intel's recommended method of removing the
heatsink is to use a special jig made just for the processor. You put the CPU in
this jig and then drill the pins out. This will destroy the pins of course.
I have received an email from one reader who
try cutting and drilling out the pins without that jig and he killed his CPU. To
put it mildly, he is not a happy camper. The thought of drilling into a $500 CPU
without that jig gives me the chills!
So if you don't have access to that special
jig, how do you remove the heatsink? Well you could do what I use to do, which
was pulling the pins out with pliers and risk damaging your CPU. However I
recommend you use the method I'm using now, which safely removes the heatsink
without breaking the pin clips. You can even put the whole thing back together
if you want!
Before we begin, a little disclaimer:
Removing the heatsink off a retail Pentium III or any retail Intel CPU will kill
your CPU warranty faster than I can kill Todd in a game of Quake 2 (and that's
pretty fast!). Also I won't be held responsible for any damage that may fall
onto your CPU by following the directions given on the next page. In other
words, If you blow up your ultra expensive Pentium III while trying to do this,
don't blame me! :-)
Next page: Ripping it off
