Legit Reviews

Since I don't learn from my mistakes I took the IHS off of my Opty 170 - success!!!!


So far, it has only saved me a few degrees at load but I'm seeing what gains in frequency it will get me...TBD

Nice job.....!
My X2 will be naked soon too....

Hopefully you can get some extra MHz.......

Priming 2853 now for about 40 mins and no errors. We'll see. I used a disposable razor blade (broke it out of the razor) and it worked great. The width of the razor gets only to the very inner layer of the sealer when flush with the board so I started it at the corner and pivoted it until it was inserted all the way down one side. Pulled it out and repeated on the other 3. Used the dental floss to make sure there was a clean cut all the way through and *POP* it came right off. Jeez, so easy, how could I have mucked it up the first time???

From what I have read, dental floss isn't even required...

most people just put tape on the blade and leave only ~3mm exposed....then this can be your guide, so you don't cut too deep.....

I'm going to get a new waterblock next month...so mine should be off then..

I didn't think you were going to risk it again....

Fair balls to you mate......

I couldn't help myself. I only used the floss becuase after cutting all the way around it didn't come off. I figured the more I futzed with it with the blade the greater the risk of breaking it. So I went with the floss - bingo.

Here the dramatization...

The blade is from a Schick twinbladed disposable razor.


As you can see, the width of the blade from the edge of the baseboard is less than that of the distance to the delicate circuitry (with exception of the side between the triangle and the "z" - but it barely hits it). Oh, and this is the one I killed so ignore the white marks on the board.


So I started from the corner and pivoted until I cut through the whole side:


It didn't come right off so I used dental floss to ensure I cut all the way through and *POP* came right off.

It's good to know that, about the side with the Z and the triangle!!!

How do you get the black sealant off afterwards?

I used a credit card to scrape it off. I wanted to see if I could use a conductive pen (white looking marks) so fix where I had scratched the board so I scraped it all off.

Yours braver then I am! I just couldn't afford to buy another one if I screwed up.

GOOD JOB

Well, I'm about to do it a third time...hehehehe. Maybe video this time?

If i get an opteron 170 then i might do this mod, but im not going to bother with my 3800+

what is the point in taking that off? just to do it or do you get something out of it?

bigblockmatt wrote:what is the point in taking that off? just to do it or do you get something out of it?

better cooling and more overclock.....hopefully....!
Milage varies.....some get nothing from it, some do....

some just kill 'em

because some times there are air pockets or poor contact between the IHS and the chip its self. The IHS also is not always flat.

does the end justify the means when taking off the IHS? have you seen huge gains in terms of overclockability or tempature?

I ripped the IHS off of my other 170 too. Temps improved some. On my xpmw I didn't very much frequency improvement. I haven't tested out the UPMW.

nice job.

you are much braver then i will ever be

how do you cool it then?? i jsut cant picture in my brain how it would contact with everything...

You need a heatsink which bolts on, otherwise there would be a gap between the hsf and the core......think of the old athlon xp cpu's!!!

I'll be doing mine this week :p