Can't remove heatsink and fans

[kimcake]

Hi everyone, i have a little problem. I bought my computer pre-built a few years ago and don't have much knowledge about uprgading etc. I was trying to take out the heatsink and the fans to give it them a clean and reapply thermal paste to the cpu but have no idea how to. I don't see any metal clips with which the fans could be attached to the heatsink nor do I see any screws. Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[clutchc]

You need to provide more details. Make/model of the motherboard and CPU. Stock cooler or after-market? Maybe post a pic. But if it is a stock AMD or Intel cooler, the fan and heat sink come off in one piece. The Intel via 4 twist pads you turn CCW and then pull up. Amd via a thumb lever on one side you flip over 180 degrees. In either case, you need to give the cooler a bit of a twist to break the seal built up by the thermal paste as you lift up.

Edit: Ah. I see pics suddenly appeared.

 

[kimcake]

Here are my computer specs:
Lancool Dragon Lord PC-K62
Cooler Master SPM 1000w PSU
AsRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard
Intel Core i5 3570K Oveclocked to 4.0GHZ
Noctua/Thermaltake Dual Fan CPU fan&Heatsink
Nvidia Geforce GTX670
128GB SSD Samsung
2TB Seagate SATA3 HDD
16GB 1600Mhz DDR3 Corsair

It is an aftermarket one. Would I need to take the fans off first or just pull the whole thing out? I've added a few pictures to the original post, sorry about that

 

[clutchc]

The fans are probably covering the mounting hdwr. http://www.tonymacx86.com/attachments/general-hardware-discussion/66021d1377942809-best-silent-cooling-bitfenix-prodigy-noctua-nh-u12p-se2-007.jpg

 

[kimcake]

Ah i see, thank you for help, now how do i take these fans off? They seem to be attached to the heatsink with some rubber pin looking things in 4 corners

 

[ThatVietGuy]

You most likely have to turn the pins holding the heatsink down counterclockwise to release the lock. Do it for all four posts and the heatsink should come right out.

 

[clutchc]

Ah i see, thank you for help, now how do i take these fans off? They seem to be attached to the heatsink with some rubber pin looking things in 4 corners

It appears you are describing the rubber sound-deadening mounts some manufacturers use. That keeps vibrations from adding to the noise. I hate those things.
Try taking a pair of needle nosed pliers and squeezing the flared cone back together while forcing it back into the hole. Hard to explain, but when the fan was installed, the pointed end of the rubber "bolt" was pushed/pulled through the fan's mtg. hole until it flared back out to hold the fan in place. You'd have to do this for all four corners of both fans.

If you don't want to save them for reuse, you cut carefully take a sharp knife or a pair of cutters and get rid of the rubber cone that is exposed. You would then have to remove the part left in the heat sink.

 

[kimcake]

Thanks Clutchc, you were absolutely right, managed to take the fans off with a pair of pliers. Those rubber mounts sure are annoying, thanks for your help mate

 

[clutchc]

Thanks Clutchc, you were absolutely right, managed to take the fans off with a pair of pliers. Those rubber mounts sure are annoying, thanks for your help mate

Glad to be of assistance. Was the heat sink mtg. hdwr. exposed with the fans out of the way?

 

[kimcake]

Thanks Clutchc, you were absolutely right, managed to take the fans off with a pair of pliers. Those rubber mounts sure are annoying, thanks for your help mate

Glad to be of assistance. Was the heat sink mtg. hdwr. exposed with the fans out of the way?

Yup, there were 2 screw bolts hiding right under the fans. But it looks like i've done all of this for nothing. I was initially changing the heatsink together with the fans and reapplying thermal paste in hopes to reduce two of the core's temps ( core 3 and 4 usually run 10c hotter on idle). After checking now, nothing seems to have changed. Not sure what else i can do.

 

[clutchc]

That's not unusual. Not all cores are used equally. Even at idle when the only work being done is Windows housekeeping, only one or two cores may be busy. At load, it would be great if all threads were balanced across the integer cores. But that is rarely the case.