so let me know if its okay to do so.
Things you will need
1. A clean well lit work area
2. some small phillips screwdrivers like the kind that come in eyeglass kits
3. Rubbing Alcohol the highest % you can find.
4. some quality Q-tips that dont shed like 15 year old beagle.
5. A small plastic container to put screws in.
6. Compressed air, canned will do.
i have left the pics full size for good details so sorry about the load time for this page.
To start first remove the cover with that awfull looking fellow on it, there are 6 small screws to take out as seen below, if your card is new you wont need to do this, this step is for cleaning it good.
now make sure you have a small tupperware or something to place all the screws into.
Now flip the card over (i put mine on the back foamy side of a mouse pad to kinda cushion it) so you can remove the 3 silver screws as shown.
The fan and its shroud should come off except for the plug, here is an upclose of why it doesnt just pull out.
i used 2 fingers and hooked my nails onto it to pull the socket out some so those little clips could pass by.
Dont just jerk it out.
i know this pic has the memory and core heatsinks off but i just wanted to show the clip.
Remove the 4 screws as seen and take off the core heatsink and backplate.
Take note as to which way the backplate goes on.
Now flip the card back over and remove all the black screws with springs on them. this will release the memory cooler.
So its time to clean the goop off, if the card has a lot of dust on it its time to blow it off, used canned air or whatever is available. a small soft clean paint brush helps also to remove dust gently.
dip a Q-tip in alcohol but be very careful to not let it get over the sides of the core.
clean it off by changing the Q-tips and getting the goop off and make very sure that no trace amounts are on any of the little caps that surround the core.
also make sure your hands dont get goop on them as you will be handling the card.
do the same with the memory chips, get them all really clean and dust free.
dont leave residue spots as seen here with the alcohol, use a dry Q-tip quickly to remove the alcohol
Now its time to clean the heatsinks
i scrape off the gauze (as i call it)
with a woman tool found in ladies areas.
then clean it with the alcohol really well.
i also cleaned the dust out of my heat sinks by washing them in water and then cleaning with alcohol again.
Now its time to put things back
Make sure before you apply the AS5 (Arctic Silver 5) on that there is no dust on the core.
just apply a small dab in the center of the AS5 on the core, like this (sorry for the crappy pic) but just dont use much at all.
you dont want it seeping over the sides but you want it to reach the sides.
it spreads out over time also.
Now put the clean center heatsink on by lifting the card and putting the backplate under it so its lined up with the holes.
place the heatsink onto the core, put a screw into one corner and hold the heatsink down with the screw and screwdriver and the opposite corner with your finger. get the screw in, and put in the next screw on the side your holding.
dont let it rock up and down across the core.
once you get all 4 screws in tighten them until they stop. they have built in stop points on them so dont try to turn them past where they stop.
Now add the tiny dabs of AS5 onto the memory
Place the memory heatsink into place and carefully flip the card over and make sure the holes are lined up.
Now install the black screws in by the same method as you previously did with the center heatsink.
They also have built in stops.
now put the fan w/shroud back on, plug your fan in, put the ugly boy cover back on and your ready for action.
these are the screwdrivers i used, i find them to be very nice quality.
upon rebooting i noticed right away that my card was much cooler.
this isnt an AS5 review so i wont go into the benefits of it.
it is assumed that you already know that.
3dmark03 14890 stock heatsink
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=4213327
