I can't believe I didn't break it!!!

[JustStarting]

Off to mod my GF2 GTS (200/333 stock). Pried off the GPU fan- CRRRAAACCCKKK!! Off it came. About a 1/16th inch of epoxy on it. Sanded it off till I saw the lettering on the GPU clearly. Installed a new Blorb (pushpins went in very hard) and Thermaltake Ramsinks. I could not help but to "manhandle" the card during this Mod- I was nearly sure it wouldn't boot up. Going off now to check it out on 3DMark. I've had it to 220/375 already befor the mod. Here I go!!

 

[Jeff7]

That's weird; when I've removed heatsinks, the epoxy usually sticks to the heatsink; on one card, the epoxy actually removed all of the lettering from the core. That stuff is really strong sometimes.

 

[Zim Hosein]

JustStarting, you are one lucky person if that card works, post your new score when you can, good luck.

 

[JustStarting]

I got it running at 225/400- haven't tried any higher yet. I'll back off on the core and see if I can bump the memory up. I will lean on the FSB a little too (KT7 mobo). 3DMark2001 didn't see that much- 3657 to 3753. At least it runs good up there w/ no artifacts- better cooling now.

 

[vss1980]

JustStarting, you should have tried to scrape off the epoxy layer with a sharp-ish knife. It would only a 2-3 minutes to get pretty much the lot off the core and has a fairly low chance of causing damage to the card or the chip.

Also for future reference, when trying to pry off a heatsink glued to a chip try using a hairdryer to get the heatsink hot as that should in theory make the thermal glue give just that little bit extra.

But anyway, not a bad overclock (I would expect you max speed to be a bit higher).

 

[JustStarting]

I did try to scrape it off- I slipped once and hit the pcb and said enough scraping. Sanding was easier although more time consuming.