Remove plastic shroud from 6850

[foodfightr]

I just acquired a Radeon HD 6850 video card and I noticed it extends over my SATA ports. I looked inside the plastic shroud and the whole area that's covering the SATA ports is empty. Is it OK to remove the black plastic casing around the card? Will it affect cooling? Would it void my warranty?

Alternatively I could remove a small chunk of the shroud with my Dremel but I'm pretty sure that will void the warranty.

 

[hdfxst]

what model is it?On my sapphire you have to remove the cooler to get to the screws to remove the plastic shroud.And that will void the warranty and the temps go up without the shroud on

 

[Spikesoldier]

maybe you can find some 90degree SATA cables before you have to whip the dremel out.

alternatively, you might want to try another PCI-e slot. you might get knocked down to 8x instead of 16x but there really shouldnt be a difference with that 6850.

 

[trollolo]

most the the shrouds nowadays are there to force the air out the back of the computer, so removing/drilling it will ruin the heat removal solution