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[Outdoor Miner]

Hey guys, I'm by no means a computing expert when it comes to things like building my own systems. I mean, I can replace RAM, video cards, and maybe even a hard drive or two w/o much problems. But this type of work seems to intimidate me moreso than anything computing-related i've done before.

Are there any good step-by-step guides out there for replacing stock cooling fans for vid cards?

I'm replacing the stock cooling on an ATI X800XT PE (made by ATI and on an AGP slot) with an Artic Silencer 4 (already bought). The card has runs about 85c under stress and around 60c when idle, which is pretty effin' insane and needs to be fixed.

I'd really hate to make a mistake and toast such a beast of a card, so I'd thought I'd come to my GAF haven for assistance. Any help is appreciated.

 

[MrPing1000]

well when i had an artic cooler to attach to my 9800pro i just followed the instructions that came with it and I didn't have any problems. Was pretty straight forward actually

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Well, my real question is how to go about removing the X800XT. With my previous card (9700pro) it was as easy as unscrewing it from the slot.

With the X800XT it seems to be connected to the power supply, which I understand most of today's card requires. At what point do I disconnect? From the video card side or from the power supply side?

 

[Nos_G]

Well that's as easy as unplugging an internal drive. It uses the same lines as optical drives and hard disk drives.

All that needs to be said is, TAKE YOUR TIME. You will be nervous, but that doesn't mean you should screw up because of it.

 

[ZombieSupaStar]

erm turn off your pc, unplug it


put i hand on the case touch everything inside gently then unplug the power cable from the card and take it outta the slot, look to see if the slit has a lil white lever/clip on the right side if it does push the lever down THEN pull card out (it locks the card in place on most boards)



and reverse these instructions to put it back in

 

[Outdoor Miner]

Thanks for the replies guys, but it looks like i'm not able to remove the cooling unit. Bastard card manufacturer saw fit to make it unremovable.

But I put the PC in a better location for ventilation and cleaned it out real good. It's at around 38c idle and 60-70c stressed now, which is much better.

Looks good, but if the problem reappers, I'll have to call tech support from the PC makers and get them to replace the card.