Cleaning a dusty 6870!

[Yosh]

Hi, just wondering if there are any guides around in order to remove the Heatsink from the XFX ATI Radeon 6870 1GB Black Edition



And/or any useful tips for cleaning the fans and heatsink, i assume i will void the warranty but i have no idea how else to get it tidy again.

Thanks

[Jasp]

Can of compressed air and watch the dust fly out

[Yosh]

I've used compressed air before, i was hoping for a more thorough clean as i really don't want to put it into my new system in its current state.

[grayg1]

looking closely at this http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi.../images/20.htm it seems there are 6 screws holding the faceplate/shroud over the heatsink and 2 from the backplate where the ouputs are

If your card looks like this from the back http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi.../images/13.htm i.e. same number of screws then perhaps 4 holes which are lower are being screwed directly to the heatsink, which would be a pain. Maybe you really need to remove the whole thing?

EDIT: looking at http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi.../images/21.htm there are 4 holes (not the stand offs for the gpu screws) they would seem to match up with the holes on the the shroud meaning it's screwed down to the heatsink, so you'll have to remove the whole thing unless you can come up with some kind of right angle screwdriver

[Yosh]

looking closely at this http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi.../images/20.htm it seems there are 6 screws holding the faceplate/shroud over the heatsink and 2 from the backplate where the ouputs are

If your card looks like this from the back http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi.../images/13.htm i.e. same number of screws then perhaps 4 holes which are lower are being screwed directly to the heatsink, which would be a pain. Maybe you really need to remove the whole thing?

EDIT: looking at http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi.../images/21.htm there are 4 holes (not the stand offs for the gpu screws) they would seem to match up with the holes on the the shroud meaning it's screwed down to the heatsink, so you'll have to remove the whole thing unless you can come up with some kind of right angle screwdriver

Yep, thanks for the effort. I had a play around with it earlier and your right it seems all rather inaccesible:

Looks like i'll be using an Airduster or just selling the GPU and buying a new, clean one as i'm rather fussy about putting it in my new computer.

[Bonebreaker777]

Compressed air plus brushing the rest? That should clean all right, but if it would be not enough you can involve some wipes as well (cleaning/alcoholic wipes).

[deejayburnout]

If you really wanna to open it, don't worry about the XfX warrenty. The whole warrenty process with XFX sucks and doesn't matter if its brand new or a year old, it would take you weeks to get even an answer from the about warrenty returns.

Keep checking the interewebs and you will find a guide somewhere that can help you open it up.

As said before a air duster and a small brush will work wonders.

a worthwhile note for the future is to clean your PC out every couple of months using a small brush and a can of air duster. You will be suprised what builds up and periodic cleaning will stop the dust caking on.

My temps can raise about 5deg over a few months of use due to poor airflow over CPU and GpU coolers.

[technodean]

They are quite easy to take apart, 4 spring screws and what ever is remaining holding the fan shroud in place. But you will need some thermal paste, but its a good excuse to change to some better thermal paste.