As soon as exams are over, I'm finally pacifying my stock 8500le. I managed to eBay a big aluminium heatsink that should fit nicely with a couple notches out for the big caps. The HS is very open, 75*70*30mm tall.
To be fair, totally passive it should easily cool the Radeon. I just like the idea of expelling the heat right from the case.
I was thinking of mounting an 80mm vertically inside the case. Blowing across the HS and out 2 empty PCI slots. Some form of duct to direct the airflow over the HS and out, obviously.
On a related note. What's the best way of getting the satanic stock HSF off? It seems there are two opposite camps. My inclination is to start with the hairdryer method, at least I know there is no way heat of that level will in any way damage the card.
Homebrew arctic cooling. Hot or cold?
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re: stock heatsink removal
For my old GeForce2 I did the freezer trick. Stuffed the card in a static bag, then in the freezer for ~10 minutes. Ended up being closer to 30 minutes, as I forgot about it. Pulled it out and put the static bag on a towel for some slight cushioning. Shoved an old credit card underneath the lip of the heatsink right to the GPU. Then put a screwdriver under the edge and started twisting. Popped right off. Does take a fair bit of force though, and be sure the screwdriver is on the credit card, not the circuit board.
For my old GeForce2 I did the freezer trick. Stuffed the card in a static bag, then in the freezer for ~10 minutes. Ended up being closer to 30 minutes, as I forgot about it. Pulled it out and put the static bag on a towel for some slight cushioning. Shoved an old credit card underneath the lip of the heatsink right to the GPU. Then put a screwdriver under the edge and started twisting. Popped right off. Does take a fair bit of force though, and be sure the screwdriver is on the credit card, not the circuit board.