Hi, I recieved my package from Newegg containing the 6600GT and VM-101 today, and am a bit confused. There is a large fan/heatsink thing which I thought at first covered the GPU, and a heatsink on the side that I had no idea what for. This might seem noobish, but is the GPU under the small heatsink? I've included a picture to help clarify...



Is the GPU under the heatsink marked "1", or is it under the large fan/heatsink combo?

If I'm correct in that the heatsink is covering the GPU, then I need to remove both that and the fan/heatsink thing to install the VM-101. Is this a good idea? I'm assuming the fan and heatsinks are there to keep the RAM cool, but I don't see any other way to install the VM-101 without taking it off. I've read in other posts that people have been able to get the VM-101 onto their 6600GTs. Did they just go without the fan/heatsink thing?

I'm also having a ridiculously hard time [read: unsuccesful] at getting those black little "screw" things holding the fan and heatsink to the board. Is there a easy way to get them out without destroying them?

Thx for any help!

The '1' heatsink is for the HSI bridge, since your card is AGP. DO NOT REMOVE IT! (unless you have a better one for that job).
In your place, I would have bought a vanilla 6800 (I know it would have been 40-55 US$ more at Newegg) and used the VM-101 on that. With the HSI heatsink you might have trouble mounting the VM-101. I have a PCI-E 6600GT (MSI, the stock heatsink almost came off by itself, LOL) and the VM-101 and had no such problems.

The VM-101 might end up somewhat skewed but it does fit, as seen here.

cool, thanks for the info.

now, does anyone have any tips on easily taking out those pinching screws on the back of the video card holding the fan/heatsink in place? The only way I can think of is to break one side of the tab off and thus render the thing totally unsuable- but this shouldn't be a problem when the VM-101 is installed.

nyeh, I just finished installing the VM-101. One of the aforementioned screws came out by me pressing the tabs together, but the other I had to disfigure. Either way, I'm happy by the VM-101, as it has lowered my GPU temperature by 7-9 degrees idle. I haven't tried any games yet, but my system is definetely more quiet. The biggest source of noise now is one of my two hard drives. Thx for everyones help!