I have seen many questions about methods to easily remove the stock cooler of the GTX 260/280 cards (and any other card which use the same cooling package, probably the 9800GTX). This beg for a definitive illustrated guide to explain how to remove the stock cooler without damaging the card and the cooler surface. It will also be used to show how to install the D-Tek UNISink and Fuzion v2 since it'S what I did for my GTX 260 core 216 card.
I did remove and remount the stock cooler twice so I'm very confident those steps is the best to do. The following guide is done with a EVGA GTX 260 core 216 but the steps should be the same for any GTX 2xx card using the same cooler design.
Here's the whole parts before :
Removal of the stock cooler
DISCLAIMER : Make sure to put the card on a anti-static and not do like me by putting it on a towel. You risk frying the card by accident so do what I say, not what I did (I have some balls 
).
The first thing to do is to place the card so the backside is in front of you as illustrated in the picture below. You will see ten (10) screws so unscrew all of them using a jeweler's screwdriver.
After this, look at the rear bracket to find two (2) more screws to remove.
When you are done removing the screws, the next step is to remove the rubber SLI cover and the SPDIF cover (it's a small square beside the two power connectors. Don't bother with the two round plugs, there are no screws behind even if there are screw holes inside. They will fall off itself when you separate the sections).
Put the card upright so the PCI-E connector is in your eyes. You will see a separation line between the two parts of the stock cooling. There are three tabs holding them together so use a small jeweler flat blade screw to press the first tap which is close to the rear bracket and it will pop itself. There is two others further toward the left side of the card (in this pic) and you will notice a faint identation along the line so that's where the other tabs will be. Press as well on those identations then pry away the rear side .
If you did it right, you will have the rear backplate like that (notice the three tabs at the bottom of the backplate in this picture to serve as reference for locations) :
Before you try to pry the front part, remove the two silver screws which is in the left part in this pic (mid-way between the rear bracket and the core).
Wiggle the front part to break the suction that the thermal paste is putting until it pop-off. Do it gently bit by bit and don't force it (If you wiggle too much, you risk displacing the thermal pads and destroying them when you want to keep it for the future). When you pop it off, don't yank it too fast since the fan connector is still connected.
Just unplug it carefully then put the front part aside then you are done with the disassembly (Use a small flat screwdriver to pry it off or wiggle it bit by bit until it come off, it's locked pretty tight) :
D-Tek UNISink installation
The first thing to do after removing the stock cooler is to clean the core, memory chips and the voltage regulators with isoprophyl alcohol. Don't bother with the memory chips in the backside since you will reuse the same thermal pads, just the front ones.
Put the UNISink with the rear part containing thermal pads in front of you on something to elevate it a bit (this is so you can put the card flat without having the rear bracket hitting the surface before). I used a box of cotton swabs in this picture . Put the card in the direction so the contact points align.
After you put the card on the UNISink, put the two silver screws in the same place as when you removed it. Put the stock backplate on the card then put back all the 10 screws by tightening them in a criss-cross pattern starting with the core corners. Don't tighten too much to avoid damaging the screws or the card.
After it's fully screwed, turn the card so the core is in front of you.
Put a dab of thermal paste on the core as indicated below. Since the core is pretty large, don't skimp on the amount (ie, no rice-sized blob).
Put the D-Tek Fuzion v2 block on the core then use the included spring screws which come with the Fuzion package. Tighten them in a criss-cross pattern and don't tighten too hard to avoid breaking them. When you are done, it should look like this :
That's all folks
If you have a comment or a suggestion to improve the guide, feel free to post and I'll amend this since I wanted this to become a official reference for everyone.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks