After browsing around forums and hearing about people having their TI4xxx cards dying on them for no good reason, I decided to check out the heatsink to make sure everything was alright and replace the lousy pin push in's with screws.

The solution to the infamous problem became quite apparent after setting my TI4800SE to be inspected before taking the heatsink off. Turns out the heatsink does NOT make proper contact with the GPU. Only question left was why.

Taking the heatsink off proved to be quite a task after promising myself the pliers would NOT be used to take the damn plastic things off. Much deliberation ensued until I finall faced the fact I'd have to use them and risk the almight power of Steel VS PCB. Thankfully the pliers worked well actually, no harm done and proved to be a safer task than assumed.

Here we go, take off the heatsink, 'lo and behold the ****ty thermal compound spread across the GPU. Alcohol and Qtips came in for clean up, and the time for testing for improper contact started.

Oh sweet bejebus, it turns out the heatsink is making contact with a crystal thingamajig! Looking at the bottom of the heatsink shows me nVidia attempted to correct this problem, BUT FAILED MISERABLY LIKE THE COMPANY IS DOING NOW. Amount shaved from the fins was NOT enough to clear the crystal thingamajig, thus leading to NO CONTACT on the left side.

Explanation of why cards die unexplicably=solved. Overheating of the core due to improper contact with the heatsink and a ****ty spreading of thermal paste will do 'er. If this isn't the solution, then I ask you fine sir/mam, WTF is.

In order to correct this horrible engineering mishap, you must shave down the middle 3 fins of the heatsink to make room for the crystal thingamajig. Reinforced cutting wheels+dremel+35k RPM=works for me! Cuts through the aluminum **** like butter. Wear goggles and a breathing mask though, lots of particles fly

Proceed to replace the pin push in's with screws of the correct size, and MAKE SURE YOU USE NON CONDUCTIVE WASHERS. A coat of silver lust on some extra cardboard washers from the Zalman HS was what I used along with some spare screws and bolts I had lying around. Also make sure you tighten them evenly and slowly. Don't tighten them too much, just enough to put pressure on the heatsink and GPU core. Rainbows are best left for outside, you don't want one on your videocard.

Hopefully the pictures cover this well enough. This may not affect all models, but it probably affects the majority of them due to this common heatsink design. Check to see if the crystal thingamajig is below your heatsink to confirm the sad sad truth, or better yet do a light test and see if you can see a inconformity with the levelness of the heatsink and core.

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Here are some more pictures of the mod and the finished product

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I've got a Ti4200 with a different HS design than that. i have no intentions of pulling off the HSF, but I'll check to see if it's level from the side, like you did.

EDIT: Just looked, it doesn't even have that crystal there. So, anyone with a Gainward Ti4200 64mb doesn't need to worry.

EDIT2: Geeze j-dogg, a bit of shameless self promotion there, eh?

Nice mod. It's got nothing on this

That guy that rated that a 1 is an asshat.

Stop it Kage you are making me want to pull the HSF off of my Gainward Ti4200.

Quote: Originally Posted by Andrevas Stop it Kage you are making me want to pull the HSF off of my Gainward Ti4200.

Pull on it, you won't regret it I guess all TI4xxx owners need to experience it so they can discover whats underneath. Do it carefully, because you don't want to break it, unless it's already dead.

Did you use special screws? Or will just any bolts that are the right size work?, I hate those damn push in platic pins, want to replace them

I used screws that fit, metal screws and metal hex bolts with the cardboard washers pictured. There was a small chip interfering with the washer on one of the mounting holes, so I took a scissors and cut one side of it down a little bit so it'd fit.

Sorry I don't know what size, although I could probably find out if I tried

My eVGA Ti4200 has been fine for two years. Although, It does have a different heatsink design.

Very nice find. I dont have an Tixxx but its a nice guide for everyone that does. I would give u some rep but i have to "spread some around before giving it to you". ANywayz, ver y nice!

The fan on my abit 4200 was dead for prolly a few months and it still works ok. Glued a stock AMD Barton fan to it and its good to go.

Some cards are most likely fine and don't have this problem, although even so the cards without the direct heatsink problem probably have shabby thermal paste applied.

I'm going to check out my friends TI4200 and see if there's anything relevant to what I found, although for now I'd suggest anyone with a TI4xxx card put some new thermal paste on if they haven't already.