Spend half an hour and banish that infuriating fan whirr forever.
When you've spent half of the month's food budget on a graphics card, you'd be forgiven for becoming a shaking wreck at the prospect of dismantling it. But, it's worth upgrading your GPU cooler; just be careful. First, check is whether the mounts on your graphics card are compatible with the mounts on the cooler. Most coolers attach to the four pins around the GPU, but these are spaced differently according to the GPU.
To make matters more confusing, some graphics cards, most notably the Radeon HD 2900 cards and the original GeForce 8800 GTX, Ultra and 320MB and 640MB GTS cards, have more than the standard eight memory chips, as well as other parts that need cooling.
If you're buying a fanless cooler, make sure that your case has sufficient airflow to stop it cooking your graphics card. Also, if it's too tall, it may not fit in your case, and if it's too deep you may have to remove your sound card. Keep your old cooler parts safe, as you can then reattach it if you ever want to sell off your old card.
The Small Screw Phenomenon
Turn over the graphics card so the front is facing down, and remove all the screws on the back that hold the cooler in place. You may also need to remove a couple of screws from the backplate if you have a dual-slot cooler. Turn the card over again so the front is facing up, unplug the cooler's power cable. Gently lift the cooler off the graphics card, to reveal some gunk, also known as TIM (thermal interface material), on the chips.
Cleanliness is next to godliness
Your next job is to remove any traces of said TIM and thermal pads from the memory and GPU, and also the VRMs if applicable. This job is best achieved with a lint free cloth (to avoid leaving stray fibers on the chips) and some TIM cleaner. Clean the chips gently, being very careful not to harm any nearby components on the PCB. Make sure that all the TIM and TIM cleaner has been removed, and you're then ready to install the cooler.
That sinking feeling
Stick on RAM heatsinks, and other chips if applicable. For coolers that cool the GPU and RAM with the same block, stick thermal pads to the RAM. Find out which mounting holes you have from your cooler's manual, or measure the gaps. Spread an even coating of TIM over the GPU if needed. Following the manual, clamp the cooler to your graphics card's mounts, being careful not to harm any components. You can now plug in the fan.
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