vga silencer on my 9800 pro causing artifacts at stock speed

[supersonic]

I recently installed a VGA silencer 3 onto my radeon 9800 pro. I thoroughly cleaned the gpu and sink with q tips and 70% cleaning alcohol until they were completely free of dust, paste, etc. I applyed new thermal paste to the gpu and intalled the cooler. Everything seemed fine until I turned on the computer and artifacts appeared in my start up screen. I tested this problem by running battlefield 2 and to my dismay, a great deal of artifacts. I checked the cooler and card again to make sure there was a good contact between them. Everything seems fine. Is there anything I may be overlooking? I am completely in the dark on this one.

AMD 64 bit 3000+ newcastle core
2 512 MB single channel PC3200 RAM
MSI K8N-Neo Platinum Mobo
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 256 bit 128 MB
VGA Silencer ver. 3

 

[A1Killer]

lol stupid questin here but did you replace the goop? oh and did you take the silencer off to see if the goop spread out a little bi it should like spread a tad but not enough to come out from under the sink

 

[supersonic]

Yeah I did replace the old paste. I spread it out pretty well when I applyed it. No paste came out when I put the card and cooler together.

 

[A1Killer]

hmm does the gpu look like its got any chips in it? or any scuffs or what not?

 

[jcw122]

Did you use AS5? If so, you were not supposed to spread it, instead your supposed to make it about 3/4 a BB size dot, mabe smaller since it's a GPU.