Well, I experimented a bit. I popped out the push pins and the HSF fell right off into my lap! It looks like Hercules only used thermal grease on my card...and not only that, but the extreme heat from my core turned it into a powdery ruin. Well, I guess since my vidcard hasn't self-destructed whatever happened to the stuff didn't hurt cooling to badly.
So I applied the Arctic Silver to the core and plopped the Blorb I picked up at Fry's for $7.99+tax right on top. I look at the card from the side. Funny, I thought, it looks as if there's a space between Blorb and core. I remove Blorb and discover, to my annoyance, that
BLORB IS CONCAVE!!! STUPID BLORB!!!!! So I went ahead and lapped the hell out of Blorb, and stick it back on. No more space between Blorb and core. Yay. Stick card back in system, power up. Nothing shorts out, looking good. Mission accomplished. Now to see how far I can overclock Mr. GeForce...
I will report back with results later.
