2010-06-21, 07:30 PM
These items will probably be helpful to have: a Phillips-head screwdriver, an anti-static wrist strap, a can of compressed air, a vacuum (with its attachment set), 90+% rubbing alcohol, cotton swabs.
To clean your graphics card, follow steps 1 and 2 in this guide: http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/344600-g...-card.html
You shouldn't need to do steps 3 and 4 in that guide. Removing the graphics card's HSF, removing old thermal material, putting on new thermal material, and so on is unnecessary. It will be more trouble than it is worth.
Also, if the fan blades are still dirty after using compressed air or a vacuum, you can apply the 90+% rubbing alcohol to the cotton swabs to remove any residual dust.
After cleaning, if you are lazy about cleaning your video card, I wouldn't recommend setting fan speed to 100%. If you do so, your video card temp. may be lower, but the dust will re-accumulate faster. So the tradeoff will be determined by how often you want to clean the video card + your ability to withstand a noisy GPU fan versus the temperature difference between default and 100% fan speed settings. (<< To determine temp. difference you will have to vary the fan speed and see the results under idle/load.)
To clean your graphics card, follow steps 1 and 2 in this guide: http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/344600-g...-card.html
You shouldn't need to do steps 3 and 4 in that guide. Removing the graphics card's HSF, removing old thermal material, putting on new thermal material, and so on is unnecessary. It will be more trouble than it is worth.
Also, if the fan blades are still dirty after using compressed air or a vacuum, you can apply the 90+% rubbing alcohol to the cotton swabs to remove any residual dust.
After cleaning, if you are lazy about cleaning your video card, I wouldn't recommend setting fan speed to 100%. If you do so, your video card temp. may be lower, but the dust will re-accumulate faster. So the tradeoff will be determined by how often you want to clean the video card + your ability to withstand a noisy GPU fan versus the temperature difference between default and 100% fan speed settings. (<< To determine temp. difference you will have to vary the fan speed and see the results under idle/load.)