4 / REMOVE BACKPLATE SCREWS
The backplate requires a mix of star-tool and crosshead bits, so you’ll
need an extensive micro screwdriver set to deal with them. Work your
way around the edges, leaving the core area until last.
7 / DETACH CABLES
You need to deal with two cables here, which power the lighting and fan,
but there may be other cables on your card. Lift the cooler high enough,
so you can access them, but be extremely careful not to pull them, as
they’re very delicate. Pull from the connector, not the cable, and gently
use a pair of needle-nose pliers if necessary.5 / REMOVE CORE SCREWS
The GPU core is easily identifiable on most cards, with four screws
and often a support bracket. Dealing with these screws last will
prevent the cooler from falling off and putting pressure on a screw at
the edge, potentially damaging the GPU.
8 / REMOVE COOLER
The cooler should now lift off the card, so place your card with the PCB
at the bottom. You can now lift up the cooler off the PCB, and also lift the
backplate off the back if you haven’t done so already.6 / REMOVE BRACKET SCREWS
The PCI-E bracket also secures to the cooler, and this will be the same
on most models. The four screws above the lower video outputs can
remain, but the rest need to be removed in order to release the lower
heatsink support.
9 / FIT SCREWS TO COOLER
It’s important to keep the screws safe, and the best way to do this is to
place them back into the original cooler and backplate in the holes from
which you removed them. You can then leave the cooler in the card’s
original box, so you can easily reassemble it if you want to sell it later.