How to make your old GPU run like new

December 04, 2013

Your PC deserves every neat-freak tendency you can muster. Neglect your machine, and over time its fans will get dirty, its heat sinks will become clogged, and the thermal paste will break down. Heat will begin to build up, which can lead to instability or even failure. No component of your PC is more vulnerable to heat than your graphics card. Even relatively affordable midrange cards sport complex graphics processing units that consume a lot of power and pump out quite a bit of heat. But if you take the time to refurbish your graphics card safely, you may be surprised to see it running like new—or in some cases, better than new. Tools of the trade To start, you need a few tools and a bit of know-how. Generally you need a screwdriver (or two) to help with the disassembly, plus cleaning materials such as canned air, alcohol, and cotton swabs. You want a small brush to wipe away dust and old thermal interface material, and some replacement thermal paste. My GPU-refurbishing project began with a dusty, dirty old Radeon HD 5870 that has been beaten up and neglected for the past couple of years. I’m using a Radeon HD 5870 graphics card for this project, a decent GPU that’s a few years old at this point. (Although your card may be different, the instructions that follow should work with appropriate adjustments.) This ATI card uses three different sizes of Phillips-head screws to secure its case bracket, heat sink, and fan shroud, and it features an additional heat/reinforcement plate on the back. To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Link: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2066684/how-to-make-your-old-gpu-run-like-new.html#tk.rss_howto