Date: February 11th, 2003
Article by: Burt Carver (Hardware Reviewer & Newsposter)
Product was donated by: Tweakmonster.com

The Victim:

An MSI - 8822 GeForce 3 with 3.8 ns RAM, VIVO

Note that the heatsink on the right hand side that runs vertically actually is overlapped by the stock fan. Thus the requirement for the Crystal Orb.

The stock fan was held in place with two standard push-pins and was easily removed. The GPU had enough thermal compound to lube up three computers, as you can see in the picture.

I am no stranger to popping fans off chips, but this procedure had me nervous. The heatsinks were fastened on with some sort of USSG (Ungodly Strong Sticky Goo) and was firmly attached to the four RAM chips. Initially I had a jewelers screwdriver to for a bit of leverage but the grinding noise was enough to make me sweat. I ended up using a long bladed hobby knife that did the trick with a little patience.

Fortunately the restraining order preventing me from wielding sharp objects had expired last week, otherwise this review would NOT be possible.

Here you can see the card with the RAM heatsinks removed. The USSG managed to make a mess of the knife and the chips. I tried rubbing alcohol but it caused a facial tic and I had the urge to dip into the scotch mid-review. In the end, against my better judgement, I broke out the Goof-Off (how many trademarks am I going to violate today? Someone keep track for me)

The Results? -->