[SOLVED] Broken lock piece off my GTX 1080 FE

[Xxfyrus]

Hello,

I was cleaning the inside of my PC today and everything was going well. When it was much less dirty and after applying thermal paste to the gpu and cpu, it was time to put everything back on the mother board.

I put the CPU fan on just fine but when I put my GPU (GTX 1080 Founders Edition) back on, the little black piece that you are supposed to pull in when you are taking the GPU out broke off. I am not sure how this happened. I am usually very careful and have never had an issue removing this for cleaning before.

The GPU works fine (with better thermals than I've ever had after applying thermal paste to it for the first time), but I am worried about how I will take it out of the MOBO again. I am building a new PC (already have most of the parts) and my GTX 1080 is all that I have until the new RTX's come in stock.

Has anyone had this happen and have any advice for me on how to remove it safely when my PC parts get here?

I really appreciate your time.

 

[Zerk2012]

If I'm reading this right the release tab broke on the PCI-E slot not actually anything on the card.

The card should just pull out now.

 

[Blackink]

Help me here....thermal paste applied to a GPU card?!?
Whaaaat?

 

[bignastyid]

Help me here....thermal paste applied to a GPU card?!?
Whaaaat?

Video cards use thermal grease between the heatsink and gpu die. Having to repaste a gpu is not uncommon.

 

[itsdigger]

I replace the thermal grease on new gpu's . As long as you have the gpu screwed into the plate, everything is fine. Actually I hate those retaining clips...

 

[Karadjgne]

Just make sure to use the right paste or things go downhill in a hurry.
A cpu has a rough surface on the IHS, so the thinner and less viscous pastes like Noctua and Grizzly work extremely well and last for years.
A gpu is direct die, that's glass-like silicon. There, the thinner, less viscous pastes are a detriment, once they heat up they thin out even further and can often run right off the edges of the die. This has the bad affect of leaving bare spots on the die, which burns hotter as a result. So it's best to use a thicker, more viscous paste like Arctic MX-4 instead.

Without the retaining clips, it's not uncommon for the very heavy cards without back plates to work themselves out of the slot enough to kill the connection. Happens mostly due to fan vibrations on the gpu.

 

[Blackink]

Video cards use thermal grease between the heatsink and gpu die. Having to repaste a gpu is not uncommon.

I learned something today, thanks!
I even went and viewed this process on Youtube.

 

[Xxfyrus]

Just make sure to use the right paste or things go downhill in a hurry.
A cpu has a rough surface on the IHS, so the thinner and less viscous pastes like Noctua and Grizzly work extremely well and last for years.
A gpu is direct die, that's glass-like silicon. There, the thinner, less viscous pastes are a detriment, once they heat up they thin out even further and can often run right off the edges of the die. This has the bad affect of leaving bare spots on the die, which burns hotter as a result. So it's best to use a thicker, more viscous paste like Arctic MX-4 instead.

Without the retaining clips, it's not uncommon for the very heavy cards without back plates to work themselves out of the slot enough to kill the connection. Happens mostly due to fan vibrations on the gpu.

I used a corsair xtm50 paste for the gpu. Hopefully that's okay. It is running cooler than it ever has so far. It use to get up to 85c, today it's maxed out at 78c