Need advice removing GTX460 !!! ASAP

[scapegoat_44]

Which part of the video card should I hold when removing it ?
My videocard is an ASUS ENGTX460 TOP and i am out of options other than removing the card because it appears that the white locking clips of the memory slots appear to be in contact with the black mat like portion present on the PCB above the 2 six pin power supplies .

I even intend on scraping some portion of the edge of the white lock clips of the memory slot to prevent it from exerting some force on the black mat porton of the graphics card ..

http://www.itfiles.ro/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/ASUS-ENGTX460-DirectCU2DI1GD5-conectori-alimentare.jpg

Any valuable advices and suggestions would do me good . Thanks in advance

P.S : I am afraid that i might break/damage my videocard when removing it in the improper way .

 

[scapegoat_44]

Jeez , any kind hearted soul out there ...

 

[geofelt]

1) First make certain that you unlock the latch that secures the card to the pci-e slot.
If you don't hold this lock open while removing the card, it won't come out.

2) Do not hold the card by the cooler.

3) Grip the card in two places. Near the rear plate where the dvi adapters are, and the pcb at the rear where the latch is located.
You might think you need three hands to do this, so get some help if you can. Usually, though, you can keep the latch open and grip the rear end with one hand.

4) Lift the card straight up, so as not to damage any thing.

As to the ram clearance; would it help to use a different pair or ram slots?
Or, since the ram clips are plastic, they should not short the card by touching, and should not hurt the card unless there is sufficient force to bend the card.

Did you install the ram before the grapnics card?

PS your link to the .jpg did not work for me.

 

[monkeysweat]

the PCB is black throughout, it is not a coating,, white plastic memory clips shouldn't be touching typically, you must have one hell of a weird board as i don't know any that should come close enough to the x16 slot to interfere,, anyways,, remove the power plugs from the video card, remove any screws & vga connections at the external portion then remove any cards below or above the card - this should allow your fingers to get under the card at the end with the plugs - your x16 slot may have a small 'finger' clip where you may have to push that little clip towards the CPU, while pushing the clip, pull the card upwards a bit,, it will angle a little as the other end may stay in the slot still but that is normal,, then pull up the end with the vga connections and it should come free at that point.

 

[monkeysweat]

geofelt mentions pulling up at both ends at same time, but that is super difficult to do in most cases as the DVI end will need to be pulled out after the end with the power as it may need to be loose just to work with your case

it is reverse on pushing it in if you can't do both ends at same time,, put in DVI end loosely as you will have to line up the tab to slide in between the motherboard and case.

 

[ahw]

some time I hold DVI and push it up little. Then I Hold the card from the other side from top and put it little, then I pull it from top, from both side.

 

[scapegoat_44]

1) First make certain that you unlock the latch that secures the card to the pci-e slot.
If you don't hold this lock open while removing the card, it won't come out.

2) Do not hold the card by the cooler.

3) Grip the card in two places. Near the rear plate where the dvi adapters are, and the pcb at the rear where the latch is located.
You might think you need three hands to do this, so get some help if you can. Usually, though, you can keep the latch open and grip the rear end with one hand.

4) Lift the card straight up, so as not to damage any thing.

As to the ram clearance; would it help to use a different pair or ram slots?
Or, since the ram clips are plastic, they should not short the card by touching, and should not hurt the card unless there is sufficient force to bend the card.

Did you install the ram before the grapnics card?

PS your link to the .jpg did not work for me.

Sorry about the link not working .... here s an other link
http://benchmarkreviews.com/images/reviews/video_cards/ENGTX460-TOP/ASUS-ENGTX460-DirectCU-TOP-PCB.jpg
The part that i am annoyed about is the one present right above the BenchmarkReviews logo in the image

As for the ram clearance the graphics card runs the entire length of the four memory slots , so switching the RAM stick to a different slot would do no good
Here s a link to my mother board ( DG35EC )
http://www.3dnews.ru/_imgdata/img/2008/04/20/80285.jpg

I guess you can visualize the situation ; the white lock clips sitting on top of the black mat portion and it appears to me some force is being exerted on the video card

Yep , the RAM was installed some 2 years back and the graphics card was installed some 2 days back

 

[scapegoat_44]

the PCB is black throughout, it is not a coating,, white plastic memory clips shouldn't be touching typically, you must have one hell of a weird board as i don't know any that should come close enough to the x16 slot to interfere,, anyways,, remove the power plugs from the video card, remove any screws & vga connections at the external portion then remove any cards below or above the card - this should allow your fingers to get under the card at the end with the plugs - your x16 slot may have a small 'finger' clip where you may have to push that little clip towards the CPU, while pushing the clip, pull the card upwards a bit,, it will angle a little as the other end may stay in the slot still but that is normal,, then pull up the end with the vga connections and it should come free at that point.

My mobo is an intel DG35EC and all the slots and stuff are a bit cramped inside ( Gotta live with the microatx form factor)

Should i pull the card using only the PCB ?

EDIT : Your answer implies that i should pull the end with the power supply first , isn't it ??

 

[geofelt]

I see no reason to pull the card if it is fully inserted and everything works correctly.
Just touching the graphics card is not a problem.
You only would need to remove the card to install additional sticks of ram.

If the ram is properly inserted, the white tabs should lever up to lock the ram in place.
That should give you all the clearance you need.
Verify that the tabs are as high as the ones without ram. If they are not fully up, the ram might not have been seated properly.

I think the locking pci-e tab is the type that pushes up and down, vs. side to side.
If you still want to pull the card, use one finger to unlock the tab, and another to get under the card to lift it.

Do the same on the dvi end.

If you can, lift the card straight up. If it is too snug, pry the dvi end up a little with a screwdriver between the case and the metal backplate.
The more level you can manage lifting the card out, the less likely you are to cause damage.

Don't worry too much it is really not that hard.

 

[scapegoat_44]

I see no reason to pull the card if it is fully inserted and everything works correctly.
Just touching the graphics card is not a problem.
You only would need to remove the card to install additional sticks of ram.

If the ram is properly inserted, the white tabs should lever up to lock the ram in place.
That should give you all the clearance you need.
Verify that the tabs are as high as the ones without ram. If they are not fully up, the ram might not have been seated properly.

I think the locking pci-e tab is the type that pushes up and down, vs. side to side.
If you still want to pull the card, use one finger to unlock the tab, and another to get under the card to lift it.

Do the same on the dvi end.

If you can, lift the card straight up. If it is too snug, pry the dvi end up a little with a screwdriver between the case and the metal backplate.
The more level you can manage lifting the card out, the less likely you are to cause damage.

Don't worry too much it is really not that hard.

The card is working fine , but i fear that heavy contact might bend the card and break it

 

[geofelt]

The card is working fine , but i fear that heavy contact might bend the card and break it

If the card is not visibly bent, don't worry about it.

 

[scapegoat_44]

If the card is not visibly bent, don't worry about it.

I am not able to judge it properly , i mean the bending thing . My Bad

Gonna sleep

 

[geofelt]

I am not able to judge it properly , i mean the bending thing . My Bad

Gonna sleep

Send a pic to be certain, but if you have no problem now, I doubt that you ever will.

 

[lordstormdragon]

Just move the clip and pull the card out. It's not difficult.

 

[benski]

I had a micro atx board that was laid out like that, but if I put the ram in first and shut the clip I could put the card in just barely. I wouldn't worry about it hurting anything, the PCB is harder than that little piece of plastic.

 

[scapegoat_44]

Got some digging do to do.... thanks for the input guys , and special thanks to geofelt . Thank you bro

EDIT : What do you guys think about scraping the white lock clips of the memory slot ??
I am pretty certain it exerts some force on the PCB

 

[geofelt]

Got some digging do to do.... thanks for the input guys , and special thanks to geofelt . Thank you bro

EDIT : What do you guys think about scraping the white lock clips of the memory slot ??
I am pretty certain it exerts some force on the PCB

I suppose you could cut or file down the protrusion. Some newer ram slot designs have the graphics end fixed to avoid this issue. Just leave it in the up or locked position.

 

[scapegoat_44]

I suppose you could cut or file down the protrusion. Some newer ram slot designs have the graphics end fixed to avoid this issue. Just leave it in the up or locked position.

I removed the card with no effort at all since it wasn't properly installed in the slot with the ram lock clips holding it back from proper seating .

I wondered how it ran for 2 days without proper seating in the PCIe slot .

The one thing that gave me some trouble was removing the power connectors of the GTX460 .

The memory slot lock clips were exerting minimal force on the video card PCB as i had suspected earlier . Hence i cut back the edge of the lock clips of the three memory slots along which the length of the video card ran . Now it seems fine

Thanks geofelt

 

[scapegoat_44]

Best answer selected by scapegoat_44.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey