I have a really old geforce 2 mx 400 and i took the heatsink of on accident. Could i use this card for lite graphics with NO heatsink. oh i should mention i cant get any thermal paste any time soon. THANKS Zack

Why did you remove the heatsink & how was it attached? You *may* be able to run without it, but is it worth the risk? Paste is about $3 at Radio Shack. "And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

I removed the heatsink on accident i was trying to straiten it and off it came. it was attached with some generic thermal goo. The only other card i have is a ancient s3 2mb. THANKS Zack

Yes, you can run the GF2 MX without a heatsink. A few years ago, Dell installed sinkless GF2 MXs in their mainstream PCs...they ran fine. The Firewall/Print/File Server: 1.26GHz PIII-S 1GB RAM Radeon 9700 Pro 2 x GigE Remote on/off 4 x 750GB HDDs Storing 200 DVD/Blu-Ray/HD-DVD/Laserdisc faves

i can also confirm that i have seen many of those cards with no heatsinks on. the chip does seem to get very hot (if you try touching it with your finger) but it does not seem to harm them.

"I removed the heatsink on accident i was trying to straiten it and off it came. it was attached with some generic thermal goo." IMO, if the heatsink wasn't necessary, it wouldn't have been there. Thermal paste isn't what you need...you need thermal adhesive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therma... And thermal adhesive costs more than the card is worth. Here's an alternative: http://www.overclockers.com/tips182/ "And that's the fishing line, because Sharkboy said so!"

is the heatsink needed or not, well like I have said i have seen these cards in use with no heatsink on. But some card makers might feel they should put them on in case someone uses one in adverse conditions - very tight case with no airflow or tropical climate maybe? also they might think people won't buy the card with no heatsink as it gives the impression it is low spec. (it is low spec by todays standards but was a good card when first made). Anyway, I have often fixed heatsinks on with an epoxy resin called ARALDITE - I am in United Kingdom, don't know if same name used in USA. There are other cheap versions of it, you have a tube of Adhesive, and a tube of hardener, mix a small amount of each together and spread on, and put heatsink on the chip. It needs to left undisturbed for many hours to harden. It can be got for one pound in UK (about 2 US Dollars). It has worked fine for me on graphics cards