GTX 470 screw problems

Greboth

Greboth

Greboth

Soldato
Joined
6 Aug 2010
Posts
5,799
Location
Birmingham
Hi

Taken a guess at this being the right section.

My EK water blocks came in the post today so I thought I would fit the gfx card as its the one I can do and still use my pc. However couple screws wont come out the back so looking for advice on how to get them out.

1.Just turns on the spot but doesn't come out. I have tried gently turning with magnetic screw driver but it wont come out. Almost like there is a nut on the other side that is rotating too but I can't see a nut or anything similar. (I now have this screw out)

2. Was really tightly done up, applied a bit more pressue and the screw driver jumped and has wrecked the head of the screw. Anyone know a way to get it out short of drilling it out, as I could like to try to avoid it.

Thanks.

 
Last edited:
The screws are held in with a form of chemical thread locker.
Sounds like the one that is turning has stripped the thread (enough of the thread form to stop it from falling out but not enough for it to jack itself out).
As for the damaged head. When they make screws/bolts the thread form is very hard and the head is soft.
So the thread lock holds it in place & the head tears itself apart.

The only true way to get it out is by drilling in the center of the bolt & removing the head.
 
Try the next screwdriver size up, but first see if you can tighten the screw just a touch as this breaks the surface tension(bond), then try unscrewing it. When l installed my EKBlock the PCB screws had a form of loctite on them blue in colour, one screw was very tight and used that method to get it out.
 
piggin said:
The only true way to get it out is by drilling in the center of the bolt & removing the head.
Click to expand...

That is what I am trying to avoid but it is looking likely I will have to do it.

Thanks for the replies, I tried those tricks already Oldphart, seems to be stuck solid :(
 
For some reason the 400 series of cards from nvidia have all had the retaining screws thread locked onto the cooler. Lots of people have had this problem & they have all had to drill out the heads.
 
If you don't fancy using a drill, buy one of these below - google it about £7+P:P

Draper Expert Schroder 5 Piece Screw Extractor Set
Contents: one each of size: 1 (3-6mm), 2 (6-8mm), 3 (8-11mm), 4 (11-14mm) and 5 (14-18mm).
 
Always try tightening first, since your applying downwards pressure more easily you have less chance of the driver skipping out. You may even now be able to tighten it and then loosen it after.

I assume the screws are the tiny ones? Bit like watch screws?
If not you can often get a "square" bit that you can force in if you have taken then head out.

Only other option is to epoxy something to the screw head, eg the screwdriver you used.
Its pretty tricky but the epoxy when set is usually stronger than a loctite bond.
If this doesnt work however it can make the drilling job harder.
 
Hi mate, I had this problem on my gtx 480. It was more or less the same screw that you've pointed to (the one in the corner). The screw was stripped so bad that in the end I had to just get a drill and keep drilling it and eventually it came out. See my thread here for some ideas:

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18180121

But, I wouldn't recommend you do that for the screw near the gpu. That may damage it. My card is fine after drilling through it. You're going to love it watercooled. It hasn't gone past 40'c on load yet :D
 
After trying everything I can think of (short of epoxying a screwdriver to it) the head is well and truely ruined.

Well looking at the pcb, there is a small area of the orange which I guess it is to do with the screw holes and not something to do with the working of the board.. I am trying to find someone who has a bench drill to drill the screw out straight or a hand drill so I can do it slowly and carefully. Just insanely paranoid about having a gtx 470 paperweight. In theory should only need to drill down about a mm to drill out the head at the moment I am not concered with getting the thread out of the stock cooler.

Edit: Diggsy, that was suggested on another forum I asked on. The screw so close to being flush it makes so difference. No Pliers I have or could find in dads garage could get a grip on it.
 
Last edited:
I just used a good old fashioned hand drill. Placed the thing on a wooden bench, and just keep drilling, eventually it became loose enough that the stock cooler could be removed and the screw just popped out. It was literally just that one corner screw that was holding the whole thing together

EDIT: My waterblock didn't come with any 1.5mm thermal pads. You should have some brown coloured 1mm pads and some grey 1.5mm thermal pads.
 
You dont get differnt sized pads for the 470's I dont think. I checked both of my EK block and they only have thermal pads which are all the same size.
 
It is only that screw that is holding this together now. So is the orange colour parts round the screw ok to to hit with the drill or does it need to be 100% accurate.

Wouldn't it make sense for the manufacturers to just sell the card without coolers to solve all this trouble.

Not sure why thermal pads came up, with the 470 ek block, they are the same thickness but different sizes and tells you where to put them.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, as piggin says. Do not touch the pcb with your drill. I can't remember whether I did when drilling my card, but I remember crapping my pants.

Also, be sure that there's no metal swarf and if there is then clean it up properly.
 
The thermal pads are 1mm thick x1 at 15mmW/ x3 at 16.5mmW and by the way 2" is 50mm not 90mm as in the instructions.

Make sure you check the pad size before you cut it.
 
As I couldn't fit the gpu block i spent most of last night fitting pump top, checking out rad, figuiring out where everything went and the final route of my loop etc. Oh well only 4 hours until I can do some more work on it :(
 
Yh this is my WC cherry popping. Everyone said it takes longer than you expect and to be honest I am hoping that to have it done asap to minimse downtime but I am going to take my time as nothing worse than killing a whole pc. I am confident in my pc building ability just not my drilling ability haha. I would love to be able to have it running by sunday night but I doubt I will be able to get 24 hours leak teasting in this weekend so maybe next weekend.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom