Take the covers off your non reference card GPUs!

[bjalbert]

All these cards have open non directional airflow heat traps. I have 280x's and take the covers off (4 screws for asus) and this allows your fans to work in a case or open rig. The warranty is only for removing the heatsink and this should have no effect other than easy way to keep cool and clear dust.

WARNING - The fans are exposed and you need to be careful they don't hit anything. I lost a couple fan blades but was able to repair them with industrial super glue. 3200 rpm and they are fine :-)

[1715389557]

1715389557

[AtlantisPlatform]

All these cards have open non directional airflow heat traps. I have 280x's and take the covers off (4 screws for asus) and this allows your fans to work in a case or open rig. The warranty is only for removing the heatsink and this should have no effect other than easy way to keep cool and clear dust.

WARNING - The fans are exposed and you need to be careful they don't hit anything. I lost a couple fan blades but was able to repair them with industrial super glue. 3200 rpm and they are fine :-)

The covers act as a shroud to spread air over fins, you need the covers to help cooling. Leave the shrouds on.

[DrG]

There are certain components on the card that rely on the airflow generated from the pathing through the shroud - remove the shroud and those components will overheat.  Some really nice cards have everything heatsinked well but cheaper ones won't even have pads on the VRMs, for example, and will overheat without the correct air pathing.

Keep the shrouds on unless you have external airflow.