Apple replacement GF2-card with SMALL heatsink!

[Steffen Barabasch]

Hi there,

I just got my Cube back from a local Apple Service Provider (it's 
still covered by AppleCare), with a new CDRW-drive and a new graphics 
card. Of course I immediately pulled the core out and found what I 
somehow expected: A small-heatsink, tower-style GeForce2 instead of 
the one with the huge heatsink that we all know.

It can't be simply a mistake from the service station, like 
accidentally putting a tower card in there, since the frontplate is 
totally different between tower and Cube cards. SInce it has the Cube 
faceplate it has to be a genuine Apple replacement part.

So it seems like Apple is endorsing GF2 cards with small heatsinks 
lately... which makes me wonder:

Is it ok to run it with a small heatsink all of a sudden? Was the big 
heatsink unneccessary or even *bad*? (My card died even though it 
*had* the big heatsink) Would be great to know for all of you who 
managed to grab a tower OEM card somewhere.

Or did they simply f*** up, like with the apparently misconfigured 
small-heatsink-Radeon Cube upgrade cards, and *should* there still be 
a big heatsink?

Or do they simply don't have any big heatsink cards left and don't 
care if it melts my Cube and/or itself?

I'll talk to the service guy on Thursday, and if I don't get a good 
answer to my questions (like how he managed to scratch the metal 
cover on the CD-drive side of the core. Looks as if he put it on the 
street and kicked it around a bit before swapping the drive ...) I'll 
start getting on some people's tits really badly... My file at the 
Apple customer relations department has a red warning sticker anyway 
("Attention, picky as hell"), so I've got nothing to lose ;-)

Steffen
-- 
Steffen Barabasch (mailto:TheMirror at westend.com)