Remove worn-out screw head in Gigabyte 7600GT Silent-Pipe II

[engk]

While trying to remove the heat sink to reapply the thermal compound, I wore out one of the screws that fasten the heat hint to the board (the other is half gone). I did not manage to unscrew the worn-out one and tightened back the other, so the card is still assembled and the thermal compound still unchanged.

Is there anyway to fixed this? The damn screw heads gave way so easily and they are also not removable even if unscrewed (there is a little ring that prevents its removal).

 

[evongugg]

You could try buying and replacing with an aftermarket heatsink.

 

[engk]

Thanks for all your replies.

mpilchfamily:
Well, because the idle temperature seemed higher than what most reviews of the card said it would be. Mine idles at 50 degrees C whereas most reviews say it is around 40 degrees C. Also, I would like to overclock the card.

The only thing I can think of is to try to file two perpendicular grooves into the screw, but they are really small.

evongugg:
That would be a real waste since the silent-pipe version is considerably more expensive than a normal 7600GT. Anyway, I don't want anymore spinning things in the computer.

 

[engk]

If I'm not wrong 7300GTs are already (massively) overclocked.

The only good thing is that though the idle temps are high, the load temps are not much higher. A 15% overclock for all card systems raised temps by just 3-4 degrees C. My comp has 2 12" fans at the top and back, so its pretty cool, cool enough that the Sempron 3000+ with a Scythe Ninja would idle at 10 degrees C.

It just eats me out that I cannot, or ever, dismantle the heat sinks.