Shim Around the ATI R300

FrostyTech takes a look at the copper shim around the ATI R300 core, and what they did to circumvent it (so they could install more efficient cooling).

This copper shim is glued to the surface of the PCB, and if it were installed flush to the height of the silicon core, it would actually be very useful.
Unfortunately, the problem is that the copper shim is actually slightly thicker than the silicon core by about 0.0023". This makes it impossible for the flat bottomed heatsink ATI use to actually come in contact with the R300 core for optimal cooling.

Read it here.