noob question. i wanna try fit this geforce 8500 into a small tower but theres very little space, where i to take off the big black thing would it still work? or is dangerous etc?
Video cards without fans use very large heatsinks to help dissipate heat so the cards don't melt. your computer would work at first, then once the heat built up and the card melts because someone took off the heatsink, not so much.
BTW...By "At first" he means for the first few seconds...just in case you were thinking that you would just use it like that for a couple months until you can afford a new card.