Jakey, please don't take a hammer to your heatpipes at first. Test how the new card fits with your existing configuration before hand! Do this as a last resort I implore you. svl7 is an incredible contributor and I trust his posts a lot but I'll tell you don't demolish and damage your heatpipes prematurely! Test, record and test more before you go this route! I'll tell you, I have a Clevo 7970m in my m15x. I choose to use the Clevo x-bracket so I didn't need to file down my 5730m x-bracket nor a 6990m dell x-bracket I purchased seperately. Buying screws that fit was much easier. The heatsink fits wonderfully and the clevo x-bracket had short enough posts to make excellent contact and screw-down pressure compared to the 6990m bracket. My reply is only I don't want you to mangle and damage your heatpipes without testing seating your card after securing your heatsink. I believe this is fundamental.