I like the OP's style, but agree with others that the act of taking it away sans destruction would have been equally effective. Either way, taking away the fuel from the fire is the right step.
Before I say this worked for me I should note that I did not try reseating the heatsink prior to cooking the card. The compound I cleaned off the GPU was pretty thick and clay-like in texture, so it may have just been that.
That being said, 8800GT was suffering from severe artifacting from...