graphics card in the garbage?

[Jesse the Body]

i went to install a arctic cooler vga silencer unit on my card, and when i reinstalled it i got some major artifacts. i put stock heatsink back on and same thing.I struggled with it to get the push pegs off the heatsink it came with, did i put too much stress on the card when doing this. am i dead in the water with a useless card now.