Radeons are not known to run all that hot but just the same I would be cautious about running with out a heat sink maybe you can find some fag tape locally or use some super glue in the corners to reattach it until you can get some thermal epoxy
you could always use this as a chance to put that big 60mm globle win that throughs out a nice healthy 38 cfms on it .. with a bigger heatsink ..... hehe.... ok i must be a cooling freak if i think of somthin like that ..... just an idea though
I just did the thermal grease + super glue trick...worked like a charm. I'm using a Pentium 1 hsf. Actually, I sanded it so smooth that when I put the heat sink on with just thermal grease, and it stuck like a chubby.
Although the card did work perfectly for a week without anything on it! I put it back to stock speed mind you.
Okay, using a global win fop would be like shoving spagetti up a wild cats A$$, especially with a radeon.