Better Cooling for the 7800GTX - Page 16

[quote=Mr. K6]As far as the pics not showing, do you have "show pictures from originating websites only" selected in your browser options? That could be the problem.

And yes, the problem with the silver shims is that although they are a heatsink and do absorb heat, they don't bring it away from the memory and the card very effectively. Essentially, they just allow the RAM to heat up more slowly. Now, my newer design is not perfect, but I favor it over the older one. The new design isolates the memory chip and since the fins project out directly from the RAM, they not only get the heat away from the underside of the card and the back of the core, but also run a lower risk of touching other components. I'm still working a thermal interface material (TIM), as I don't think AS5 is what I need here.
Genius! Have any measurements for your last design "thin fins" ?

Oh..

Thank you

You sir, are truly genius.

Unfortunately...

...I haven't been able to duplicate the cooler GPU results via a copper shim.

First attempt, the shim was a little rough on the surface (all the sanding), did the AS5 thing. Unfortunately, card heated up faster than just plain AS5.

2nd attempt, made the shim (new one) slightly thinner and polished it to a VERY high sheen to get rid of any valleys and maximize contact. Unfortunately, almost exactly same results...faster heating, Atitools artifacts at 15 minutes, GPU heating to +92C (no higher due to AtiTool finding artifacts). And I know my games (some of them) will heat it faster and hotter than that.

I think part of the problem is that the shim causes increased clearance on the vidram pads, resulting in hotter vidram which causes the artifacts. The only other thing I can think of is that I'm 'bowing' the shim when I sand it, causing it to not make full contact on the heatsink or GPU. And I'm not ready to make the 'ram fins' sinks. Sigh...guess I'll go back to AS5 only...

Thanks for the info anyway! And keep up the good work...who says you don't learn anything in college!

FastCargo

HYBRID Model (7 shim model)

I've used your 4 (shim) FIN Model and my 2 copper shims plus with the silver 0.020 - 0.023 shim on the core to create the most awaited hybrid cooling mod.

Here's the pic of the FINS sitting on the mem chips:


Idles at 33/40 atleast when I started it (and didn't goto 60 as it did when the core was contactless).

For those who are having trouble getting the core to touch (snuggly) on the center heatsink (that we're adding on top of Dell's copper fitted Heatsink), here's a tip on how to measure the gap. I would put strips of paper where ever I wanted to measure the gap. After screwing the piece together, you can tug on the strips to ascertain the contact btw the chips and the heatsinks.

So back to the testing....

RAN the 3DM05 test (Pixel shader 100X with full settings) with Fangui on (gaming). Got MAX 55/95

Then waited about 15 minutes and found the idle was 35/49 (didn't got back to 33/40 in that much time??? Guess heat must be collecting somewhere, and it needs time to disperse into the environment. kind of hot today compared to the day I did the last failure test.

Anyway. I'm running 3DM06 at full settings once to see where the temps go.....

.....and the highest temps gotten was 60/74 (again with Fangui on and ofcourse my COOLER always running on full).

NEXT DAY AFTER MODDING:

Idle temps at 33/45 (2 hours after starting with my COOLER running on full). I guess that's my stable idle temps for now.

hmmmm... i just applied some as5 on the vidram/bottom hs part, my idle is 48, on for 5 hours now. so i get 30/48 (fangui), 5 hours on, itunes icq and x2 mozilla. No audigy .

I DID exchange all screws now, in the end i got two scratches on the middle copper part of the HS, doesn't impair cooling though, i get 78°C after 20min atitool. (86 fangui after 1h fear, all max, no soft shadows, like 20fps ^^)

K6, I actually have done the alternating up/down on the fins (thought not shown in the pic).

According to Fangui, CPU 34/ GPU 45 is the idle and that means actual CPU = 39, GPU =50 (if we add 5 degrees on those temps).

One Concern: When I was about to put the Card in, I realized that a little bending of the fins was needed to accommodate the card. While doing so, I noticed that I could easily pull out "finned shims" and bend them and then re-insert them back in the space btw the backing and chip. Since AS5ed both sides of the inserted shim (of each fin) so the slipped in and out real easily. I think we've got to find a better medium (instead of AS5) to hold those shims frimly and snuggly?


I did sand down the fins (part that touches the memory and backing only) so to get max contact, but again, the fitting is not so tight. Guess with time they'll set in as the AS5 dries?

SUGGESTION: I guess a couple of those fins can be replaced with more elaborate (longer winding) fins that would prob do the job better? What do you think?

QUESTION: Is the 6800 Aluminum Heatsink (the long frame that the PCB fits on) the same as the 7800's? I just realized that I installed the 7800 GTX card on the older 6800 Ultra frame. Although, the frame form the 7800 says REV A01 (instead of REV A00), they look almost the same except for a little notch protruding (into the top edge) of the copper sink. Am I missing something by using the 8600 frame instead of the original GTX frame.?


I installed FEAR but I could find the settings you mentioned; where is the 1490 (I see 1400 only in the game)? Is this setting in the Nvidia control panel or in the game itself. I put MAXIMUM for COMPUTER and MAXIMUM for GAME (in the Display options of the game) and I didn't find how to disable SOFT SHADOWS. Just want to keep the same settings as you for comparison sake?

You mentioned in some post about isolating the HD from the (older L-SHaped fin). Is this a consideration with these new fins?

Thank you everybody for the suggestion and tips!

you have to modify the config file for the game to play at widescreen resolutions. Heres a link
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com...pic.php?t=2475

do you think this mod could be done on a 6800ultra???

I ran ATITool for about 45 min and got 84 Max GPU temp.
Then, I played 45 min of FEAR (with MAX settings as described by K6) and MAXED at 87. So we're around the same temps, though I believe you've not used the FINS. Correct? I guess the fins would attribute to bringing the temps back down faster (once we MAX at 86-87) after gaming is over. As far reducing the MAX temps, I guess we need some sort of ACTIVE COOLING AGENT (maybe K6 will pull this out of his box of tricks sooner or later).

Or maybe most of the heat is generated at the CORE and since we've both got shims in the center, we done the best we could to bring the MAX temp down.

Easily!! Just follow the exact same instructions and you'll be fine.

cool, maybe i can beat the record

Someone should just make an external enclosure for the videocard and run wires to the inside, then mount an entire ****ing refrigerator to the thing, not only would in runs your games at great temperatures, it would given you a excuse to game near the fridge, and allow you to get food without getting up. I should get paid for having such great ideas.

hmmmm.....
also, you could design a set of heavy duty casters, and also mebbe a big battery, so you could pull the refrigerator with you..

OR .... mebbe design a cooling unit that could be used with Liquid Nitrogen.
you could always fill up the unit after the nitrogen has evaporated...and then you could have mebbe a flask in which you carry the liquid nitrogen in ? ---for some Gaming on the Go ??

OR maybe we could just mount our laptops and ourselves on a big honking polar bear and just ride him around out in antarctica and game on his back as he moseys around.

what size screws did it take, i was looking into doing that instead of using the shim, I haven't been able to find any the right size though.

mr.k6, gotta say i love the modding you and others are donig in this thread.

ah.....but we really fall short with the power...the battery can only run so long...
Mebbe strap on a Generator as well ?? and mebbe a Dish antenna...so we could browse www.notebookforums.com ?
But we'd havta make some pitstops at some gas stations to fuel up the generators...