9700 Pro cooling

[wxrkny]

I want to cool down my built by ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. The stock cooling is clearly not cutting it. What would you reccomend for cooling it. I've heard the Vantec Iceberg 4's work pretty well but only a 3.5cfm fan. ALso I've heard thermaltake has some nice solutions. Post your suggestions here. I really dont want to spend more than 30 on this so try to take that into account. Also, how would i check the temp of the card and what are the max temps?

Edit:

Can someone put a probe on their 9700 pro memory and as close to the core as possible under load. Please post your results here.

Also my 9700 pro has Samsung memory chips. On the chip, same side as GPU, it reads Samsung 223 K4d26323ra-gc2a. On the reverse side the 223 is replaced with 220 everything else the same. Are these for good overclocking?

 

[wxrkny]

anyone?

 

[boyRacer]

The Vantec is ok... wouldn't be enough to give you headroom probably... you can either get this Thermaltake or this Zalman...as far as checking the card temps... i really don't know how to measure that accurately unless you put a temp sensor right next to the core.

 

[Granorense]

how about this one?

Text

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: Granorense
how about this one?

Text

That won't clear the capacitors on the 9700... i had one of those and i couldn't even put it on my 8500... You can get the "A" model but two dollars more and you can get the model i suggested above and you can add active cooling with it later on if you want.

 

[KhanAlf]

I am also in the same boat as wxrkny; I have an ATI 9700 Pro AIW and it works beautifully -EXCEPT- for the one game that I enjoy the most. I need to open the side panel and blow a fan directly onto the vid card. Will I be able to use the thermal and Zalman on this card as well?

 

[MichaelD]

I'm considering the Zalman ZM80C-HP for my 9800 NP (planning on flashing to Pro) as well.

I have read a LOT of reviews on it. I Googled for reviews and read three pages worth of linked reviews!

Most reviews are very favorable; mainly focusing on the "silent" part. "Works great!" But 99% of the reviews state that if you want to overclock, you need that add-on fan.

Many reviews also state that there's not enough room under the Zalman to add memory sinks; I'm not sure how much air from that add on fan gets blown down b/t the Zalman and the PCB; that air WOULD cool down the memory.

I sure wish someone with this thing would chime in.

I look at it this way; the maker of the card (ATI) has the stock HSF unit on the 9800Pro, which runs hotter than the 9800NP...logic says "if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me." But then again, the stock HS unit gets HOT. Yeah, that shows it's working, but more surface area = better heat transfer.

Argh. This is a $45 (with shipping) decision, here!

FWIW, if I do get it, I'm using AS3 on all the contact surfaces. It would be a bitch to clean off should you ever want to move the cooler to another card, but what the hell. If you're gonna do it, do it right.

ps
That slim Zalman fan looks awful "proprietary." If it failed, where would you find a replacement "skinny fan" like that? The fan does offer a built in resistor network that lets you run it at 5v right off the bat though. Cool.

 

[Nebor]

I'm using the Zalman heatpipe on my GF4. Without air flow, that thing will become blazing hot in short order. However, if I plug in only my side window fan, which blows directly sideways in between the heatsinks and pcb, the thing doesn't even get warm. As a result, I'm able to run just my power supply, one 80mm side fan, and my zalman 7000cu.

It doesn't really help me overclock though, but it's not because of heat. It's because of the slowness of this card. Stock is 275\550. I can get it up to 310\600. The heatsink doesn't even get warm.

 

[wxrkny]

You cab get the Zalman cooler here for $31 shipped Link

 

[Davegod]

Get a old aluminum cpu cooler and use that something that takes a 40, 50 or 60mm fan or something. I stuck my old P200mmx HSF on my gf3ti200 and it works pretty well the 40mm fan on it is really quiet too, susprising since when i plugged it in while holding the HSF to test it still worked, it made my fingers really cold.


NB: if you use e.g. artic alumina adhesive to stick it on, this is the problem part. neat "AAA" will stick it on very pernamently, though you can dilute with normal Alumina to make the bond weaker, so it is possible to remove the HSF from the GPU.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: wxrkny
I've heard the Vantec Iceberg 4's work pretty well but only a 3.5cfm fan.

They work OK, but arn`t that much better than the stock one. If it all.

ALso I've heard thermaltake has some nice solutions.

Probably a rumor.

These (link below) are suppost to be pretty good.
Ive heard of 470mhz+ OCs with them on 9800s.
They`ll fit on 9700s as well.

Check second picture down. Theres a link on there somewhere.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&postid=1330181

 

[Davegod]

what sort of moron "Would gladly pay £300 - £350" (USD $500 - $580) for a frickin' graphics card? And on the forums of the sort of e-tailer that would have no qualms about charging the upper limit there?

 

[50]

Originally posted by: Davegod
what sort of moron "Would gladly pay £300 - £350" (USD $500 - $580) for a frickin' graphics card? And on the forums of the sort of e-tailer that would have no qualms about charging the upper limit there?

Not you....