9700 PRO temps--back of GPU hot to the touch.

[winr]

I am new to ATI cards.
I have a BBA 9700 PRO with stock heatsink/fan.
I have a 92mm fan blowing across the back of the card.

While playing BF 1942, I put my finger on the backside of the card where the GPU is.
It became pretty unconfortable.

When the PC is idling it is pretty hot also, but I can leave my finger on it.

Also, I have read in various places the shim holds the heatsink .002 above the GPU core.

Would a thermal pad be better then applying thermal grease with that large a gap.

To sum it up, should I worry about it and any recommendations?

Regards.

 

[Malak]

Check temperature with monitor/sensor, like with ATITool. Doesn't sound too hot if you can hold your finger on it.

 

[MDE]

AFAIK the 9700 Pro doesn't have a temperature sensor. I'd leave it alone until it becomes unstable or the warranty runs out.

 

[DJQuanta]

Doest ATItool detects artifacts at stock speeds ?

I got a 9800 PRO off eBay and it runs pretty hot also, and ATItool detects artifacts at stock speeds. I believe the HSF is not correctly installed (the card was used and came with the 9800 PRO All-in-Wonder HSF, although it's a regular 9800 PRO, suggesting that the original HSF was removed and replaced by this one).

But I didn't want to mess up reseating the HSF, so I put a couple of fans (80mm and 40mm) to blow at the card and got rid of the artifacts. Once the Sillencer arrives I will first experiment reseating the installed HSF, to check if the artifacts were due to bad mounting, after that I'll install the Silencer. (I want to know if when I need to sell this card I'll have to give it away with the silencer or the stock hsf).

 

[Killrose]

9700's run hot because of the poor HS to GPU contact. If the back-side seems hot, and the HS/fan unit is not very warm, then there is poor transfer of heat due to poor contact.

Did you remove the HS/fan and try to put AS 3 or something on it? Because that is why the TIM material used is so thick. To insure good GPU to HS contact. AS 3 in most cases is too thin.

 

[Killrose]

I had a 9700 that I did'nt feel comfortable with removing the shim, so I installed a very thin copper shim with AS5 on each side of it. It must have worked because it would overclock real well (350+MHz) and the HS/fan unit actually put of quite abit of heat, so I knew it was transfering well.

Before that, I tried some Antec thermal pad for CPU's and it did'nt work well. I guess I could have doubled them up, but it appeared that I was getting good contact with only one.

 

[winr]

You cant hold your finger on it when playing 3D games or using ATI tool.
Only when it is idling.

The original owner must have had the heatsink off, the end of the pins are messed up lokking.

I ran ATI tool for over 13 minutes and no artifacts.

Thanks for all of the replys.

I think I will pull it off and see whats under there.

 

[winr]

Hi Killrose.

Didnt catch your reply before I posted.

That is exactly what is happening.

The back of the GPU is hot and the heatsink is barely warm.

You installed a thin copper shim between the heatsink and GPU, right.

I will try that, now to go dig out my micrometer.

Thanks.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: winr
Hi Killrose.

Didnt catch your reply before I posted.

That is exactly what is happening.

The back of the GPU is hot and the heatsink is barely warm.

You installed a thin copper shim between the heatsink and GPU, right.

I will try that, now to go dig out my micrometer.

Thanks.

I made the shim a little bigger than the GPU because when you have to trim the shim the edges will want to roll on you abit, which would end up elevating the shim. Best to cut it from the same side on all edges because of this and orientate it so the rolled edge is away from the heatsink. I did try to tap mine flat after it was cut.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

my 9500pro is unbearrable to touch (back side) when its running, specially after gaming, have had zero problems, and it even clocked to 380+ mhz of stock cooling. jus leave it, if nothings going wrong, then dont worry.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
my 9500pro is unbearrable to touch (back side) when its running, specially after gaming, have had zero problems, and it even clocked to 380+ mhz of stock cooling. jus leave it, if nothings going wrong, then dont worry.

That was the problem, I could'nt overclock barely at all with mine. How hot does the actuall HS/fan on yours get?

 

[winr]

Ok.

I put a 15 thou. copper shim crosswise on the original shim and tried sliding various size copper shims under it using the edges.

The thinnest one I had barely fit and would drag pulling it out.

I cut it a bit oversize as Killrose suggested, put some grease on the core and stuck the shim to it.

Put some grease on the heatsink and carefully lined it up.

The heatsink is getting definitely warmer and the GPU is cooler at idle.
The back of the GPU is still hot when testing for artifacts but doesnt feel as hot.

I did this on my second 9700 PRO.

When I get some batteries for my thermal probe I will test both the stock and one with the shim and see what the temp differences are.

 

[carpenter]

I had a 9700Pro and have 3 9800Pros and all of them have run very warm. Now I'm wondering if this may be a reason for poor heat transfer. I'll have to check it out.

 

[winr]

Thje shim dropped the back of the gpu 3 C., thats about 7 degrees.
This is when playing BF 1942.

It lowered it a bit at idle also.

I can keep my finger on it without burning also.

Thanks again Killrose.

 

[ender11122]

I have a 9800 Pro. Same problem as the 9700 Pros, the shim keeps the HSF from making good contact with the core. You can remove the shim using a little prying action with an exacto knife (dont panic, I did it to mine and it worked fine). Then you just need to make sure your HSF is mounted securely but not crushing the core. I did this to my card and the Watercooled it and it is running 20mhz faster on core and much cooler (no temp monitor built in, I touch check mine)