Best cooling solution for a 9700Pro?

[Vonkhan]

With summer here, no a/c (makes my dog sick :confused, overheated steel case an doverclocking put together ... my poor 9700Pro needs loose a few degrees.

The only one I know is the Zalman Heatpipe Cooler (ZM80-HP). Are there any others and which one would u reccomend?

Thanks!

 

[oldfart]

For a 9700P, its actually the ZM80A-HP

 

[Vonkhan]

aaah, ok ... thnks (thts the one they have @ newegg)

anymores?

 

[ctk1981]

From the couple of people I know, they were not satisfied with the heatpipe. Sure its great if you want a quiet PC, but it sucks if you are trying to actual keep it cool and do some OC later.

The stock cooler with a better thermal compound actually does a pretty decent job. If you want to lose a few more degrees and can deal with a moderate amount of noise, mount a 1U Server cooler onto it. I done this mod to my 9500 Pro without using epoxy. Basically I drilled and tapped myself a couple of holes and mounted it to the card with plastic screws. Worked out great and keeps the card cool.

 

[Vonkhan]

u drilled holes into ur video card???

yrrrrr, i'd turn my pants a mellow yeloow-brown color if i had to make a hole in 9700pro.

how did u remove the stock fan? is it hard to push the lil' plastic wedges out?

 

[ctk1981]

It is kinda hard, its a pain in the butt really. Eventually after you work the wedgies out, you have to somewhat pry the heatsink fan off because of the thermal tape usually sticks to it.

Drill holes in the card...not exactly. The two holes that are already there, need to be tapped slightly. Its a 6-32 tap thats required. Basically, look at the holes...around the holes you will see some wire traces...generally they are not even close to the hole. Just so you know, the 6-32 tap practically fits through the hole, so its not like your hogging it out or anything. You are probably enlarging the hole a 1/32" or maybe even less really.

The real holes I drilled were into the 1U server cooler...I tapped those and then used a plastic screw to fasten it to the card.

 

[Lonyo]

Have you got any pics of the "operation"?

 

[ctk1981]

Not of the operation, but of the final product. In a week or so I might actually remove the fan and snap a few pictures off. For the time being I have a top shot and a bottom shot of the card here:


http://forum.visiontek.com/tm.asp?m=227&p=1&tmode=1&smode=1

Bottom shot basically shows the two screw heads that you can see. Oh, btw those are 6-32 plastic screws I think 3/4" long is all you need.

 

[BoomAM]

Actually "Ctkelly", the Zalman Heatpipe is an excellent cooler for the 9700pro.
You can buy pre OCed 9700pros that have the Zalma Heatpipe as the cooler. So they cant be that bad.
Plus the "A" version(ie, the newer one), has an "emboss" part, on the part that goes on the core, so you dont have to remove the shim and/or put loads and loads of thermal paste on the core.

 

[JammingJay]

Hmmmm, I always thought the stock heatsink/fan was a actually a better cooler than the Zalman. According to tomshardware, they also confirm stock cooling is a few degrees cooler whether under a load, or at idle temps vs a Zalman. The purpose of a Zalman is simply to have a more quiet solution. Click here for the exact review I really can't forsee a Zalman beating the stock cooling, unless you add additional fans along with the Zalman to somehow blow air either onto or across the heatsink. Then again it might eliminate the purpose, or the effectiveness of the heat pipes then.......