does x1950pro HSI (pci-e to agp bridge chip) need a heat sink?

[shimman]

hello,


i just bought x1950pro agp 512mbyte power color version which is my first ati card, and i cannot overclock even 1mhz over the stock speed on memory & only 4mhz on gpu using ati try tool


one thing i noticed is that there is a chip running very very hot on the back side of the card; this chip seems like hsi pci-e to agp bridge chip. strange thing is that this hsi does not have any heatsink on it; the chip die is surrounded with a pad (maybe a thermal pad), but the die itself is left open.

should i cool the hsi chip to stablize the overclocking?

i don't think i have a problem with a power supply

thanks

ps
another problem is that many time my monitor does not get started from the cold boot; solid green light but without any picture; when i do the power cycle, it shows, and this doesn't happen with my old nvidia card. could it be a defective card or a defective monitor, or perhaps a compatability problem between two?

 

[SolMiester]

Hi, I too have just bought my 1st ATI card, although I have yet to work out if the card is faulty or I have a power issue. Mine too is the powercolour but they have just about the best cooler you can get....accelero X2. Mine idle at like 36 degrees....

FYI, 2nd is fine although it has locked a couple of times, or the screen appears to lose the signal from the card and goes to sleep, and the same thing happens straight away in 3D.

I have ordered a replacement card, but not sure if its the card of lack of power.

 

[Stumps]

I hope not....I just stuck my finger on mine...and fvck it was hot...luckily when I put my cover back on I have a pair of 80mm fan's that blow directly on to the Video card...it seems to keep it cool enough, but fitting a Heatsink probably isn't a bad idea...

Bloody hell Rialto was hot :|

 

[Modular]

There should certainly be a heatsink on the bridge chip. Even the 6600gt comes with one and it's not pumping nearly the amount of information through that chip as a card like the 1950 AGP is. I'd drop something on there just to increase ability for overclocking or at least to make sure that the card lasts for more than a year...