Just installed a new HSF on my video card

[YoYoBabyYo]

I just installed a Zalman VF700-Cu on my Radeon 9800 Pro, but it is producing artifacts. Can anybody tell me what some common mistakes are when installing a new HSF on a video card? I used a little bit on artic silver 5 for the thermal compound.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Artifacts upon startup or after a little bit of time? Is the fan going? Did you spread out the AS5? Is the heatsink contacting the GPU correctly?

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Artifacts upon start up. The fan is going. I did not spread out the AS5. I put a small amount in the center. I have no idea if the heatsink is contacting the GPU correctly, but I figure it might have somewhat a good contact since it is bolted down.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Ok..you need to spread out the AS5 on the core in a very thin layer. A credit or business card work well for this. If you're on the computer now and it's doing it..shut it off immediately and spread out the AS5.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Ok. I will try that and report back. Thanks.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Spreading the AS5 did not work. I see still artifacts. Could it have been that I accidently probed the circuit board when I was trying to remove the old HSF?

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Another stupid question, did you plug in the floppy connector?

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Floppy connector? I do not have a floppy drive, but I did plug in all the power adapters if that was what you meant.

 

[mwmorph]

i think his 9800pro uses molexes. later ones did. anyway, do you have any as5 contacting anywhere else but the gpu? mabye some resistors surrounding it? if that dosent work, slide a razor blade under the shim(Shiny aluminum square) and take it off and remount the vf700cu. there is a few thousandths of a inch of clearence between shim and core so taking it off will probably decrease your temps. if that dosen work, i'd have to say you killed it by damaging the core or something when installing the vf700.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

There might be some AS5 contacting the resistors surrounding the gpu. Could that be the problem? I am not quite sure what molexes are, but I got in on the trade-in deal a while back for $129, and have the R360 core.

 

[mwmorph]

moexs are the big 4 prong plugs that came with alter 9800pros, most of which had r360s. yes you plugged it in. if you didnt all it would say is a beep and a message on the screen telling you to plug it in and turn off the pc in red and white i think(happened to me a few ttimes when moving my case). anyway, as5 is capacitive and that means that you have to wipe it off any conductive surfaces or it will a) dmaage the card or b) cause it to run abnormally. wipe it off and do shim thing(shouldnt be a shim problem though) and if it's still there, the as5 probably killed the card.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Yeah..the shim might be it. I had to take it off my old 9700 Pro for the Zalman to contact it correctly.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Yeah..the shim might be it. I had to take it off my old 9700 Pro for the Zalman to contact it correctly.

well a 9700pr had a much higher sim than core, the 9800pro has a shim pretty much level give or take a few thousandths of an inch. not a big problem besides a couple c cooling but mainly it's probably the as5 killing his card.

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Is the shim thing the rectangular boarder on the gpu?

 

[YoYoBabyYo]

Is there a nice method to clean the areas surrounding the gpu containing the resistors? I really appreciate your helps.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: YoYoBabyYo
Is the shim thing the rectangular boarder on the gpu?

Yes. Be very careful about taking it off.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Also, here's a guide to taking the shim off:

http://forums.gideontech.com/index.php/topic,31535.0.html

Scroll down a little further.

 

[mwmorph]

taking off as5 is just uning rubbing alcohol until it comes off and then waiting for it to dry.

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: mwmorph
moexs are the big 4 prong plugs that came with alter 9800pros, most of which had r360s. yes you plugged it in. if you didnt all it would say is a beep and a message on the screen telling you to plug it in and turn off the pc in red and white i think(happened to me a few ttimes when moving my case). anyway, as5 is capacitive and that means that you have to wipe it off any conductive surfaces or it will a) dmaage the card or b) cause it to run abnormally. wipe it off and do shim thing(shouldnt be a shim problem though) and if it's still there, the as5 probably killed the card.

Actually, not to nitpick but, I think all 9800 Pro's used the molex connector. I owned an R350 9800np and two R360 9800 Pro's and bought a couple more for friends and all had molex connectors.

All of the 9500/9700 series cards had the floppy style power connector .

Plus, to the best of my knowledge, these cards won't boot unless you have the extra connector in. The system will just beep at you.

 

[Madellga]

Try an ATI Silencer. The one for the 9800 is actually cheap now.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: mwmorph
moexs are the big 4 prong plugs that came with alter 9800pros, most of which had r360s. yes you plugged it in. if you didnt all it would say is a beep and a message on the screen telling you to plug it in and turn off the pc in red and white i think(happened to me a few ttimes when moving my case). anyway, as5 is capacitive and that means that you have to wipe it off any conductive surfaces or it will a) dmaage the card or b) cause it to run abnormally. wipe it off and do shim thing(shouldnt be a shim problem though) and if it's still there, the as5 probably killed the card.

Actually, not to nitpick but, I think all 9800 Pro's used the molex connector. I owned an R350 9800np and two R360 9800 Pro's and bought a couple more for friends and all had molex connectors.

All of the 9500/9700 series cards had the floppy style power connector .

Plus, to the best of my knowledge, these cards won't boot unless you have the extra connector in. The system will just beep at you.

mine would have a 2 line message in the middle of the screen(probably added later after initial cards shipped?) and a few very early samples i read about in reviews had floppy connectors i think.