Problem with 9800 Pro (r350) after installing Thermaltake Giant Extreme III (artifacts)

[greebler]

So I installed the beefy Thermaltake Giant Extreme III on my R350 ATI 9800 Pro, the initial install was fine. Then I realized like everyone else that the rear heatsink didn't meetup with the board. I tried a few different combos, but couldnt' get it in contact with the rear side of the GPU. O well thats not my problem.
NOTE! I follow the instructions to the T along with Arctic Silver 5 on the GPU and understand that with that paste there is a 200 hour burn in period. However right after I finished and reinstalled the card I turn on the PC and I get artifacts IN WINDOWS! I know how to properly use this arctic silver 5, I didn't use a "good amount" like the thermaltake fools said. I gooped their thermal "grease" all along the main heatsink for the heat pipes.
I will run my system over night wile doing cool down breaks, hopefully this will set in and my problem will go away. I just haven't seen anything like this, I mean after I first booted the card was room temp. Artifacts started as soon as I got my desktop, and in everything else. I am not running any Mark tests, or am I running games. So the card temp is at idle temp/load. At first it seemed a bit hot, but now it feels normal. I don't have the R360 core so I can't get a temp unless I use a probe, which I don't have.

Question: Could this be due to Arctic Silver compount that squished off the GPU onto the sides of the chip??? Thats all I can come up with, I really am stumped.....

Round 2
Ok I have taken it apart and reapplied the Arctic Silver 5, I was kinda worried there might be some compound that may have been contacting somthing else. There wasn't anything out of the norm except for one of the mem-heatsinks was touching some little silver thing on the back of the card. Fixed that and put the beast back together, in under 25 min I might add.
Ok STILL have artifacts in windows and yes I do see some errors in the XP welcome screen..... Is this just somthing that will go on:thumbsdown: as the Arctic 5 sets??????????????

 

[otispunkmeyer]

might have physically damaged the core

 

[greebler]

might have physically damaged the core

Well the only think I may have done is scratch the mirror surface of the chip wile applying the compound with a straight edge razor. I didn't see anything after I cleaned it off the 2nd time, perfect mirror reflection..

 

[greebler]

Anyone???

 

[CKTurbo128]

Did you try putting the original heatsink back on and see if the artifacts still appear?

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: greebler
but couldnt' get it in contact with the rear side of the GPU. O well thats not my problem.

How the heck is this not your problem?

So, with this statement, you say that you couldn't get the heatsink to get in contact with the GPU right? ??????????????

What else is there to say? If it can't contact the GPU, then it will overheat which translates into artifacts and possibly a burnt out core eventually.

Put your stock cooler back on. End of problem.

 

[remagavon]

Don't mod your hardware unless you know what you're doing. It's fun but you need to do research first before jumping into this type of thing. You may have installed it incorrectly and perhaps not have made proper contact with the gpu core, which could have overheated and become permanentaly damaged. (Radeon 9800s do not have thermal throttling)

Also make sure you dont have any part of the heatsink contacting any part of the card that is not a chip (gpu or memory), you could short and cause all kinds of problems.

 

[greebler]

So, with this statement, you say that you couldn't get the heatsink to get in contact with the GPU right? ??????????????

No No No, the rear heatsink doesn't touch the REAR of the GPU. Thermaltake made this heatsink as a kinda univesal setup, its not made specificaly for a 9800 pro. I have done a lot of research on this heatsink and everyone installing it on a 9800 Pro has had this problem. Some have used the thermal "grease" and blobed it on to make contact, but that sounds like a horrable idea. The stock setup has nothing contacting the rear of the GPU so I left it as is.

I DO know what I am doing, I am not some noob messing with my computer. So do me a favor and stop going off on me and saying I don't know what I am doing. I have been working with HW for over ten years, both at home and at work. I have built 30+ computers and have never "fried" any HW, or seen anything like this.

ou may have installed it incorrectly and perhaps not have made proper contact with the gpu core, which could have overheated and become permanentaly damaged. (Radeon 9800s do not have thermal throttling)

I knew there was contact the first time, and I confirmed this after taking it apart the secound time. The bottom of the front heatsink had a nice sqr. shape made of AC5 on it. I doubt that this is a heat issue.....


Now with that cleared up this is what I have done so far.

1 - Installed the Heatsink the first time and tested it
2 - Removed everything from card
3 - Inspected card for any thermal compound outside of main GPU chip
4 - Cleaned entire card, just to be sure
5 - Reapplied heatsink after applying new coat of AC5 to GPU
6 - Yes I know how to properly apply AC5
7 - Left computer on over night to "burn in" AC5 a little, with cool down periods
8 - Let comp. cool down totally and booted w/o fans on Heatsink powered. I was thinking mabey the fan's electromag field might be messing with it. Just a thought.

Yes I was grounded.
Yes I worked on top of a static bag.
Yes I always made sure my fingers were constantly clean wile doing all of this.
No the card is not getting too hot.

 

[carpenter]

He's so sensitive.

 

[greebler]

I don't mean to be pissy, just clearifying that I know what I am doing. It gets the focus of the thread off topic and wastes time.



So update:

I have removed the TTake extreme giant heatsink contraption and cleaned the board down with alcohol (99%). I did find a few places where the supplied grease junk had gotten on a few places on the board. Cleaned those off and replaced the org. ATI heatsink. Still same problems with artifacts.

Memory heatsinks feel hotter than the main GPU heatsink! Can anyone confirm that this is normal, i.e. touch your mem on your card.

So I guess all I can come up with is minor static damage to some chip on the board. However I was always under the impression that if it was damaged by static, then it wouldn't boot at all. I mean I have had old mobos sitting in a box in my living room that I have pieced together computers for friends. These things are totally exposed, and still worked fine.