replacing fermi TIM.. have you done it?

[konakona]

So I got this cheap 470 from TD, put it in my computer at school and decided to OC it the best I can. 70% was the highest on the fan speed I was able to tolerate, and 1.05v at that gives me temsp between 98-99C while doing 775/1820 (doing kombuster runs with power draw unlocked and post processing on, that is). I would like to bring the temps down a bit, perhaps oc it a bit higher if possible.

There is a guide I found from another thread: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m...namitedata.com

In the past I have replaced the heatsink on a half dozen of video cards, so not really afraid to get my hands dirty - just feeling a bit lazy about it I am particularly interested in hearing from those that had evga cards, did this produce any appreciable effect?

 

[EarthwormJim]

I did it on my 8800gt which doesn't even have a heat-spreader. It wasn't hard.

Unless there's those warranty voiding, tearable stickers obscuring the heatsink screws, give it a shot.

 

[A_Dying_Wren]

Er... A school computer has enough power in its PSU to run the 470 GTX? Dang I wish I was in your school. I considered it astounding when my school even had a C2D chip in a computer

 

[Sylvanas]

Before replacing TIM, be aware of any push pins fastening the cooler to the PCB which are always an annoyance to remove properly. Worth it though, sometimes you can expect up to 6c lower temps with a cleaned GPU IHS and heatsink + good thermal paste.

 

[Petey!]

Yeah it made a couple degrees difference, but your OC'ing and raising the voltage on what can be argued is an already warmer card, and if you cant tolerate the fan at anything over 70%.. well, maybe a lower OC is the way to go. Or the ghetto way, take off the shroud and strap a 120mm fan to the heat sink.

 

[konakona]

Er... A school computer has enough power in its PSU to run the 470 GTX? Dang I wish I was in your school. I considered it astounding when my school even had a C2D chip in a computer

no, it's my personal computer at the school lab (I am an RA). why would I put my own card in a public property lol

 

[Soneast]

Yep, and it helped a ton. My card used to get up to 100°C or higher in Furmark and 85-90°C while playing Just Cause 2. Now she barely hits 85°C with Furmark and hovers around 70-75° during regular gaming. Of course after I saw how badly the factory TIM was applied, it was no wonder it ran so hot.

 

[konakona]

Seeing how there are no short-able components near the IHS, I guess I could get away with a conductive TIM for a tad better performance. I have seen people doing it with AS5 and IC diamond 7. I guess I will give it a shot tomorrow nite

 

[dualsmp]

Good grief that's enough TIM for 3 or 4 heatsinks.

 

[konakona]

finally got around to do this...
all i had at hand was some cheap cooler master shit (just says "high performance", yeah right) so I just went ahead and used it. Turned out to be real watery white stuff, prolly silicon based. The temps went from 99C earlier to 105, at which point the fan ramped up to 100%

Just ordered two syringes of shin-etsu g751, hope this works better...

 

[Dark Shroud]

That sounds like the Tim sat too long, I had something similar happen to a tube of AS5. I had to pull the back of the saringe open to re mix it.

Shin-etsu is great stuff, you should notice a difference.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

I put AC MX-2 on my 5770 Vapor-X for the hell of it and that even helped temps. I can't say how much exactly since I didn't do very precise apple to apple testing, but it definitely helped. The stock paste wasn't really excessive either; it was white and evenly applied. I'm sure it was bottom-dollar stuff though. You can see my testing on ebay. MX-2 is pretty easy to apply as well. Also using it on my GTX 275, though it has an aftermarket cooler

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120609684451&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

I'll most likely apply MX-2 to every GPU I get from now on.

I've had the same application of AS5 on my CPU for like 2 years only now to realize I applied it incorrectly (spread it out). Once I move I'll be putting MX-2 on that as well.

 

[Rifter]

Ive taken the heatsink off and replaced the TIM on every GPU i have bought since my Geforce 4. I also lap the heatsink/gpu at the same time, might as well when you have it apart anyways.

On almost all i've done there was way to much TIM and it and it has always been that generic white stuff. lapping and replacing with good thermal compound has got me at least 10c lower under load temps on every card i have done it to, well worth the couple of hours it would take you.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Ive taken the heatsink off and replaced the TIM on every GPU i have bought since my Geforce 4. I also lap the heatsink/gpu at the same time, might as well when you have it apart anyways.

On almost all i've done there was way to much TIM and it and it has always been that generic white stuff. lapping and replacing with good thermal compound has got me at least 10c lower under load temps on every card i have done it to, well worth the couple of hours it would take you.

Key words there are "at least" 10c; which is great. And a cooler running GPu will usually result in less fan noise and is "healthier" for the card in general. It's a win-win.