SVC VGA Silencer Cooler & RAMSinks results

[Robor]

A little backround. Here's my rig...

Abit IC7-Max3
P4 2.4C @ 3192
1024 Geil PC3500 Platinum @ 5:4 radio
Sapphire 9800NP flashed to a pro

With stock cooling and no heatsinks on the RAM chips I was able to get my 9800 to 398/348 a few months ago. I honestly don't remember what it did in 3dmark or benches in any games. I guess I could clock it at that and run a few to compare but it's late.

Anyway, here's the results. After many runs of 3dmark 2k3 my core peaked out at 409.5 and I stopped my memory at 391.5. Anything over 409.5 and I was getting "sparkles" on the pixel shader 2.0 test (the baby rhino had a few sparkles on his leg). I think I could push the RAM higher but I'm tired of running 3dmark over and over tonight. Final result is a score of 6351 for 3dmark 2k3 and 19641 for 3dmark 2k1.

To be honest I thought the VGA Silencer would allow me to push my core higher. I mean, I was running near 400 with the default HS/F combo. Only gained another 10Mhz or so but I guess I shouldn't complain about a 40Mhz overclock and at least the warm air is getting tossed outside the case now. The RAMSinks really impressed me though. Over 60Mhz above default speed is nice!

Total cost invested in the setup is $250 for the card itself and $40 for the VGA Silencer and RAMSinks. I'm pretty happy.

 

[Corporate Thug]

do u have to remove the shim?

 

[Robor]

I didn't remove the shim. There was no mention of it in the instructions. I just removed the stock cooler, cleaned off the old paste, applied some AS Ceramique, and bolted it down per instructions. Seems to fit snug but it's hard to tell. If it isn't making good contact I would've expected lockups or BSOD's. I had to have run 10 3dmark 2k3's in a row back to back while playing around with the core/mem settings and I had zero errors.

 

[Robor]

shady... Is your 9800 running the retail cooler? I know our GPU's are the same and I would expect the SVC cooler to do at least as good. The reason I ask is maybe I don't have good contact with my GPU??? Again, I'm not complaining. This card is screaming fast either way.

 

[tallman45]

Robor,

Were you able to put ramsinks under the Vga silencer cooler or only on the back ? If you did which ones worked for you ?

Thanks

 

[Slogun]

I did not remove the shim on my card either.

I had occasion to remove the VGA Silencer and reinstall (to install an addition which makes the exhaust fins meet the backplate) and found that the VGA Silencer had made excellent contact with the GPU.

 

[Robor]

The RAMSinks easily fit underneath the VGA Silencer. They are the ones offered HERE. The ones I got are the "OCZ BGA Ramsinks / Chipset Heatsinks". They've got several different types of RAMSinks but I don't remember them being available when I ordered mine. Wonder if they are better?

I removed the retail HS/F before I applied them so it made it very easy. All I did was clean the RAM off with a clean damp paper towel then dry them with another one and stick the RAMSinks on. They are easy to apply because the RAM is directly on opposite sides so you can apply some pressure without having to worry about flexing the PCB. I put it on a cutting board and gave it firm pressure for about 30 seconds on each RAMSink.

 

[JH68]

Originally posted by: Robor
The RAMSinks easily fit underneath the VGA Silencer. They are the ones offered HERE. The ones I got are the "OCZ BGA Ramsinks / Chipset Heatsinks". They've got several different types of RAMSinks but I don't remember them being available when I ordered mine. Wonder if they are better?

I removed the retail HS/F before I applied them so it made it very easy. All I did was clean the RAM off with a clean damp paper towel then dry them with another one and stick the RAMSinks on. They are easy to apply because the RAM is directly on opposite sides so you can apply some pressure without having to worry about flexing the PCB. I put it on a cutting board and gave it firm pressure for about 30 seconds on each RAMSink.

So you just placed it over the memory? B/c i orderd the silencer and was just wondering about the RAMSinks

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: Robor
The RAMSinks easily fit underneath the VGA Silencer. They are the ones offered HERE. The ones I got are the "OCZ BGA Ramsinks / Chipset Heatsinks". They've got several different types of RAMSinks but I don't remember them being available when I ordered mine. Wonder if they are better?

I removed the retail HS/F before I applied them so it made it very easy. All I did was clean the RAM off with a clean damp paper towel then dry them with another one and stick the RAMSinks on. They are easy to apply because the RAM is directly on opposite sides so you can apply some pressure without having to worry about flexing the PCB. I put it on a cutting board and gave it firm pressure for about 30 seconds on each RAMSink.

told yah , my OCZ ransinks fit as well. I have essentially your computer, but with CPU at 3332ghz and only 512mb of DDR512 ram and i scored exactly 6400 on 3kmark03 with the 9800np. I'm glad everything worked out.

 

[JH68]

Does anyone think these will fit under the vga silencer BGA RAMSINKS?



----------
Rig

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: JH68
Does anyone think these will fit under the vga silencer BGA RAMSINKS?



----------
Rig

yes yes and yes

 

[bbendingr]

Originally posted by: shady06
do u have to remove the shim?

Oddly, my card did not have shims at all. However, I ran into another problem. The blue clip cover wouldn't clear the nb fan on my IS7. I had to abandon the clip altogether. Does anyone forsee any problems with this? I just used the screws with the rubber washers.