Unsure of upgrading video cooler...

Philippine Mango

Diamond Member
Oct 29, 2004
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Ok, I've currently got a Radeon 9800pro 128 outfitted with the following:
Heatpipe Cooler+Fan (which is required for this card)
And Currently I'm limited to about 425MHZ overclock which is pretty abysmal for what I paid for this cooler $30. The memory DID overclock better and by about 20MHZ (with the added HS) so I'm partially satisfied with that. Though my friend is using this to cool his 6800GT:Friend's VGA Cooler and it's allowed him to overclock to ultra speeds (it was past before but turns out he was artifacting). And I'm wondering 1. How much hotter does the GT run. and 2. Is it worth it for me to upgrade my cooling to the one my friend has?
 

RampantAndroid

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2004
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I really don't know here...comparing these two isnt exactly equal. One is designed for massive heat dissipation from the GPU, but don't have the fins to allow for good airflow....the other is smaller, but makes good with its smaller real estate.

My guess is this: the HP80 cannot be used on the 6800....I think because the 6800 series runs very hot. The VF700 dropped my 6800 Ultra temps by 10C idle, and 20C load. It was absurd. Take into account...the memory cooling on the VF700 is just little ramsinks. You could easily get better ones though, form OCZ or something.

In the end, the VF700 is compatible with a lot of vid cards, so you'd be able to bet on using it on a future card when you upgrade, and which point it will make a difference.
 

Cdubneeddeal

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 2003
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Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
mango

unno?

I don't think it's worth upgrading the heatsink. Getting a few MHZ overclock just isn't worth it. ALso, if you try to sell the original heatsink..you're not going to get a lot of money or interest in it due to it's lack of compatiblity with new video cards, including the 6800.

Patrick,

Reason why the Zalman he has now is incompitible, is not due to the heat the 6800 produces, it's due to the mounting holes.
 

mwmorph

Diamond Member
Dec 27, 2004
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i think it's probably just your vido card's oc limit. the hs/f shouldnt be holding you back. the zm80d is a pretty good cooler with a fan attatched. the vf700 may get you 5-10mhz more maybe.
 

RampantAndroid

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2004
6,591
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Originally posted by: Cdubneeddeal
Originally posted by: Philippine Mango
mango

unno?

I don't think it's worth upgrading the heatsink. Getting a few MHZ overclock just isn't worth it. ALso, if you try to sell the original heatsink..you're not going to get a lot of money or interest in it due to it's lack of compatiblity with new video cards, including the 6800.

Patrick,

Reason why the Zalman he has now is incompitible, is not due to the heat the 6800 produces, it's due to the mounting holes.

Is that it? Oh well, I still wouldn't trust passive cooling to anything in the 6800 series.....not after my 6800U got a 85C temp while playing counterstrike source...