Update: i reseated my Sparkle AGP 6600GT stock hsf with as5...

[dug777]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache

Originally posted by: dug777

Originally posted by: lifeguard1999
As said by several people, take a look at your heatsink. My 6600GT PCIe card was hitting 92C in Far Cry. I reset the heatsink and now it hits 62C. Idle is around 42C.

i think i'll do that.

worth reseating it with as5, or will cheaper thermal paste do the trick?

dug, I surprised you didnt reset the heatsink in the first place. Thats almost the first thing I do with any video card. AS5 is your friend

i don't have any on hand

I've never actually done any of that so far, just been upgrading my first rig i bought 2.5 years ago (yeah i was pretty late to the game, since i'm 21 now ), i bought the rig 2nd hand so i never had to mount the hsf.

 

[bdoople]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
Dug- the Zalman will cut your temperatures like nuts - probably ~20C off your idle and up to 30C off your load temps as long as you install it properly with some AS5 . My 6800GT (which also runs hot as hell) went from 59C idle/86C load on stock cooling to 49C idle/61C load (and overclocked 50 Mhz) using the Zalman VF700Cu .

I've come to the conclusion that NVSilencers are wonky and would probably avoid using them. I bought an NV Silencer5 rev2 and used it on my 7800GT and 6800GT; the retention mechanism on the back uses a flimsy backplate that allows some wiggle room with the cooler so it doesn't make perfect conact with the GPU core. I've had nothing but success with ATI silencers (used an ATI4 and an ATI5) but something about the backplate on the NV5 makes it not clamp down tight on the GPU. The Zalman is designed so that it grips the GPU tight like a vice, with rubber spacers in there to make sure the contact is just tight enough.

Furthermore, the NV Silencer 6 (which I think works on the 6600GT PCI-e only anyways) seems to have a heatsink that's about half the size of the heatsink on the NV5, ATI Silencer 5, etc. Whereas the Zalman is always the same size .

Originally posted by: Rollo

Originally posted by: dug777
my idle temps are 58-60'C, which is on par with most other people i know running AGP 6600GT's with the stock hsf i think.

Again, why bother with this stuff for so little cash? 6800NU for you, and if you get one of the 50% that unlock to 16/6 cards, you'll have REALLY changed your gaming experience.

I thought you didn't mod cards because it was illegal/amoral/evil and all that stuff . Or it's ok to software mod 6800nu's for extra performance, but not to overclock other cards?

Besides I wouldn't say a 6800nu @ 16/6 makes much sense this day and age. It's a stopgap between the 6600GT (which performs pretty comparably, especially when overclocked) and the X800XL/6800GT class cards.

I have the NV Silencer5 Rev2 on my eVGA 6800GT and idle ~40C load ~55-62C. The most I've ever seen was 69C after 12 hours of rthdribl. Aside from being a weird setup, I didn't see any problems with the retaining mechanism if you clamp it down right and use the rubber stopper guy.

 

[dug777]

bump for advice

 

[dug777]

bump for update

 

[lifeguard1999]

Congrats on the better temps. I finally tested out my card (42C idle/65C load) and was able to o/c up to 590 core (previous was 550 core). Let us know if you get a better o/c.

 

[lavaheadache]

Those are pretty good results and the stuff hasn't even settled in yet. Dug you can expect to see a couple more degrees fall off as AC5 begins to set it

 

[dug777]

awesome, i'll have a proper go overclocking later, but i'm pretty happy so far

 

[Rogue 2]

I have an XFX 6600GT AGP, and the heatsink was so crappy and so crappily installed, I got the VF700-Cu and it ROCKS. Used some Ceramique (I don't trust myself w/ AS5 yet - Ceramique is easier to use and cleanup IMO) and it's rock solid... guess I should try overclocking it now, huh?