Vantec Iceberq 4 on 9800 Pro

[PCBliss]

I put a vantec iceberq4 non pro on my 9800 Pro, the instructions didnt say i needed to remove the GPU shim, do you guys think i need to? The card seems to be a little warm on the back...

 

[Todd33]

WTF is a shim?

 

[PCBliss]

Its a little layer around the GPU itself that is raised, it helps prevent the GPU core from being crushed.

 

[cdub]

I've installed an Arctic Cooler VGA Silencer on my 9800 Pro, and I could see the heatsink touching the GPU despite the shim. I would be hesitant to remove the shim.

 

[PCBliss]

Hmm yeah. Maybe i should use a little more AS5 just to make sure its got good contact.

 

[boyRacer]

you're using an Iceberg 4 on a 9800 Pro thats been soft modded to a 9800XT?

personally... i dont think the fan on that is big enough even if the heatsink is made of copper... plus the surface area is small compared to the stock heatsink. i was going to buy that for my 9800 Pro as well but was advised not to by the people at rage3d.com.

 

[PCBliss]

Well it certainly cools much better than the aluminum fan that came on the card. I ran the card at stock XT speeds and above with the stock hsf, and i think this would do a lot better than the stock one considering its about the same size, has a better fan, and is all copper. What would you suggest i put on it instead?

 

[jjmIII]

Heh, just ordred one of these for an FX5200. I assumed a 9800 would have better oem cooling. How is the finish on the Iceberq??

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: PCBliss
Well it certainly cools much better than the aluminum fan that came on the card. I ran the card at stock XT speeds and above with the stock hsf, and i think this would do a lot better than the stock one considering its about the same size, has a better fan, and is all copper. What would you suggest i put on it instead?

This one... i'm sure youve seen it before... works quite well... my brother has it and he's gotten good results on his 9800 Pro... and it uses the onboard power header.

 

[PCBliss]

Would that interfere with my teakmonster ramsinks? And do you recommend removing the shim to install the VGA silencer?

 

[PCBliss]

Its the iceberg 4 which is a lot bigger than the regular iceberq... they have an absolute mirror finish on the bottom.

 

[boyRacer]

yeah the ramsinks will get in the way... i have the tweakmonsters as well on a 9700 Pro... my brother has the 256mb version with the ugly ramsinks that came with the board but they fit under the VGA silencer. you won't need to take off the shim.

I had a crystal orb on my 9700 Pro and that thing gets rather hot... that has more surface area than the iceberg 4 and a bigger fan as well... but hey if its reliable on you then i guess you're ok. i had to take off the shim on my 9700 Pro though... since it was getting in the way and i would have had to use thicker thermal paste.

EDIT: There is a version 2 of the VGA silencer that will clear the AIW cards so i guess the ramsinks will fit under that. SVC.com sells them.

 

[PCTweaker5]

I think the shim problem is fixed with the 9800 Pro's from what I hear and it seems like it makes perfect contact with my VGA silencer.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: bR

Originally posted by: PCBliss
Well it certainly cools much better than the aluminum fan that came on the card. I ran the card at stock XT speeds and above with the stock hsf, and i think this would do a lot better than the stock one considering its about the same size, has a better fan, and is all copper. What would you suggest i put on it instead?

This one... i'm sure youve seen it before... works quite well... my brother has it and he's gotten good results on his 9800 Pro... and it uses the onboard power header.

you know.. i sorta like that design, but what I can't figure out is why you would take hot air from inside the case to cool the card. why not pull cooler air from the outside? seems that would make more sense.

that being said, the other minor thing is this will not cool the ram at all, and as mentioned elsewhere, ram sinks will interfere with installation.

 

[PCBliss]

So can anyone confirm for sure if version 2 will fit ok with tweakmonster ramsinks?

 

[khurios2000]

Originally posted by: PCBliss
Its a little layer around the GPU itself that is raised, it helps prevent the GPU core from being crushed.

Does removing the shim will void the warranty?

 

[PCBliss]

yes

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: PCBliss
So can anyone confirm for sure if version 2 will fit ok with tweakmonster ramsinks?

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: khurios2000

Originally posted by: PCBliss
Its a little layer around the GPU itself that is raised, it helps prevent the GPU core from being crushed.

Does removing the shim will void the warranty?

Removing the heatsink will void the warranty, let alone the shim.

 

[PCTweaker5]

Originally posted by: CaiNaM

Originally posted by: bR

Originally posted by: PCBliss
Well it certainly cools much better than the aluminum fan that came on the card. I ran the card at stock XT speeds and above with the stock hsf, and i think this would do a lot better than the stock one considering its about the same size, has a better fan, and is all copper. What would you suggest i put on it instead?

This one... i'm sure youve seen it before... works quite well... my brother has it and he's gotten good results on his 9800 Pro... and it uses the onboard power header.

you know.. i sorta like that design, but what I can't figure out is why you would take hot air from inside the case to cool the card. why not pull cooler air from the outside? seems that would make more sense.

that being said, the other minor thing is this will not cool the ram at all, and as mentioned elsewhere, ram sinks will interfere with installation.

It depends on how well your case is ventilated. I have cool air sucked in from the front and side and hot air exhausted through the back and top so if it were to suck air from the back I would just be getting hot air. As for the ramsinks interfering, I installed some ramsinks on my 9800 Pro with the VGA Silencer and there was no problems at all so the tweakmonsters *will* fit with the VGA Silencer. My ramsinks were about a half inch tall but there was still plenty of headroom for a bigger heatsink.

 

[sep]

I added these to my card. I've only played with Oc'ing it and I was able to go higher on the ram and gpu. This week I'll do some more testing. For me, I like this over the stock.

Vantec Iceberq4 Premium VGA Cooling Kit w/ Blue LEDs $15.99
http://www.svc.com/vaicprvgacok.html

OCZ BGA Ramsinks / Chipset Heatsinks $5.99 each set of 4 (need 2)
http://www.svc.com/oczbgarachhe.html

 

[Clon22]

My R96XT has a iceberq 4 with some AS5 on it. Just like it coz it looks cool and has a blue led.
Anyway it didn't help much with my o/c, just a slight increase.

 

[PCBliss]

I got rid of the vantec, it was only temporary, switched to THIS

 

[sep]

Okay. I found my problem. When I installed the Vantec Cooler I sleved the power cord. The sleving was rubbing againts the fan slowing it down and not allowing the fan to run at top speeds to cool my beast. I snipped it back some and don't get any artifacts at my original oc'ing speeds 400/700. Tonight I'll crank it up some to see how the core is doing.

I'm using ATITOOL to overclock mainly for the 2d/3d settings. 2d is default and 3d is overclocked. Also it has a util to get highest clock rates (mem, core) without artifacts. It goes through a scan and heatup phase for testing.

-I didn't remove the shim. I don't recommend you do this unless your intentions are to use water cooling solutions.
-Fan works better than the original. Looks better too! I do wish the video card's gpu was on the back. That way you could see this fan/lights from my case window.
-Heat sinks look cool and I think will give it some cooling

FYI...
I found a review at Guru3d (can't find it now...will look later) very helpful and informative. I found the phases of moding and effects to be very informative for me. Yeah it takes overclocking the card to extremes, but this covers everyone from the default card to the voltage modders! It documents each steps performance increase/decrease.

-JC

 

[McArra]

Originally posted by: PCBliss
I got rid of the vantec, it was only temporary, switched to THIS

It seems to be quite noisy, doesn't it?