cooling a 9800xt?

[Highlandish]

I purchased the smartvga brand 9800xt with a decent looking HSF combo that
wraps around the card and ram, but it was overheating with an ambient
temperature of 22'c, system temp of 34'c and card temp of 70'c. I placed a
lage fan close to the card which blows at an angle to direct hot air away,
the side of the case is off and it runs at 60'c when not gaming. however
running FarCry at maximum/tweaked settings and the card at best graphic
settings, it overheats and crashes my system. how can I keep it cooler? what
aftermarket HSF would you recommend?

 

[Cuzman]

" how can I keep it cooler? what aftermarket HSF would you recommend? "


The Zalman ZM80C-HP is good, but they weigh quite a bit, and that weight is
mostly to the outside of the card. If you move your case around, there's a
big chance that your card can dislodge, and there have even been stories of
people damaging their cards and AGP ports. They are
advertised as 325g in weight, and that is without the optional 75g ZM-OP1
fan. The Sapphire Radeon 9800XT Ultimate Edition has them on as standard.

Zalman ZM80C-HP: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/ZM80C-HP.htm
Zalman ZM-OP1: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/ZM-OP1.htm
Reviews: http://www.bit-tech.net/review/229/ ,
http://www.tweakzone.nl/extreviews/444 ,
http://www.modthebox.com/review252_1.shtml ,
http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Zalman/Zm80c-hp/1.php


The Thermaltake Extreme Giant III is very similar to the Zalman, but also
includes a set of ramsinks.

Product: http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/chipset/a1919.htm
Reviews: http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-194-1.htm ,
http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cooling/Tt_Giant_III/ ,
http://www.cooltechzone.com/reviews/cooling/giant_001.php


The Arctic cooling VGA Silencer has a lot of happy 9800 Pro customers, but
the current versions don't fit the 9800 XT. Hopefully there will be a new
version out soon that supports your card.
Product: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/en/products/vga_silencer/
Review:
http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/arctic_cooling_vga_silencer.php

 

[Wayne Youngman]

I purchased the smartvga brand 9800xt with a decent looking HSF combo that
wraps around the card and ram, but it was overheating with an ambient
temperature of 22'c, system temp of 34'c and card temp of 70'c. I placed a
lage fan close to the card which blows at an angle to direct hot air away,
the side of the case is off and it runs at 60'c when not gaming. however
running FarCry at maximum/tweaked settings and the card at best graphic
settings, it overheats and crashes my system. how can I keep it cooler? what
aftermarket HSF would you recommend?

Hi,
one way to reduce your cards temps would be to work on your case cooling.
What is your cooling set-up in your system?. The last PC I built has system
temps of 25°C, that was with 4x 80mm fans (2 intake, 2 exhaust).

I think the next revision of the ARCTIC Cooler is for the XT. . .

 

[Highlandish]

In

" how can I keep it cooler? what aftermarket HSF would you
recommend? "


The Zalman ZM80C-HP is good, but they weigh quite a bit, and that
weight is mostly to the outside of the card. If you move your case
around, there's a big chance that your card can dislodge, and there
have even been stories of people damaging their cards and AGP ports.
They are advertised as 325g in weight, and that is without the
optional 75g ZM-OP1 fan. The Sapphire Radeon 9800XT Ultimate Edition
has them on as standard.

Zalman ZM80C-HP: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/ZM80C-HP.htm
Zalman ZM-OP1: http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/ZM-OP1.htm
Reviews: http://www.bit-tech.net/review/229/ ,
http://www.tweakzone.nl/extreviews/444 ,
http://www.modthebox.com/review252_1.shtml ,
http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Zalman/Zm80c-hp/1.php

actually I already have this one sitting on my old 9700np. I wasn't sure if
it was suitable for the 9800xt as the zalman doesn't cover the ram. however
today I just fixed this, I chopped up the default copper hsf unit and put
the ram sinks back on, then installed the zalman over the top of the
original copper plates (left on front and back). instead of idling at 71'c
it now idles at 58'c. I guess that's an improvement. stupid thing is that
after putting this modded card back in the case, I discovered the
Northbridge hsf was stopped. bloody thing died on me and I reckon
that was what was causing the crashes. I used an old cpu fan on
it and now it seems more stable.

 

[Highlandish]

In

Hi,
one way to reduce your cards temps would be to work on your case
cooling. What is your cooling set-up in your system?. The last PC I
built has system temps of 25°C, that was with 4x 80mm fans (2 intake,
2 exhaust).

I think the next revision of the ARCTIC Cooler is for the XT. . .

I have been meaning to cut a few holes in and placing extractor fans to drag
out the hot air. now I am up for the task.