My 9800 XT Mod with Pictures

B

[BB] The Pirate

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 1, 2003
Messages
434
I was sitting at work the other day and was trying to think of really effective aftermarket cooling solutions for my 9800XT and I thought what could be better then a processor cooler? So I took my stock 2.8C heatsink that came with my processor and decided to figure out a way to attach it to my XT.

Here is what I came up with.

http://www.freewebs.com/thejackal1229/Top Side1.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/thejackal1229/Top Side2.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/thejackal1229/Back Side showing plate.JPG

http://www.freewebs.com/thejackal1229/Inside with Mod.JPG

Basically what I did was just make sure that it fit on the board properly and to my luck it did... But barely. Then I made marks on the back side of the heat sink where the holes in the ATI board where. I then just drilled the holes in the heatsink. I didn't want the metal bolts to actually touch the XT so I got some rubber washers and cut them down a bit so they didn't stick out as much.

As you can see all worked out pretty good. Any XT owner can vouch for the fact that the back of this card gets very hot after playing games but now it barely gets warm. I don't have any temperature readings yet but isn't there a program out there for ATI that will get the temps?

What do you guys think of the mod? I think it looks pretty decent; I did a fairly good job with the resources that I had. It looks much heavier then it really is. The Intel Stock heatsinks are fairly light.
 
damn that looks sweet.

Good job and very brave considering what the card costs.
 
Originally posted by PClark99
damn that looks sweet.

Good job and very brave considering what the card costs.
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I know when I was doing it I was like "geez what if I screw this up?" Then I thought oh well you only live once. I figure if I screw the card up in about 4 years I won't care about it anyway. LOL
 
That looks great. Does anyone know if one of those intel fans would fit on my ATI 9600XT?
 
neat

what kind of overclocks do you get now

and what is that "Understanding" book you have there, its in l33t speak
 
Originally posted by [BB] The Pirate
I don't have any temperature readings yet but isn't there a program out there for ATI that will get the temps?
Click to expand...

The latest build of Rivatuner (d/l from guru3d, I think) monitors the core temp of 9800 XT cards. Mine goes up to 54 C under 3d load with the stock cooling. Please report your temps.

Congratulations for the mod. I dream about being so brave as to mod this card; it was too expensive to ruin.
 
Nice job [BB], please post some temps if you get a chance. I'd really like to see how it compares to my watercooled 9800XT (see sig). I'm reading 33C in rivatuner after a couple hours of COD or 3Dmark.
 
Sorry to keep you guys hanging. I'm going to download the Riv tuner to monitor the tmeps and I'll give you a final overclock here soon.

I'll post again in about 30 mins or so.
 
Make sure to post before OC's as well. Would be cool to see the actual benefit of doing this.
 
Ok here are the temps at stock settings

33.5 and 45 at load

I was able to overclock the card to 450/400 and here are hte overclocked temps

40 and 48 at load.

How are those temps? Are they decent?
 
Those temps are decent, they're certainly better than stock at least. I'd be sure to get some ram sinks on the memory, as they can transfer quite a bit of heat through the pcb. Also, did you make sure your hsf was making good contact with the core, and not being obstructed by the GPU shim or any other components? I only make these suggestions because I think your temps could be better, there not bad...., but they could be better. Great overclock BTW, do you know what your max oc was before the mod?
 
hmm i see that kinda thing alot , putting abig ol cpu cooler on a vid card , i hope it works well cause it looks like crap lol j/k not my thing thou i like this kinda coolings
tidalscardcooler!.JPG

articcooled9800pro.jpg
 
Originally posted by ks_tidal
i hope it works well cause it looks like crap lol j/k not my thing thou i like this kinda coolings http://www.blainej.com/store/articcooled9800pro.jpg
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Are you serious??? You think that the performance of your sh***y little VGA Silencer compares to the thread starter's modded cooling?

The Intel cooler is an awsome mod. It looks and works better than your solution, and last but not least, it involved much more thinking and careful work than yours.
 
nice OC [BB], btw, what are you using to OC it? Rivatuner? Powerstrip?
just curious, keep up the good work! :D
 
Ya know. I have a spare 2.8C heatsink in the box in my closet , I was trying to think of a way to mod something with it. It did cross my mind for the 9800XT. But I wasn't sure.

Thanks for the testing, now I know I can do it!

BTW, for ultimate cooling, I'd say take out the stock fan on the intel heatsink and put in a high-CFM one.

I'll post pictures of my mod, now that I got a little bit more courage to start it.

I'm going to put the 2.8C heatsink like you did. Than nice ramsinks on front & back. Then I'm probably going to mod the old stock heatsink to cool the back plate right above the GPU. We'll see if that works out.

I may take it a step farther and go buy a nice ($20 or lower) copper Intel heatsink for it.
 
Are you serious??? You think that the performance of your sh***y little VGA Silencer compares to the thread starter's modded cooling?
Click to expand...


SHIITY?? i dont think so newblet read the reviews on the silencer and some of the OCs alot have gotten with it you must not have one or know anyone that does
 
Originally posted by ks_tidal
SHIITY?? i dont think so newblet read the reviews on the silencer and some of the OCs alot have gotten with it you must not have one or know anyone that does
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LMFAO


...sorry, it's just so funny to see someone named "Newbie Cheeze" accuse someone else of being a "newblet"...lol:p

oi, maybe get a panaflo on that baby^_^, deltas are just too phucking loud...
 
Originally posted by ks_tidal
SHIITY?? i dont think so newblet read the reviews on the silencer and some of the OCs alot have gotten with it you must not have one or know anyone that does
Click to expand...

That's all fine and dandy for the 9800Pro users. But the fact remains that the VGA Silencer normally SUCKS for 9800 "XT" users because it won't fit right. :)
 
Originally posted by Spidey329
Ya know. I have a spare 2.8C heatsink in the box in my closet , I was trying to think of a way to mod something with it. It did cross my mind for the 9800XT. But I wasn't sure.

Thanks for the testing, now I know I can do it!

BTW, for ultimate cooling, I'd say take out the stock fan on the intel heatsink and put in a high-CFM one.

I'll post pictures of my mod, now that I got a little bit more courage to start it.

I'm going to put the 2.8C heatsink like you did. Than nice ramsinks on front & back. Then I'm probably going to mod the old stock heatsink to cool the back plate right above the GPU. We'll see if that works out.

I may take it a step farther and go buy a nice ($20 or lower) copper Intel heatsink for it.
Click to expand...

The 2.8C heatsink fits perfect, just take your time and make sure the holes that you drill in the heatsink are same as the one in the board... layout wise.

I'm using Rivatuner from www.guru3d.com BTW. I like it and it seems to work the best for keeping your settings.
 
spppsh everybody knows that copper is better cooling. :p

looks awesome. i was semi-tempted to do the same with my 9800 pro... but i lack the cajones. :)
 
Originally posted by ati_azn
thats the samething im doing with my radeon 7000
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wtf? You must be extremely bored. Your 7000 will run with a slight gust of wind from the neighbours front door opening.. No need for this kind of cooling
 
I wonder what kinda cooling I could get if I rigged up my cars super charger to blow on the heatsink!!!
 
Originally posted by [BB] The Pirate
Pull up your skirt and do it. ;) Mod your Pro
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feel free to donate 300 dollars if i fuck up! :)

it's already got the zalman super nifty heatsink on it. it's just aluminum. but i don't mind.
 
Originally posted by Brent
and what is that "Understanding" book you have there, its in l33t speak
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yes, this is the first thing i saw when i looked at the pics.

TELL US!!!! :D
 
I'd be too afraid to do anything to a card that expensive for fear of damaging it, and I doubt that it'd be returnable. Hats off for making it work, though.
 
...sorry, it's just so funny to see someone named "Newbie Cheeze" accuse someone else of being a "newblet"...lol
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cause im from amdforums , im senior member there fool
 
[BB] The Pirate,

9800 XT temp update: it seems that Rivatuner's core temp measurement is wrong. The latest 4.1 Catalysts show the core temp of XT cards (on the "overdrive" page), and it's usually 20 C higher than what Rivatuner shows (over 70 C under 3d load with stock cooling).

I would really like to know what core temp the 4.1 drivers show with your modded cooling. Now when I'm typing this, my card's core temp is shown at 65 C, but my room is rather cold right now. Thanks for the info.
 
Originally posted by ks_tidal
cause im from amdforums , im senior member there fool
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calm down man, no offense meant, it's all good :)
i was merely going by what i saw, and even then, i meant no disrespect to you in particular, merely the titles, they were ironic...














....... so SHUT THE HELL UP. :D
 
Originally posted by ks_tidal
cause im from amdforums , im senior member there fool
Click to expand...
Ooo, a senior member on the amdforums. You should put that in your sig.
 
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