Which CPU HS to use on GPU mod?

[Cobalt]

I'm thinking about using a CPU heatsink on my X1800XT in order to get better OCs and the ability to use a possibly quieter fan. I'm just curious as to what you guys think would be the best HS to use and what would be the most versitile with regard to fan mounting.

I also thought about mounting a fan on the end of the card and making a shroud that would exaust the air out the back of the case, with another case intake fan to make sure it doesn't divert air from the CPU. How well do you think that would work?

Bear in mind if I do decide to do thins it won't be for a few months as I have my finals comming up and revision is king right not, so don't go asking for pics ;)

[NightCrawler™]

I mounted a Zalman 9500CNPS on my GTX.. all I had to do was cut away some of the fins to make it fit inside the case... the mounting on the GPU was a breeze.

As for cooling qualities... simply awesome.. at full load (2-3+ hours of severe gaming) my temps never exceeded 52°C..
I sold my 7800GTX who fried his GT and got myself a 7900GTX.. which idles @ 49°C :slapass:
The same goes for my old GTX.. load temps became idle temps.. I had to mount the stock cooler as there was no way in hell I could make it fit inside his case.. so I did the fan on stock cooler mod and shaved off 20+°C

Maybe a similar mod will work on your 1800XT..

[Cobalt]

That looks amazing but I'd need an inverted case and I'd loose all my PCI slots. Shame because that is the ultimate GPU air cooling :)

EDIT: Would it have been possible to link the fan control to the GFX card so that its adjusted in the same way a normal cooler would be?

[NightCrawler™]

You'd lose all your PCI slots that's for sure.. but you gain the ultimate in geekness of cooling LOL

I wouldn't advice to connect any other cooler on the GPU fan controller as those fans would draw more power then the stock fan..

[Cobalt]

Hmmm is there are seperate tach wire or is it all volage controlled?

Actually scratch that, cause your card is gonna be different to mine so I'll stop being lazy and check myself.

The Alaska Evo looked like a good option for me. If I used the LGA775 holes like you did then I would be mounted diagonally to the card and I could position it to suck cool air from the vent that i have right next to the PCIe slot. It would also keep it out of the way of the PCI slots.

My main problem is that the whole think can't really be more than 6-7cm high off the card which could prove difficult to find.

[Cobalt]

110 views and only one person knows anything about it lol.

I checked and it does in fact have a seperate tach link which is good for me from that point of view. I also found that I actually have about 8-9 cm of clearance by measuring more carfully which means I should be able to fit something bigger in.

http://www.swiftnets.com/products/mcx6400-V.asp looks like another possibility. I'm posting these ideas for other people as well as myself so hopefully we will be able to share our knowledge eventually.

[skuliaxe]

You could put a stock Opteron fan on it.
That HS (the new version) is supposed to compare to a XP-90.

And it´s easy to mount on the card. Just 4 zip ties!
I saw this done somewhere, i´ll try and find the link.

But my cusine did this last week and it worked very well.

[Cobalt]

I need to find a stock opteron HS then :D

[skuliaxe]

FYI, it looks like this (plus a review) (http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=399)

[Tulatin]

You could have put a big typhoon on, but fin mods would be needed :D

[Navig]

I've got an X1900xtx and there are some technical difficulties with mounting the opteron stock. The interface plate isn't large enough to cover the mount holes. Thus if you wanted to mount via standard screws, you would have to thread the space between fins. In short, doesn't seem to work well at all for ATi.

I hit up my local electronics store and physically handle (the salesmen hate me I open all the boxes) the heatsinks to see how to mount it. I recently picked up this heatsink (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=86163&CatId=0) for $6.99 and it fits perfectly. The copper base fits right over the core, and the mounting holes line up into the aluminum base around the copper core. I keep it around 10V for very quiet operation and I'm hitting 45c under load. And I still have 1 pci slot below.

The rectangular dynatrons (http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Page=1&N=50001522&Submit=ENE&Manufactory=1522)are classics for modding.

navig

[skuliaxe]

Yes, mounting the Stock AMD heatsink is hard using screws, that´s why I suggested ZIP Ties. IT´s very easy using them. Just use the Head of a Zip tie as a stopper.

[Cobalt]

Navig: are those the 370 mounting holes becuase I can't find that cooler here in the UK but any cooler for the same socket should fit. I might get an opteron HS just to see what I can do with it as they are on ebay for about £3 plus shipping.

[tiborrr]

skuliaxe, that's not true, it's quite simple. First u drill from the upper side with a M8 (this way the head of the bolt has enough space) drill and then from the bottom - contact - side with M3. U then use M3 bolts ofcourse.

[skuliaxe]

skuliaxe, that's not true, it's quite simple. First u drill from the upper side with a M8 (this way the head of the bolt has enough space) drill and then from the bottom - contact - side with M3. U then use M3 bolts ofcourse.

Well ok... to some modding, drilling and stuff is extra work (not hard, but needs time). With Zip-ties it´s a snap, and with that heatsink it looks very clean.

[Navig]

Maybe folks have other ways of doing it, like with zip ties, but let me illustrate the problem:

The mounting holes line up as the pink dots on the attached pic. In the fin area. Which makes it tough. You can try rotating the heatsink, but then you run into other problems: clearance of the pci slot, off-center core, drilling into the heatpitpe, etc.

[Navig]

It's not really about the socket. It's really about every individual heatsink interface, because some are uneven, some use a small interface surface, others have a large, some have bolts down there. That's why I open up the boxes and look.

The dynatron's are good for video card modding because 1) they perform well 2) they are big simple flat interface surfaces. No surprises. As long as you can clear the shim (x1x000s seem to have a very low riding shim), you should be okay.

navig

[lawrywild]

just get a VF900, here are mine :)

http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/4162/DSCF0040.jpg

perform great, small and require no mods...

[Navig]

For SLI, not many options.

For those of us willing to sacrifice the pci slots, $10 cpu coolers handily outperform all the graphics cards coolers out there.

I'm even getting close to a 2 slot solution. (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=447100) But I don't really care for keeping it slim.

I own a number of ready-to-go coolers like an Arctic cooler and a Thermalright V1. I do admit to enjoying tinkering (this is the xtremesys forums ain't it?), but all of my cards are now running a cpu cooler of some sort. The V1 with dual full speed 80mm fans comes close to performing, but is loud and hinders memory sinks.

[Cobalt]

lawrywild: Well we are talking about X1k series cards here so stock is the best VGA specific cooler you can get and I'm not worried about using xfire. Besides the VF900 seem to have mixed results unless you have an inverted case.

I havn't really done anything "xtreme" to my computer yet so that why I'm looking into this. My main problem at the momnet seems to be getting the parts there is a distinct lack of availabilty of many of the cheap HSFs which work well with GFX cards over here in Blighty.

[ArcTan]

I wonder how well a XP90 will go on a video card
Tempted to use it as it's spare and I'd have to fork out an extra us$15-20 on top of selling the XP90 just to get a V1 ultra

[skuliaxe]

Maybe folks have other ways of doing it, like with zip ties, but let me illustrate the problem:

The mounting holes line up as the pink dots on the attached pic. In the fin area. Which makes it tough. You can try rotating the heatsink, but then you run into other problems: clearance of the pci slot, off-center core, drilling into the heatpitpe, etc.

In the link I saw this MOD first, and that my cusine followed, the heatsink was turned the other way and Zip-ties were hooked around those Copper ends that stand out...
I´m still trying to find that link to that MOD...!!!
I could also have my cusine take some PICs...

[Navig]

Wow, not sure I would trust my $500 of gpu to zip ties around heatpipes.

[Cobalt]

Zip-ties are a tried and tested method that seem to work very well unless you attach the ties to something tht is going to get really hot. Most of the HS won't be hot enough but sometimes they can get melted through or loosened by the heat.