Xmicro 9800PRO Xtreme ram @ 405mhz!
I've always comtemplated putting ramsinks on my video cards but never got around to it. But today while benching my Gigacube 9800PRO Xtreme (default 398/351x2) on my A64 3000+/AN50R setup i decided why not.
I was going to use Vantec IceberQ Pro 4s copper ramsinks on my 9800PRO Xtreme but thought to myself what about my 128MB Xmicro GF4 Ti4200 VIVO's ramsinks that i removed 7+ months ago at http://www.fileshosts.com/vantec/ice...cro4200Vivo/1/ ?
You can see the ramsinks at
http://www.fileshosts.com/vantec/ice...rgPro4_01.html
http://www.fileshosts.com/vantec/ice...rgPro4_03.html
http://www.fileshosts.com/vantec/ice...rgPro4_05.html
http://www.fileshosts.com/vantec/ice...rgPro4_07.html
Well see the black sticky tape at http://www.fileshosts.com/vantec/ice...rgPro4_18.html on one of the ramsinks well all of them are still very sticky even after 7 months being off
The mod
So what i did was just stick 3 of the 4 xmicro ramsinks onto my 9800Pro's ram chips so that each ramsink covered 2 ram chips each using the same black sticky tape already on the ramsinks that Xmicro implemented. I was blown away by the results!
Before stock 9800PRO Xtreme without ramsinks
stock ram = 351mhz x 2 = 702
oc'd ram = 380mhz x 2 = 760 repeatable and benchable i could sometimes do 382mhz x 2 but with artifacts and with Cat 4.3 the VPU recover kicks in.
After 9800PRO Xtreme with Xmicro ramsinks - the surprise
stock ram = 351mhz x 2 = 702
oc'd ram = 393mhz x 2 = 786 and can barely just bench at 398mhz x 2 = 796 with artifacts and VPU recover is happy and doesn't show it's ugly head! :eek: :thumbup: :D
Using infra-read thermometer i measured the ramsinks under 3dmark load to over be between 33-36C :)
so with just stickying on old Xmicro TI4200 Vivo's ramsinks on 6/8 9800pro ram chips, my ram max oc went from 380x2 mhz to 393+ x 2 mhz! no volt mods, no extra thermal tape need at all!