sapphire relabeling 9800 xt to 9800 pro!?

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03-02-2004, 07:46 PM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Did you get this figured out yet?

I hope mine is at my door tomorrow. I'll run it stock, then flashed, and note any differences.

Then, i'll rig up my custom cooling and give it hell...

Yeah...of all things it was a bad FDD drive.

The BIN files were getting screwed on the transfer from hard-disk to floppy....

I made a new flash disk on my server and the BIN flashed no problem...

My only thing is that the core tops out around 430 without volts...the mem does 380 with ease uncooled and un-voltmodded.

If the core goes over 470 with volts..I keep...if not..it goes to RMA land.
03-02-2004, 07:58 PM
Soulburner

With what kind of cooling?

The stock one?

Can you measure the default GPU volts?
03-02-2004, 08:58 PM
Semper Fi

hollywood, glad you got that figured out bro, I was about to reply to your PM before I read this. My fdd's always gettin corrupted, I have no idea why, always screws up my raid driver installs during windows setup.

about the core, try swapping a different cooler on there, even with my massive Athlon hsf, it still gets soo damn hot. Im about to go pickup an old SLK and figure out how to mount it and secure it to the case so it can hold the weight. These things get warm.
03-02-2004, 09:16 PM
Soulburner

Well it looks like I won't have it until probably Friday, they didn't ship this one as fast as they have in the past... :(
03-02-2004, 09:22 PM
Kosmic

Hey guys, sort of off topic, but the XT bios gives more volts to the CPU, right? Is there a way to edit a BIOS to give your GPU whatever voltage you want without having to do a solder volt mod?
03-02-2004, 09:32 PM
Soulburner

No, the core volts is not handled through the BIOS, it is implemented through hardware.

The core volt is set at 1.8v even before the flash I believe (on these cards in this thread).
03-02-2004, 09:34 PM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by Semper Fi
hollywood, glad you got that figured out bro, I was about to reply to your PM before I read this. My fdd's always gettin corrupted, I have no idea why, always screws up my raid driver installs during windows setup.

about the core, try swapping a different cooler on there, even with my massive Athlon hsf, it still gets soo damn hot. Im about to go pickup an old SLK and figure out how to mount it and secure it to the case so it can hold the weight. These things get warm.

Flashed to 9800XT BIOS successfully....defaulting at XT speeds.

Well...this is with my Alpha PAL6035 just as displayed in this thread:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...threadid=29962

Max core without artifacts before volts is 430. I have a feeling some juice will hook this thing up...will get on it tonight. Funny thing is I never even ran the card with the original heatsink. ;)

Mem unvolted and unsinked is 380 max.

Will keep progress updated. Now I need to find a good XT voltmodding guide!!!
03-02-2004, 09:47 PM
Semper Fi

this is slightly off topic, but whats a good way to get into volt modding? I have all the supplies, Im just afraid Im going to trash my hardware.
03-02-2004, 09:49 PM
Soulburner

Damn Hollywood that is extremely crappy...

If mine only goes 430 before artifacts even with a CPU heatsink...I will be one xtremely unhappy camper (I dont have the tools to do any volt mods, this card will run at stock volts).
03-02-2004, 10:24 PM
hollywood

Major find.

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Damn Hollywood that is extremely crappy...

If mine only goes 430 before artifacts even with a CPU heatsink...I will be one xtremely unhappy camper (I dont have the tools to do any volt mods, this card will run at stock volts).

Well...there is hope...as I think I just found the reason for the cruddy pre-voltmod clocks.

It seems that these cards were not just flashed with a 9800Bios but made with really low vcore as well...especially when compared to an actual 9800XT.

DEFAULT 9800XT VOLTAGES:

1.77 VGPU

2.69 VMEM

DEFAULT Sapph 9800Pro 256 / aka 9800XT VOLTAGES:

1.69 VGPU (quite low;) )
2.66 VMEM

It seems that these cards are voltage handicapped at the factory as well. This was troubling me as my R9800P was clocking at least 450 core without voltmods...but it's default voltage was 1.73. So this may explain the mystery.

Voltmodding in progress...results tomorrow.
03-02-2004, 10:59 PM
Kosmic

Looks like it's time to buy some soldering equipment and study up on doing volt mods for me, too. My 9800pro's core only goes 425 without artifacts on water cooling. (128 meg sapphire, bought before this thread started...) I was hoping for 440 or so. Heat is definitely not an issue. The top side of the card where the core is only barely gets warm after tons of benches or gaming. My guess is that low voltage is holding me back.
03-02-2004, 11:09 PM
TheDude

Quote:

Originally posted by Semper Fi
this is slightly off topic, but whats a good way to get into volt modding? I have all the supplies, Im just afraid Im going to trash my hardware.

Best IMO to practice with some dead hardware first. Do a search, there is a newbie guide to solddering in here somewhere. Remember to tin your tip or your wire first, use just enough to do the job, etc. Use the right soldder. Sooner or later you will be confident enough to go for the real thing. Start with an easy volt mod where the pins are large and far apart.
;)
03-02-2004, 11:39 PM
sky

Re: Major find.

Quote:

Originally posted by Hollywood
Well...there is hope...as I think I just found the reason for the cruddy pre-voltmod clocks.

It seems that these cards were not just flashed with a 9800Bios but made with really low vcore as well...especially when compared to an actual 9800XT.

DEFAULT 9800XT VOLTAGES:

1.77 VGPU

2.69 VMEM

DEFAULT Sapph 9800Pro 256 / aka 9800XT VOLTAGES:

1.69 VGPU (quite low;) )
2.66 VMEM

It seems that these cards are voltage handicapped at the factory as well. This was troubling me as my R9800P was clocking at least 450 core without voltmods...but it's default voltage was 1.73. So this may explain the mystery.

Voltmodding in progress...results tomorrow.

no way man ;) i mean .. did you check the values my card had? no matter if pro or xt bios was flashed my card was idling around

vgpu: 1.778v
vref: 1.505v (yea +0.1v)
vmem: didn't bother with my swinging sixties voltages...

keep the multimeter hooked and have it measure the voltages while fully loaded.. good ole 3dmark 01+03 should be enough and report back, what the readings are then.

seems i was right about the volts part. something regulating the voltages on these cards seems dope. how else would your card get a "little" less juice than necessary, while mine occasionally gets way to much (speaking of vref).

oh and the vgpu voltmod didn't do jack for me. it mostly just stabilized my core voltage around 1.78v (set to 1.90v! and briefly showing that true value on booting, so the mod was working after all) ;)

also if you all are looking for vmods, i guess you just check out the 9800xt vmod in the mods-section. that's what i did.
03-02-2004, 11:57 PM
sky

Quote:

Originally posted by TheDude
Best IMO to practice with some dead hardware first. Do a search, there is a newbie guide to solddering in here somewhere. Remember to tin your tip or your wire first, use just enough to do the job, etc. Use the right soldder. Sooner or later you will be confident enough to go for the real thing. Start with an easy volt mod where the pins are large and far apart.
;)

yup dude, that's exactly the way i would start - and actually did start :D. i grabbed an old bnc-nic which was (is?? :D ) still working before i went about it - but who still uses bnc today. that did a good deal for me regarding learning how long you can touch your soldering iron to the part in question, etc..
but then again i'm more of the ghetto-vmodder anyway using hotglue (yea baby yea) as seen in my pics. the first mod i did was my 9600tx - trying in hotglue ;) later on using real solder and again hotglue, this time to insulate it. so with this 9800 i decided to use hotglue first as i wasn't sure about the card - voltages and mods were working and you don't see ANY trace in the card - and if you don't pull on the wires they're pretty much fixed aswell.
03-03-2004, 12:46 AM
Semper Fi

thanks Dude, Ill get crackin tomorrow

sky, you mean you just glue the tips of the wires directly to the contact points? thats awesome! :toast:
03-03-2004, 01:28 AM
sky

yea.. only thing is you have to hold the wires down for good until the hotglue has cooled down else you'll probably won't get a reading or contact. then your basically set. and it's also very easy to get off. this is why i use it first to test a card - and if it works and the card seems to be a keeper i'll remove it and do it the old fashioned way :D. then some hotglue to fix and insulate the wireends from shorting other pins and you're set for eternity - whatever that means in a gfx-cards lifespan... :)
03-03-2004, 01:36 AM
Semper Fi

does the glue ever melt under extreme load during benching or anything?
03-03-2004, 01:41 AM
Goldlocke

Semperfi, yes hotglue gets soft in situations like say hot RAMsinks without proper airflow. Then the RAMsinks will fall off.
But in the case of attaching wires it will stay.

btw, greetings to your governor! ;)
03-03-2004, 01:51 AM
TheDude

The glue is nice as insulation. The first mod I ever tried was a trimmer on a PSU. When I turned it with a screwdriver,(while running) the pressure pushed it into contact with another component shorting out my mod and blowing the PSU! Insulation good....Fire bad!
03-03-2004, 02:38 AM
Nookie420

hmm, i'm wondering how my coolermaster copper 1u cooler with 60-80mm fanduct and a 33cfm 80mm fan will cool an XT gpu.
03-03-2004, 06:22 AM
Soulburner

1U huh....those do pretty well though I think my Aeroflow should beat it.

I had a Dynatron Copper 1U on my 5950 at 550 core so it works pretty well.

I just hope I get a "good one" and not some gimped card that the cooling won't even help...

BTW what are you guys using to measure this point of artifacting?

Are you using ATITool or are you actually running it through 3DMark?

Also, how about some different BIOSes? Once you force the XT flash, it shouldn't be locked anymore, right?
03-03-2004, 07:26 AM
sky

i'm using atitool to see where the individual max clocks SHOULD be since it will give me way lower clocks for combined. and then it really is testing with 3dmark '03. if you can pass thru nature without those nasty little white dots you should be ok. some guys use certain spots in games - i think catch22atplay uses unreal2 or something like that. but my bet is on '03.

never tried a different bios. but then again i had a short look into the bios with radlinker and didn't find any big difference between the pro and the xt-bios other than the clockspeeds. but i don't know if you can have a more detailed analysis of the bios with other tools.
03-03-2004, 08:54 AM
hollywood

1 Attachment(s)

Dog of a card...

Well...I finished the mods on my card and it's not looking too good. I've got this gigantic Alpha HSF on the GPU...it's making great contact, etc.

Then I did the voltmods. *Note: I used 10k VRs..if thats wrong..then it may be a reason...please correct my choice of VR if wrong)They worked...but not nearly as well as when I did my 9800Pro. At first it wouldn't even boot with the vcore @ 1.91v. I then had to gradually step the voltage down to 1.78 vcore. It boots there...but it still sucks. Now for the vmem...did that one too...However it didn't seem to do anything except make my card more unstable, as ANY voltage above 2.8 resulted in reboots under heavy load.

Max before voltmods: 430/270

Max after voltmods: 425/270 :mad: :(

So...I've removed all mods and flashed back to default. The card then works just dandy as a plain 'ol 9800 Pro for hours of stress testing. I ordered another one last night as this dog is going back to the pound.:mad:

VMEM:
03-03-2004, 08:56 AM
hollywood

1 Attachment(s)

VGPU:

*Note - It may look like my wires are on kinda sideways and may be contacting or shorting...but they're not...I simply bend the tip of the wire into a small "L" so a flat portion makes contact with surface.
03-03-2004, 09:07 AM
phobos

On my voltmods I fix the wires with prommy sealstring ;). It sticks like hell and is also easy to remove.
03-03-2004, 09:21 AM
Techmasta

Re: Dog of a card...

Quote:

Originally posted by Hollywood
Well...I finished the mods on my card and it's not looking too good. I've got this gigantic Alpha HSF on the GPU...it's making great contact, etc.

Then I did the voltmods. *Note: I used 10k VRs..if thats wrong..then it may be a reason...please correct my choice of VR if wrong)They worked...but not nearly as well as when I did my 9800Pro. At first it wouldn't even boot with the vcore @ 1.91v. I then had to gradually step the voltage down to 1.78 vcore. It boots there...but it still sucks. Now for the vmem...did that one too...However it didn't seem to do anything except make my card more unstable, as ANY voltage above 2.8 resulted in reboots under heavy load.

Max before voltmods: 430/270

Max after voltmods: 425/270 :mad: :(

So...I've removed all mods and flashed back to default. The card then works just dandy as a plain 'ol 9800 Pro for hours of stress testing. I ordered another one last night as this dog is going back to the pound.:mad:

VMEM:

What did you use to insulate the legs on that pot? Looks nice.
03-03-2004, 09:28 AM
TheDude

Looks like same thing I use...regular old heatshrink wrap?
03-03-2004, 10:42 AM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by TheDude
Looks like same thing I use...regular old heatshrink wrap?

Yupper...regular 'ol heatshrink tubing....don't leave home without it.

Have to say...I really hope the next card performs better....'Cause I gave up an ATI 9800Pro that clocked 465/370 all day long for this....:(

It's all good though...it's not the first time I've been screwed on a hardware deal...and prolly won't be the last as long as I've got the sickness... ;)
03-03-2004, 11:19 AM
Soulburner

/me getting nervous
03-03-2004, 11:53 AM
Techmasta

I thought it was heat shrink but it looks glossier than the stuff I've seen.

What size did you use and what did you use to heat it?
03-03-2004, 12:50 PM
hollywood

Chin up my man...

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
/me getting nervous

Don't be bro...

The added 256MB of ram really helps with gaming and running high-res textures and such. Plus...I seem to of gotten the dog of the pack...so....keep your chin up and be positive. I'm ordering another one because I have a REALLY good feeling that it will be a good one... (I rubbed my lucky rabbits foot too...;))

The good news is that they really are XTs....they take the flash like gangbusters. The only thing is...are they failed XTs or simply downgraded to flush out overproduction??? We don't know as of yet...so we'll see.

P.S. - Another thing...I didn't burn in my card at all...I just went right to work on it...I'm taking my time with the next one...

-Holly
03-03-2004, 01:33 PM
WildKard

I didnt get mine at the egg cause im canadian, I ordered one through a local distributor DEFINATELY an XT, XT board XT ram XT core :D its an XT!

I flashed the XT bios and the card does 450/390 stock cooling, it gets pretty damn hot though...I might buy a Vantec heatpipe/fan for this puppy
03-03-2004, 04:36 PM
Boyne7

i hope to god mine does well, id hate to get a card that performs worse than my 500:400 pro, though i still have the pro so if it does do worse ive still have it.
03-03-2004, 04:37 PM
Boyne7

anyone got any info on whether the ASUS 9800 pro "XTs" are as crippled as the sapphire ones, that is if theyre crippled at all.
03-03-2004, 06:01 PM
Semper Fi

Mine gets incredibly hot after an hour or two of desert combat. Make sure you guys have active cooling blowing at it from the side or this thing will raise the temps in your case a good 10-15f
03-03-2004, 09:14 PM
2fast4u

I got 2 of them today. Installed the first and flashed to XT bios, no problem. Boots fine but NO 3D!!? I have installed cats 3.7 to 4.2, reinstalled dirx, and still no dir3d. I can't run anything. Anybody know what I may have done wrong?
03-03-2004, 11:01 PM
hollywood

Different BIOS to try

I've had some renewed success with my crappy Sapph9800P256/XT.

While the core is simply a dog...I've found a BIOS that has seemed to boost performance none the less. The ATI.9800XT.256.Hynix25.BIN is the one everyone is using...however out of frustration I began flashing to different types. Before with the ATI9800XT Bios my max core was 430...and that was WITH artifacts. Now it is artifact free at 430 and benches up to 450. What BIOS you ask??? The Hercules XT/Hynix BIOS. Grab it here and try it out if you want to gain some more core from these cards.

http://softmod.ocfaq.com/bios/Hercul...56.Hynix25.bin

Before:

Alpha PAL6035 HSF on Sapphire 9800 Pro 256 / XT

Bios: ATI.9800XT.256.Hynix25.BIN

Speed ATiTool safe: 418/378

After:

Alpha PAL6035 HSF on Sapphire 9800 Pro 256 / XT

Bios: Hercules.9800XT.256.Hynix25.BIN

Speed ATiTool safe: 431/390

Give it a shot if you're looking for more performance.

-Holly
03-03-2004, 11:37 PM
Semper Fi

gonna test this right now bro, thanks for the tip
03-03-2004, 11:56 PM
Kosmic

That makes me wonder about the importance of the vid card BIOS. It obviously has an impact. Maybe I should try some different BIOS's for my 128 meg sapphire 9800 pro... I hope you guys get good results on your R60s with volt mods & the new BIOS
03-04-2004, 12:00 AM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by Semper Fi
gonna test this right now bro, thanks for the tip

Yeah man...sure thing...let us know if it works for you too. I'd like to know I started a trend... :p:

My 2nd one will be in Monday...Hope she's the one...

Hmm...That reminds me of a Beatles song...remade by Robbie Williams...
03-04-2004, 12:16 AM
Soulburner

Excellent...looks like my idea to try out some different BIOSes has paid off.

The fact that you found the Hercules to be so good is interesting, as Hercules is also what macci uses ;).

2:20 am....card will either be here today or tomorrow (Friday). Can't wait to let her rip!
03-04-2004, 11:22 AM
Big Deel

I got My card to 450/400 with no mods.
I got the core to 517 with a gpu mod set at 1.97v and 80 watt peltier cooling it.
03-04-2004, 11:41 AM
Soulburner

Got the card today, testing in 3DMark2001 Nature allows 430/390 where minor artifacts start, 149fps with CAT 3.9.

Will flash the card now.
03-04-2004, 12:06 PM
Techmasta

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Got the card today, testing in 3DMark2001 Nature allows 430/390 where minor artifacts start, 149fps with CAT 3.9.

Will flash the card now.

Stock cooling?
03-04-2004, 12:18 PM
Soulburner

Yup stock cooling.

Flash was successful, used Hercules BIOS.

Clocks remain the same, 430 core is where the artifacts start on the core, and 380 on the memory and absolute max it will run before locking up is 450/400 with heavy artifacts.

Gonna cool the core better and have at it, hope to see some good gains. No ramsinks yet though, may come tomorrow hopefully.
03-04-2004, 01:50 PM
Soulburner

Does anyone know what this chip is?

Its getting in the way of my heatsink...

Ignore the paste, I was checking contact.

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R360%203%20Chip.jpg

If only it were a couple of mm shorter :mad:
03-04-2004, 02:00 PM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Does anyone know what this chip is?

Its getting in the way of my heatsink...

Ignore the paste, I was checking contact.

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R360%203%20Chip.jpg

If only it were a couple of mm shorter :mad:

Simply offset the HSF...It doesn't need to be perfectly centered on the core as the cooler portion of the HSF base will wick heat away anyhow...
03-04-2004, 02:02 PM
Soulburner

Well that's the thing, I can't.

You'll see why when I take my next pic.

This thing BARELY fits on here. Its like if the caps were 1mm over it wouldn't fit.

Its rediculous how perfectly it fits between some of the components on this card, its like they were put there on purpose.

The only problem is that little chip, it rises up just a few mm too far preventing perfect flat contact with the GPU.

Ramsinks did come today so I can do those too. No problems with those.
03-04-2004, 02:07 PM
Techmasta

Can you mod the hs to fit?
03-04-2004, 02:10 PM
Soulburner

Hmm....well I suppose that I could somehow drill a crevice in the heatsink for that little chip to fit in...it would allow that corner of the heatsink to come down all the way I believe.

The card is almost ready, if I don't get satisfactory results then I will look at doing that.
03-04-2004, 02:20 PM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Hmm....well I suppose that I could somehow drill a crevice in the heatsink for that little chip to fit in...it would allow that corner of the heatsink to come down all the way I believe.

The card is almost ready, if I don't get satisfactory results then I will look at doing that.

Learn from my mistakes...let the thing burn in for a while...
03-04-2004, 02:23 PM
Soulburner

Well its not completely touching all of the core, if you look at that pic you will see where it touched by the mark the paste left. That little chip is lifting up one side of the heatsink.

I may have to take Tech's advice and modify it a bit.
03-04-2004, 02:37 PM
huesmann

Hey guys, I'm new here and want to chime in. Just got my Sapphire 9800pro 256 last night, flashed it to the ATI 9800 XT BIOS ('cause it has Hynix RAM), worked like a charm. I suppose I could have benched it before flashing, but I didn't really care about that. I've replaced the stock cooler with an Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer. I'm not so much interested in OC'ing the f*ck out of the thing, but I am curious to know what it'll do OC-wise. I left ATItool running on the core last night and working on the memory while I was away at work today, and it reported the core at 424 and the memory at 380, up from 412/365.
03-04-2004, 02:40 PM
Soulburner

That seems to be about the same everyone is getting, very close to mine.
03-04-2004, 02:40 PM
huesmann

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Well its not completely touching all of the core, if you look at that pic you will see where it touched by the mark the paste left. That little chip is lifting up one side of the heatsink.

I may have to take Tech's advice and modify it a bit.

If you have access to a grinding wheel, you could just grind away the corner of the heatsink base so it clears that chip. Give it a little extra space in case it wants airflow.
03-04-2004, 02:46 PM
Semper Fi

Yeah soul, just dremel that bytch down a bit bud. I had to do the same to my HSF, works great now.

BTW, where do you guys get this ATItool? Im using omega drivers, does this thing come with the ATI drivers?
03-04-2004, 02:54 PM
huesmann

Google is your friend.

There may be issues with Omega drivers, according to the FAQ.
03-04-2004, 03:13 PM
Soulburner

Alright guys, prepare to laugh, like I said this is rediculous how this fits on here, it was like it was designed for it...

Just barely missing the caps...
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...atsink%201.jpg

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...atsink%202.jpg

Perfect length, right along the edge...
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...atsink%203.jpg

Just misses this silver thing...
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...atsink%204.jpg

Here you can see the culprit, the little black chip on the left underneath...
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...atsink%205.jpg

And one more...
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...atsink%206.jpg

And the whole thing...
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...roflow%201.jpg
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R3...roflow%202.jpg

:D :D :D
03-04-2004, 03:36 PM
mongoled

SCCWEEEEEEEET!!!

:D
03-04-2004, 04:05 PM
hollywood

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Alright guys, prepare to laugh, like I said this is rediculous how this fits on here, it was like it was designed for it...

:D

Can you show pics how it attaches??? Did you drill and tap or did you simply drill hole and use machine bolts / nuts. ???
03-04-2004, 04:29 PM
Soulburner

Its not attached yet, I was only testing for fitment.

The plan is to use a dab of thermal epoxy on each of the 4 corners of the shim. Once its set I will test to see how its holding. This way I don't have to epoxy the core, as I don't want to rip it off of the card. Also if its not good enough I should still be able to remove it since I will only be using tiny dabs. This stuff is extremely strong, it doesn't take much.

I have marked the fins I need removed on the corner and will cut them off with the dremel so it will clear that little chip.

But how do you like that fitment?

"Like a glooovvvvve" - Jim Carrey
03-04-2004, 04:34 PM
Kosmic

And it looks really nice, too. :)
03-04-2004, 04:42 PM
Semper Fi

LMAO soul that is OWNAGE!!!!

MAD PROPS on the air cooling solution! I thought my sh-t was crazy.... good lord!

How heavy is that :banana::banana::banana::banana::banana:?
03-04-2004, 04:49 PM
huesmann

Will you be able to get good contact with the core if you use epoxy on the shim? They are pretty much at the same level.
03-04-2004, 04:51 PM
Soulburner

1 Attachment(s)

It is pretty darn heavy, there is a copper slug through the middle.

Compared to my Intel heatsink, i'd probably say it weighs about 2 of them.

Its not like anything from Thermalright, but it does a pretty good job on CPU's so it should do fine here. It was just laying around collecting dust so I thought I would put it to good use.
03-04-2004, 05:02 PM
Techmasta

Is that a P4 aeroflow? I have an amd aeroflow but it doesn't have the extended parts on the base.
03-04-2004, 05:09 PM
Soulburner

Yup it is. That would probably work in your favor because I have to cut part of it off.

I don't know how the layout of the Pro is though, the two cards are not the same.
03-04-2004, 05:27 PM
pkrew

That looks pretty sweet. You may want to think about bolting that on though. It looks pretty heavy. I tried glueing a spark 7 with alumina adhesive and the damn thing fell off after about 10 minutes. Luckily it didn't hurt the card. I'm sure the epoxy is stonger, but that's still a lot of weight. I ended up drilling out the hsf and mounting it that way. Works great. You may be able to use the stock hsf on the back side. I did that with the stock hsf from my XT
03-04-2004, 05:30 PM
Semper Fi

if you could buy a new HSF today, what would you get for your 9800 xt?
03-04-2004, 05:36 PM
Soulburner

Well until someone finds something that fits better, i'm gonna have to go with this :D.

I'll let you know how much of an improvement I get from it, it should be a good indicator of cooling effectiveness.

And hey, aren't these cards supposed to have a temp display in the driver page somewhere? I never saw it but I have only used CAT 3.9 so far.
03-04-2004, 05:44 PM
RootX

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
And hey, aren't these cards supposed to have a temp display in the driver page somewhere? I never saw it but I have only used CAT 3.9 so far.

Yeap, it's the "Overdrive" Tab, under the control panel, but u'll have to try newer cat.
03-04-2004, 05:44 PM
pkrew

The spark 7 fits perfect. The only thing I had to do was bend one of the edges and I only did that because it was touching one of the big metal caps. I may not of had to but it didn't take much. I suspect a 947u would fit and I've thought about pulling out the one I have on my other system. Put a tornado on that and you have some great air cooling. I remember a post at overclockers that someone had put a 900u on. should be about the same. Pretty heavy though. I know that cat 4.2 have temp display and I'm pretty sure cat 4.1 has them also
03-04-2004, 05:45 PM
Soulburner

Well considering how heavy this is, I think an all copper 947U would be too much weight unless you had some way to support it.
03-04-2004, 05:52 PM
Semper Fi

I was planning on putting a 900 on and tieing a string from the corner to the top of the case. Would this thing break your agp slot or the card from the weight?
03-04-2004, 05:52 PM
pkrew

Yeah, it would make me nervous and would put a lot of torque on the card. The spark 7 made me nevous, but its doing fine. Its so close to the PCI slots that they keep it from torquing the card. If you got the thermalright close enough to the slots that would help, but I'd think about running some kind of brace from the case. Maybe a Zalman fan holder.

Edit: We must have posted at the same time. A sting might work or a tie wrap to something. Do it the Marine Corp way. Improvise. :toast:
03-04-2004, 06:02 PM
STEvil

I have an SK-7 (or was that 6?) look-alike (AVC Skived Copper Cooler) which weighs almost as much as my 900U and its sitting fine on my 9700np without extra supports.
03-04-2004, 06:09 PM
Semper Fi

howd you mount it Stev?

pkrew, adapt, improvise, OVERCOME! :toast:
03-04-2004, 06:15 PM
pkrew

LOL, its been a while, but I remember. Once a Marine always a Marine. Urah.:D
03-04-2004, 06:21 PM
Semper Fi

pkrew, do you remember how that guy on ocforums mounted that beast? I've been unsucessfully searching for that thread for the last 20 minutes
03-04-2004, 06:22 PM
LilGator

i'm thinking about a copper 1U hsf, with a 60>80mm fan shroud and a 80mm tornado :) but I have a Aeroflow as well, so i may use that if it performs well ... keep us posted Soul ;)
03-04-2004, 06:25 PM
huesmann

You could use a C-clamp with a block of wood on the backside of the card to keep the heatsink on. There's no way it's gonna stay on with epoxy just on the corners of the shim.
03-04-2004, 06:33 PM
pkrew

I don't remember. I'll try to look it up, but I'd drill the base and mount it with screws. Take off the stock hsf and then use then line it up where you want it, use something with a point to score the base so you know where to drill. Start slow and the drill wont slip too much. Dont worry if you're a little off you can always ream out the holes. I used two screws from a smart fan II and then spread the fins of the heat sink and dropped them in and then bolted in down on the other side putting some rubber O rings between the nuts and the board. Be careful not to torque it down too much or you could crush the core. Then go back and realign the fins the best you can. The fins didn't get that messed up with the spark 7
03-04-2004, 06:44 PM
Semper Fi

Thanks pkrew, Ill try this tomorrow
03-04-2004, 07:06 PM
pkrew

Good luck. I'll be interested to see how you do. It should be some great cooling.
03-04-2004, 07:24 PM
Soulburner

Quote:

Originally posted by huesmann
You could use a C-clamp with a block of wood on the backside of the card to keep the heatsink on. There's no way it's gonna stay on with epoxy just on the corners of the shim.

I'll let you know in a couple hours, its setting now with pressure on it (5lbs of books).

I found out the damn core isn't sitting flat though, so I have to do this until the epoxy sets. The heatsink will rock back and forth on it :rolleyes:.

If it doesn't hold, or of I think its stressing the shim too much i'll improvise and try something else.
03-04-2004, 08:02 PM
hollywood

1 Attachment(s)

Perfect aircooling solution

This HSF is now on my Sapph 9800Pro 256....same exact fit as the 9800 Pro...Holes are an exact match.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...threadid=29962
03-04-2004, 08:32 PM
TheDude

1 Attachment(s)

Not real radical, but here's how I'm cooling my 9800xt
03-04-2004, 09:34 PM
Soulburner

Ramsinks on
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R360%20Ramsinks.jpg

Obstacle cleared
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/Aeroflow%203.jpg

She's solid and ready to rock!

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/Aeroflow%204.jpg
03-04-2004, 10:20 PM
pkrew

Wow, looks great. Nothing like having a big hunk of metal on your video card.

Semper Fi, I figured out how to mount the 947u. If the 900u is about the same then you can't drill it. The base is too narrow. But, you can place long screws up the fins and get a very tight fit and solid mount. Actually, it torqued down pretty tight on this 9600pro that I dropped a while back and broke of one of the ram chips. The fins are so close together that you get a great bite. Another thing if you could find long enough #4 screws you could bring the screw to the other side and put a nut and washer to really secure it, but you'd need about a 4" screw.
03-04-2004, 11:43 PM
Semper Fi

Ok Ill give this a shot tomorrow

What kind of screws will I need to pickup? At my Home Depot they didnt have the long narrow ones, I had to use 2" for a fit through the holes.
03-04-2004, 11:45 PM
`schr0et

Quote:

Originally posted by TheDude
Not real radical, but here's how I'm cooling my 9800xt

Same thing I'm using on my 9800 Pro
03-05-2004, 12:54 AM
Semper Fi

hows that thing cool compared to the massive heatpipe tacos?
03-05-2004, 01:02 AM
sky

Quote:

Originally posted by RootX
Yeap, it's the "Overdrive" Tab, under the control panel, but u'll have to try newer cat.

hm i had it with cat 3.9 :)... after i installed cat 4.2 and control panel 4.2. later on i removed cat 4.2 and kept the control panel 4.2 to go with cat 3.9 - weird, yeah i know but working, lol
oh and with cat 3.9 the temps are roughly 20°C lower - at least on my card, though i doubt the actual temps changed at all.
03-05-2004, 01:15 AM
RootX

Quote:

Originally posted by sky
hm i had it with cat 3.9 :)... after i installed cat 4.2 and control panel 4.2. later on i removed cat 4.2 and kept the control panel 4.2 to go with cat 3.9 - weird, yeah i know but working, lol
oh and with cat 3.9 the temps are roughly 20°C lower - at least on my card, though i doubt the actual temps changed at all.

Hehe, nice combination man...
I've read about the lower temps thing with the 3.9, but the core clocking does'n really improves(it should, with 20°C lower).
Also I think that the higher temps shown with cats 4.1/4.2 is more accurate, since I've measured the core temp at the back of the card and the reading was closer to the temps reported by the panel.
03-05-2004, 02:17 AM
pkrew

well, I couldn't resist mounting it. It gave me 12 more on the core for 447/436 and incresed my high score to 8530
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=2170267
03-05-2004, 02:19 AM
Soulburner

Quote:

Originally posted by sky
oh and with cat 3.9 the temps are roughly 20°C lower - at least on my card, though i doubt the actual temps changed at all.

Ok I was just gonna ask why it says im sitting here typing at 56c at stock clocks? With this huge ass heatsink on here I would expect much lower, lower than my CPU even (which also has the same HSF). I am on 4.2 currently, haven't tested anything gaming wise yet.

The previous max clocks of 450/390 with crazy artifacting are now artifact free. Artifacts begin very slightly at 460 core and I can run up to a max of 475/410 through 3DMark01 Nature with heavy artifacts. I was using CAT 3.9. Max on the mem before the artifacts start to hinder performance is 407 or so, for about 160fps in Nature.

Does this sound normal for this kind of cooling with no vmods?
03-05-2004, 03:02 AM
pkrew

I used 2" screws. bit I didnt put a nut and washer.
03-05-2004, 03:11 AM
wimpie007

I used 3mm screws, 20mm long...
03-05-2004, 04:10 AM
huesmann

Quote:

Originally posted by Soulburner
Ramsinks on
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/R360%20Ramsinks.jpg

Obstacle cleared
http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/Aeroflow%203.jpg

She's solid and ready to rock!

http://home.neb.rr.com/soulburner/Aeroflow%204.jpg

Is it just me or is your board exhibiting a lot of deflection from the weight? :)
03-05-2004, 04:11 AM
huesmann

Quote:

Originally posted by TheDude
Not real radical, but here's how I'm cooling my 9800xt

That's exactly how I'm cooling mine.

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