Sonic Tower on x1900xt *56k*

I could't really overclock my x1900xt with a vf900-cu. It just got too hot, uber-airflow or not. So I'm the next one to be putting a CPU heatsink on a VGA.

I decided to use Thermaltake's Sonic Tower..

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/coolers/5-cool/p61s.jpg

..because I only have about 7.5cm of space between the VGA and PCI-card. Heatpipes are easy to bend (really) so this cooler was just perfect. My plan was to bend the 'towers' so they both would be facing away from the mainboard. It worked out pretty well.

The heatsink can take tons of load, but the problem is getting good airflow to remove the heat. First I only put some 80mm casefans on it, thinking that would be enough with such an uberheatsink. At low volts that worked 'okay' but with higher volts the GPU temp just didn't stop rising, it was going up a straight line. So it was obvious that the heatsink was slowly heating up, 'half-passively'.

Though this bad-airflow setup still got me these results:

675/800 1.4vGPU Load ATITool artifact scanner
vf900-cu - Sonic Tower
73°C - 43°C

Not bad at all! It would instantly 'skyrocket' to only 39-40°C and then take a few minutes to finally settle at 43°C.

For real overclocking I needed some serious volts and some serious airflow. So I did, just see the pics below.

My results:

750/846 with 1.575/2.056/2.151/1.580: 58°C load ATITool artifact scanner(actually initially settles at 55°C but slowly warms up - an indication that airflow could be better).

Keep in mind that these results aren't the best I can get. For instance the base isn't lapped and I could've mounted it better (by accident I shifted the base a few times after applying some Ceramique and trying to mount - kind of a struggle). So maybe I can improve the temps by lapping it and remounting it securely.

Enough chitchat, on to the pics!

(btw the 120mm fan is an enermax 12FAB 80cfm and the 80x38mm fan is a delta that pushes around 80cfm also, but at 50ish dB :rolleyes: )

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0071.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0077.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0080.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0082.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0084.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0088.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0091.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0093.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0094.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0097.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0114.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0115.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0116.jpg

http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0117.jpg

The damn thing looks like some kind of canon lol :x

Cheers :toast:

lol what thef:slobber: ck

So you're saying you just bent the heat-pipes?? Aren't they at risk of breaking without heating, or was it easy??
:banana::banana::banana::banana:ING! awesome mod though... Looks great bent like that :woot:

Best Regards :toast:

lol what a waste, dude you could have just grab a stock amd heatsink.

That's so many different kinds of awesome! Love it...

hey thanks!

yep just bent them with my bare hands. just be careful where to apply the pressure. both heatpipes seem to be working :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bail_w

lol what a waste, dude you could have just grab a stock amd heatsink.

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you miss the point, this is more fun man. a stock amd/intel sink probably won't fit anyway.

Ok yeah someone just put a Tuniq on a 8800GTX already:D


Awesome project:toast: , and I gotta say that is a nice bowl of assorted fruit right there. Makes me hungry:(

:eek: one awesome mod

n the biggest vga cooler on planet? :D

Don't make me use my TT120 :D

bump, this thread isn't done yet.

this is me showing off.

I couldnt tell from the pics- do you have something supporting it up (itself?)
it's not just "hanging" from the the card now is it?!

thought u'd never ask :slap: the heatsink actually sits on my tv-card,
http://members.lycos.nl/simz4ever2/s...a/PICT0116.jpg
which isn't anything fancy and it's still working as it should. But surprisingly, even without a card there (to 'support' it) the vga doesn't bend much at all.
Anyway my x1900xt seems to be totally straight so I'm happy.

how much more improvement did you get

interesting DIY case there :toast:

probably around 35°C improvement over the vf900-cu, I could't go higher than 1.4v with that tiny thing lol.

btw dinos (old) case pics in sig

Wow, nice case :eek:

yes, nice custom case

Oh dear God that is insane. I thought the Zalman 9500 one was Xtreme but yours really takes the cake. :clap: :clap: :clap:

Nice job. Let's see some temp readouts/clock speeds next!

zomg, tis nuts, well done though

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biohead

you miss the point, this is more fun man. a stock amd/intel sink probably won't fit anyway.

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Maybe watercooling would be more fun and better cooling?? :stick: But still its amazaing you manage to put that big fu...r on the video card!! :toast:

Looks like two aluminium guys having butsex. Never seen that before.

Good modification!

thanks

Wow, that is a hell of a mod! How is it attached to the card, and how wide is your case?

You should make a thread for that case, it looks very interesting. Seems like you put a lot of thought and detail into the case as well.

curious as to how you mounted it to the card. I'm looking to do a similar mod (with a slk 800 copper maybe) and I need some more mounting ideas before I settle on one.

So how well does it work for all your trouble? Any difference in overclock?

haha awesome :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by HousERaT

So how well does it work for all your trouble? Any difference in overclock?

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yea big difference. core is a little weak though, I think with more than 1.575vGPU I could get way better clocks for core and memory. With the vf900 I could overclock a little but it wasn't really worth it so I left it at stock speeds 650/775. Now I usually set 680/855 clocks. Can do 750/846 too but higher memory gives better framerates and higher core clocks just give higher temps. As I said maybe with 1.625v I could get better clocks but it doesn't really matter. When I get a new card, R600 I think, maybe in 5-6 months, I'll use this heatsink. And before I install it on the new card I'll lap it, use some Coolaboratory Liquid Pro thermal paste... just to make it perform better. I can't close my case door right now so I leave it off. I'll probably do some modding to the heatsink to make it all fit better.. Or just get another CPU heatsink and put it on the R600.

hmm and about making a thread about my case.. sure I'll do it, but not yet. When I get things sorted out with this vga cooler mod and when I have some phasechange installed (coming my way as we speak) I'll do it.

that case is awesome dude, you made it your self?. love the key in the front, is that how you start it?

wow that on big cooler mate, not the first heatpipe cooler moded to a vga card that i have seen. some gue did the same thing with his zalman 9500 cooler, never the less very impressive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GR0UND^ZER0

that case is awesome dude, you made it your self?. love the key in the front, is that how you start it?

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yup all of it. the key is the powerup 'button'... or 'ignition' for that matter, lol. the other one is the resetbutton obviously.

and @ Solarfall. Yea the 9500 mod is awesome.. NightCrawler's mod IIRC. More clean than this mod haha, this one is a mess but it's all ghetto anyway.

HAHAHHA that's amazing mate.

I haven't even started to clock my HIS X1900XT. Im going to lap that soon and put on some liquid metal grease then overclock, but yours is still a BEAST !

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biohead

yea big difference. core is a little weak though, I think with more than 1.575vGPU I could get way better clocks for core and memory. With the vf900 I could overclock a little but it wasn't really worth it so I left it at stock speeds 650/775. Now I usually set 680/855 clocks. Can do 750/846 too but higher memory gives better framerates and higher core clocks just give higher temps. As I said maybe with 1.625v I could get better clocks but it doesn't really matter. When I get a new card, R600 I think, maybe in 5-6 months, I'll use this heatsink. And before I install it on the new card I'll lap it, use some Coolaboratory Liquid Pro thermal paste... just to make it perform better. I can't close my case door right now so I leave it off. I'll probably do some modding to the heatsink to make it all fit better.. Or just get another CPU heatsink and put it on the R600.

hmm and about making a thread about my case.. sure I'll do it, but not yet. When I get things sorted out with this vga cooler mod and when I have some phasechange installed (coming my way as we speak) I'll do it.

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Why don't just go watercooling? I think you'll get better results? As for the R600, yeah the thing is to wait for a GPU waterblock to come out... or maybe you can machine one to yourself. I've heard that R600 is gonna be a power hungry and very hot GPU!! Good luck!! :toast:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by biohead

you miss the point, this is more fun man. a stock amd/intel sink probably won't fit anyway.

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and the stock heatsink is a piece of :banana: :banana: :banana: compared to that

where did you get the wood grain paint for your case?

Thats one awesome mod dude! Really impressive.

I like the custom case made of wood

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Spawne32

where did you get the wood grain paint for your case?

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You're serious? That is wood.

hey and thanks lasse :)

btw whoever suggested going watercooled: nah, not my thing. Have my SS already anyway.