High end GFFX heatspreader mod

[Bra!nFreeZe^]

Hi this mod is for all of you with the high end fx cards say FX5800U/NU FX5900U/NU/XT and the FX5950 (Im not sure though if they have the heatsink)

I lost 15 degrees C with the stock cooler on the card by removing the heatspreader on the core..

BEFORE (idle) : 56 degrees celcius
AFTER (idle) : 41 degrees celcius

The card without the stock cooler and with the heatspreader attached:


The "tools" needed for dismounting the heatspreader:


By squeezing the thin edge of the blade in between the heatspreader and the gpu chip it starts to loosen and you should do this approx' to the 2 edges of the heatsink then i could just snap it of with my hands from there:


And when you're all done and you pray that you havent ruined your card then it should look something like this


I hope that all you fx users can use this to sqeeze the last mhz out of your cards, but im sry to say that I myself cant tell you an approx gain on the core because I havent tried overclocking this card yet, but I would really like to know how much you can manage to get and how big a temp drop you gained...
And beware that you dont crush your core now...I almost did

I wont take any responsability!

[ragejg]

bah, your pics no workie in firebird OR IE!!

[Bra!nFreeZe^]

Hmmm my server must be down....would somebody be able to host my pics ?

[X-Ecutioner]

looks like the server is up again

nice job dude

a bit like removing the shim of a radeon

X

[f00t]

only bigger and knifier

[Bra!nFreeZe^]

a bit like removing the shim of a radeon

Yep but this mod is alot more efficient if you ask me

only bigger and knifier

Yeah its really difficult compared to the ati shim removal because you cant really see if your knife is cutting all the small smd's off :P

[prommy_fan]

Looks like i'm not alone in owning FX5800 here
Done this mod a couple months ago (in August) and made a few beautyful pics of core in sun shining

[Bra!nFreeZe^]

Originally posted by prommy_fan
Looks like i'm not alone in owning FX5800 here
Done this mod a couple months ago (in August) and made a few beautyful pics of core in sun shining

Damn nice ! what are you clocks on the card ?

[jonspd]

I did it and lost about 5c full load on gpu only about 2c @ idle desktop.

[Bra!nFreeZe^]

Did you clean the HS properly and did you apply new thermal paste ?

[wimpie007]

Originally posted by prommy_fan
Looks like i'm not alone in owning FX5800 here
Done this mod a couple months ago (in August) and made a few beautyful pics of core in sun shining

Where exactly do you live then?
Ati shim is rather easy, I did it without damaging anything, I guess I was rather lucky
Good job!

[jonspd]

Originally posted by Bra!nFreeZe^
Did you clean the HS properly and did you apply new thermal paste ?

I applyed AS5 and used a aftermarket HSF.

[p4z1f1st]

i recommend it to remove the heatspreader, too !

my fx5900 got at idle about 40°C and load about 75°C (Waterchiller)

after removing i never come above 30°C (!) und never above 40°C (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) in load

(for load, i use DX9 Real-Time High-Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting-Demo by Masaki Kawase)

p.s. : and after removing i could oc from 490 to 525MHz

[asw7576]

hmmm...... I'm going to do it this sunday. I'll post result. Currently I'm doing 550/950 on air.

[Bra!nFreeZe^]

Allright well my FX5800 died but im getting a FX5900XT card tomorrow so Ill try it out on that card and Ill see where the mod gets me