Remove da' shim on 9800Pro

[Hell-Fire]

Should I remove the shim off the core before mounting the MCW50-T?

And yes...I finally got a 9800Pro.

[STEvil]

Dont need to on the 9800pro I dont think.

If you want to be sure, apply some thermal material to the core and place a flat object on top then remove (and repeat) several times to make sure you are gettin perfect contact..

[Karnivore]

Shouldn't be needed, check your contact with some TIM, I wouldn't remove it if you don't have to, easy to kill a card accidently.... Only thing I've heard is if your supercooling the card the shim can tranfer alot of cold to the card, possibly leading to condensation..

[Stang_Man]

do it anyways!

i got 10mhz by removing the shim, obviously it wasn't making perfect contact with the shim.

[Hell-Fire]

Roger that Stang.

I will search to see if I can find out how to do it so I dont mess it up. Being this is my first 9800Pro, dont wanna kill it just by taking the Shim off.

[`schr0et]

Originally posted by Hell-Fire
Roger that Stang.

I will search to see if I can find out how to do it so I dont mess it up. Being this is my first 9800Pro, dont wanna kill it just by taking the Shim off.

Just use a razor blade and use very little pressure to simply slice thru the glue that they use.

Thats how I removed the shim off my 9700 Pro and 9800 Pro

[Sidebinder]

I used some plyers to loosen it and a razor to cut through the glue as well. I have done it that way on 3 9700s and 1 9800 pro.

[Hell-Fire]

Sounds like a winner to me.

Cant wait to mod this puppy and throw da pelts to her.

Whats the danger to the card after removing the shim when mounting the block to it?

[3rd-Dimension]

cracked core

[Hell-Fire]

Maybe I should remove the shim and mount the block before doing the mods...just in case I need to RMA.

[hollywood]

On my 9800 Pro, the core is higher than the shim by about .2 mm. ZERO need to remove it. I didn't and I mounted an Alpha Pal on the darn thing!

[charlie]

The MCW50-t contact portion actually extends BELOW the bottom area, eliminating the need...

[Hell-Fire]

Ok then, so I got votes to remove and to keep from experienced overclockers.

Sounds like a preferrence issue to me. Some like it on, others like it off. Be testing with on and off just to see which gives better core contact.

Thanks guys.

[saaya]

DONT! remember what happened to my 9500? its really hard to get it off without damaging the core plus the mcw50-t gound plate is machined especially to touch the core even when the shim is mounted...

[R.Rabbit]

dont!, if that mcw-50-T is anything like my mcw-50 you dont need to becuase swiftech was smart enough to make the base plate lowered so you dont have to remove the shim! i read the instuctions and found this out after after i had already taken the shim off my 9800np, it didnt die just after i removed the shim but it did a month later mysteriosly (i think it was a bad mount, so the shim would've probly helped)

[Stang_Man]

it's way to easy!!

[Peen]

Stang man, Its not a good idea, ATI put that there for a reason. I tried taking it off my first 9800Pro and I did it nice and gently and somehow someway it killed the core. I would definetely not touch that shim. Please leave it so I dont have to hear you come back here saying your card is dead . Ive killed so much hardware lately that hearing of anymore might make me die

[Stang_Man]

Originally posted by Peen
Stang man, Its not a good idea, ATI put that there for a reason. I tried taking it off my first 9800Pro and I did it nice and gently and somehow someway it killed the core. I would definetely not touch that shim. Please leave it so I dont have to hear you come back here saying your card is dead . Ive killed so much hardware lately that hearing of anymore might make me die

they put the shim on the 9700 for a reason, and it provided crappy contact. thanks, but i think i'll be okay without shims...

a cpu core is more fragile than the ati ards, and the cpu doesn't use a shim..

[Peen]

I'm sure it is ok,when its already done lol. but the risk is to much. Glad to hear u got ur off ok. No static or anything near mine and somehow mine had green lines all over the screen and would blank out loading windows. So who knows, it just doesnt seem worth removing it if it already gets good contact . Dunno why they would ship it if it didnt have good contact makes no sense. Yeah pretty much was out 399 bucks.

[Stang_Man]

i've static shocked my computer hardware tons of times, lol! never had an incident. i think hardware now is protected more against static.

[Karnivore]

Heres a rather poor picture of a 9700P I'm repairing for a friend, He nicked one of the traces on the edge somewhere and killed his card, a very thin layer of substrate protects these traces which I'm removing in an attempt to find the damaged trace to repair it. He thought it would be a good idea to remove his shim as well

[Hausmeister]

it comes of so easy...
no danger removing it if you are careful

[hollywood]

I'll say again. On the 9800 series (9800np, 9800se, 9800p, 9800 256MB, 9800XT) the shim allows the core to be .2 mm ABOVE the shim. Since you will have perfect contact I see no reason for anyone to remove the shim from 9800-series cards.

Yes, I had a 9700Pro and DID have to remove the shim, as the core was about .1mm below the shim.

Not trying to contradict you Stang Man...but I measured with my micrometer. I'll post pics this afternoon as I'm machining a new mount for my Alpha PAL.

[Peen]

I was very careful with mine, was on hardwood floor and I used sharp razor blade and cut through it NEVER pulling on it, came right off! but somehow someway it fuggered it. Its to good of a card to risk for near zero gain in anything. Go for it if you want not my card to screw up

[saaya]

i could well imagine that its easier to remove the shim on some cards than on others. it was stuck really really hard on mine!

mine was a sapphire 9500 btw