Tutorial: How to softmod to ANY VGPU you want without hardmods! (1.3~1.6v or more)

[KBD]

No, don't mount the S1 on the card. It will keep the vrms very hot. I had it installed on my card with 2X120mm fans and it was pretty bad. Even the gpu wasn't that cool. HR-03 seems very efficient, though.

You can use this to keep the vrms cold: http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Pr...ad.asp?idx=335

Well, i'm only experimenting with coolers, and the better one will stay permanently. The HR-03 GT is excellent for GPU core cooling but sucks for VRMs. This is why people actively cooled them by pointing (or mounting) a fan on them or with a sidepanel fan when using this cooler. The advantage of the Accelero S1 and the T-Rad is that they cool everything but not as efficent on the GPU core as the HR-03 GT. Since i already have 2 different coolers i will try both and i'll post back here with results for the 4870. BTW, I already have copper sinks on the VRMs and they are still hot (like 76-78C load with HR-03 GT), that Zalman sink will not be as effective since its aluminum.

Then maybe my card is just crap at overclocking

I seem to have reached a stable 825mhz at 1.3 V. So a major 0.04 V for 10 mhz. This card is a winner.

Those results are not bad, in fact with the stock cooler my card did only slightly better reaching 830Mhz on the core with the same voltage. Remember that 4870 cards are not the greatest overclockers and even with an increase in voltage dont achieve very high clocks. As we have seen in this thread there are exceptions to this and some cards do perform very well but thats all they are exceptions. I've read of cards that couldn't even break the 800mhz barrier on stock voltage so the results you have are actually OK.