Any "verdicts" on the Swiftech 58xx "unisinks"?

[Naja002]

The one thread I've seen on the performance of the Swftech "unisinks" for the 58xx series cards was not very impressive. Anybody have any results to share?

[NaeKuh]

OK...

So basically a gutted stock heat sink with the fan removed cools better then a unisink.

Ummm Gabe any comments?

[StAndrew]

I hear that if you remove the thermal pads and use AS5 (or some other paste) you can drop the temps dramatically. The Swiftech sync has a much larger surface area than the stock plate so it should cool much better. The short fall has to be the thermal conductivity of the pads used.

[sgayol]

I actually started that thread that was linked in the first post. I got the unisink and have been totally underwhelmed with the performance. I immediately question the quality of the thermal pads used. Does anyone know of any quality, proven thermal pads that I could try instead? I guess using TIM instead could be possible, but I'm curious if the clearance is tight enough that paste would be viable?

[StAndrew]

I always use TIM. Using a razor, spread it over your component nice and thin. Tighten the heatsync down and enjoy! TIM always beats pads.

[Naja002]

I always use TIM. Using a razor, spread it over your component nice and thin. Tighten the heatsync down and enjoy! TIM always beats pads.

Can you personally confirm for us that the clearance is there....and there won't be anything shorting?

[Hondacity]

I hear that if you remove the thermal pads and use AS5 (or some other paste) you can drop the temps dramatically. The Swiftech sync has a much larger surface area than the stock plate so it should cool much better. The short fall has to be the thermal conductivity of the pads used.

i suggest stop using as5.......try arctic ceramique...i tried this on contacts and it never killed any of my video cards....

I actually started that thread that was linked in the first post. I got the unisink and have been totally underwhelmed with the performance. I immediately question the quality of the thermal pads used. Does anyone know of any quality, proven thermal pads that I could try instead? I guess using TIM instead could be possible, but I'm curious if the clearance is tight enough that paste would be viable?

if ou have a dc-dc circuits that aren't efficient you'll have a heat source...using heat sinks on them does increase the surface area for the heat to transfer...but you still need active cooling ie fans.

if you use swiftechs heatsinks they'll do their job...but you'll still need fan/s even gabe had 100C ...using the heatsinks passively...

Can you personally confirm for us that the clearance is there....and there won't be anything shorting?

what shorting are you talking about? if there's a short your gpu is probably dead or just needs a refit..

[StAndrew]

Can you personally confirm for us that the clearance is there....and there won't be anything shorting?

Sure can:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...4&postcount=67

This should help .

[Naja002]

Bingo! Thanx!

[sgayol]

That's awesome! I'm gonna give that a shot tomorrow and report back my temps! Just to make sure, OCZ Freeze is non-conductive also, correct? I'll buy ceramique if need be, but I want to make sure what I have doesn't work before I go on an adventure to find that tomorrow!

[Dyn0miteMat]

I'm sure you guys mean replacing the pads with tim on the mem and such right, or did they start putting pads on the cores?

I'm looking to stay with air, but I was wondering if I could replace the pads with tim and cool it off a few degrees

[StAndrew]

No pads on core, just memory and mosfets.

[Naja002]

That's awesome! I'm gonna give that a shot tomorrow and report back my temps! Just to make sure, OCZ Freeze is non-conductive also, correct? I'll buy ceramique if need be, but I want to make sure what I have doesn't work before I go on an adventure to find that tomorrow!

You want non-conductive and non-capacitive. I switched to MX-2 a couple of yrs ago because it fits the bill....plus it's good down to -45F.


Doesn't say if it is non-capacitive:

OCZ Freeze

[sgayol]

Ok. I know I can find ceramique at microcenter, so I'll pick some up today and see what happens.

[sgayol]

Couldn't find ceramique, but I just grabbed a tube of mx-3 which says nice and big on the packaging that its electrically non-conductive and non-capacative! Results hopefully to come tonite

[zalbard]

I always use TIM. Using a razor, spread it over your component nice and thin. Tighten the heatsync down and enjoy! TIM always beats pads.

Sorry about hijacking the thread, but... I was actually considering attempting to use TIM on digital PWMs (both CPU and VTT) of x58 Classified instead of thermal pads to improve thermal performance... Stock heatsink is pretty good, so I think I might be able to lower the temps... Any opinion?
Feel free to reply here or post here.
Thanks.

Edit: not going to bother with TIM I think, thanks to those who replied. The form of both PWM and heatsink seems to be more fit for thermal pads, so going to stick with what's intended.