Anyone tried lapping / Artic Silver'ing 4870?

[sethk]

I was wondering if the higher temps on a 4870 could be alleviated by lapping the heatsink on a 4870 and applying Arctic Silver 5 or a similar high quality thermal compound? Every old video card I've looked at had a horrible finish on the HS and the thermal compound looked cheap, crappy and thickly applied. Haven't looked at a 4870, but I presume things havent changed much?

I was wondering if there would be a noticeable drop in temperatures if I tried fixing these two issues.

 

[dnottis]

The core is rather small, so as long as there is contact lapping it isnt really gonna matter much. Plus it's direct die contact, again, as long as there is contact... As for AS5, you might get a few degrees, but thats not going to drop temps either and you'll now risk a short. The problem is the fans these coolers use just create too much noise for the performance. Arctic Cooling has built their business on using larger fans (80MM + 92MM) for GPUs which are quieter and push more air than the 60 - 70MM fans used at the factory.

I watercool, so mine will be going under water as soon as I find out which blocks fit it (maze4, MCW60, etc). In the meantime I have a NIB TT Duo Orb that I will prolly be fitting on it. Some of these aftermarket air coolers are great because they will fit future GPUs. As for lower the temps of the 4870 minimal progress would be made using the stock cooler imo.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

havent tried it but I am gonna wait to see if they update the fan profiles

 

[al3x3y]

already want to lap it?