to those of us that have taken off the coolers on our 6800 GTs...

O

ozziegn

The man behind the curtain...
Joined
Jan 13, 2001
Messages
17,533
have or did you notice how small the actual heatsink is on the GPU itself?

why in the world did nVidia make the darn cooler for the GPU so small but yet they made the heatsink for the memory so big....

shouldnt it have been the other way around? :confused:
 
After seeing the tape on the memory chips and hearing the GPU heatsink is small, I think cooling was intentionally crippled to prevent overclocking.

I'm not going to mess with my card for a while because it at least runs 400/1100 reliably. That's all that I wanted anyways, at least for right now.

Is the heatsink 2 parts (GPU HS + L shaped HS around the memory) like the reference 5900 design? I really liked my old BFG 5900's heatsink design (all copper, dual fans, 1 piece design). The XFX I had before that used the weaker reference design.
 
Does it really make sense to think that Nvidia's design is poor or that it was designed to prevent overclocking when people are getting 60-70mhz core and 100mhz memory overclocks on 6800GTs on average? come on now :)
 
tranCendenZ said:
Does it really make sense to think that Nvidia's design is poor or that it was designed to prevent overclocking when people are getting 60-70mhz core and 100mhz memory overclocks on 6800GTs on average? come on now :)
Click to expand...
It could be better without thick tape between the memory and heatsink and without such a small heatsink on the GPU. :p
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't it use a heatpipe. So even if the heatsink is small, the heatpipe does pull the heat away.

Plus I wouldn't say they are crippling overclocking when most people are getting to ultra speeds no problem. Hell I'm at 425 / 1150 without breaking a sweat!! :cool:
 
the heatpipe is on the RAM.

also, the heatsink on the GPU has very fine fins so it probably moves the heat away quite well.

my only gripe would be directed toward the RAM heatsink, in that it does not cool 2 of the chips very well.
 
The cooling solution SUCKS.
The Ram sinks do little if anything in the way of cooling.
All that is needed is a more stout Gpu Heat sink and good air flow over the card and I'll OVCLK with the best! (except H20)
 
take it off and see how your RAM clocks without it. it's not like it's connected to the rest of the HSF.

would be an interesting experiment, no?
 
You challenging Me boy? :D

Did it with my 5900 Ultra that had hotter runnin ram to begin with. I put a Zally HP on it with a fan and did a lap dance on the GPU. No Ramsinks.
Ran cooler and Ovckled 481/950 stable.

If these bone headed Vid makers would put a better cooling solution on their cards we wouldn't have aftermarket stuff now would we?

No experiment yet, this chit am be to spensive :eek:
 
i've been thinking about putting this on mine.

pep66.jpg
 
You dirty Dawg! Dang!!!!
Yea I have an old AMD HS I was gonna machine to fit but the puppy is an RCH to small for the screw holes.
Thus my search continues!
 
damn. i wonder if i'd be able to use the screw holes with the PEP66. it might be a bit too small.
 
Yea I think they made the footprint on the HS just alittle smaller so you and I couldn't mess with it :D
But somehow I don't think that'll stop us :eek:
 
I think the GT is limited by the amount of power it can pull from a single Molex instead of inadequate cooling.
 
Call me nuts!
But I was thinking of soldering on the missing molex and seeing what would happen :eek:
Still ain't got the nerve!
Maybe I shouldn't think?
 
OPUS1 said:
Call me nuts!
But I was thinking of soldering on the missing molex and seeing what would happen :eek:
Still ain't got the nerve!
Maybe I shouldn't think?
Click to expand...

the thought has occured to me, too. the thing is that it seems too easy--i know something is going to go terribly wrong...
 
It's not just the molex that's missing. Several capacitors and surface level components are missing, presumably components that make up the power regulation circuitry for that second molex connector.
 
OPUS1 said:
The cooling solution SUCKS.
The Ram sinks do little if anything in the way of cooling.
All that is needed is a more stout Gpu Heat sink and good air flow over the card and I'll OVCLK with the best! (except H20)
Click to expand...


More cooling on the GT would be useless for overclocking . IMHO its more power , if you had the power ala the second power connector then you would need better coolling. If I ever get my Ultra from EVGA I suspect it will OC to Ultra E as easily as the GT does Ultra speeds
 
So figure out what regulation circutry is missing, and put it between the card and the molex. Then it should be a realatively simple matter to reflash the card to an Ultra?! :) lol if it could only be that simple.
 
Advil said:
So figure out what regulation circutry is missing, and put it between the card and the molex. Then it should be a realatively simple matter to reflash the card to an Ultra?! :) lol if it could only be that simple.
Click to expand...
Whatever can be done...eventually someone will do it. :eek: Too bad it's usually near the end of a cards lifespan before we see people willing to go all out..
 
jacuzz1 said:
sniper is a mad man and he rules ;) :p
Click to expand...


actualy your not a mad man just a highly skilled craftsman with a pinosh for gaming :D
 
sandman78 said:
:D That is sweet Sniper. What kind of temps do you get with that Zalman on there?
Click to expand...


Stock

Idle Temps
Ambient Room: 76.5 F
Ambient Case: 89 F
Ambient Nvidia Sensor: 36 C
Core Nvidia Sensor: 53 C

Load Temps
Ambient Room 76.5 F
Ambient Case: 91 F
Ambient Nvidia Sensor: 51 C
Core Nvidia Sensor: 78 C


Zalman

Idle Temps
Ambient Room: 75.5 F
Ambient Case: 87 F
Ambient Nvidia Sensor: 35 C
Core Nvidia Sensor: 49 C

Load Temps
Ambient Room 75.2 F
Ambient Case: 93 F
Ambient Nvidia Sensor: 47 C
Core Nvidia Sensor: 69 C


Core Clock 420
Memory 1130

Running the rthdribl demo.

The idle and loand temps changed slighly due to the 4 arm configuration, hitting 53C idle and 70C load now, I need to come up with a way of putting more pressure on the core.
 
Damn those are some nice temps! Shows us that there is some more room for improvement in these cards :D
 
Yeah, theres definately room for improvement, cost me $47 to find that out but what the hell, money well spent in my book.

Next year when I start from scratch on new system I'm going water cooling all the way, things are just getting too hot and too loud for my liking on air, even though I have a fan controler on mine, I have to crank it up before I game.
 
Sniper_Merc said:
Yeah, theres definately room for improvement, cost me $47 to find that out but what the hell, money well spent in my book.

Next year when I start from scratch on new system I'm going water cooling all the way, things are just getting too hot and too loud for my liking on air, even though I have a fan controler on mine, I have to crank it up before I game.
Click to expand...

What Zalman "kit" is that? I have seen various ones on NewEgg, but I want to make sure and get the one you have. Thanks.
 
sandman78 said:
What Zalman "kit" is that? I have seen various ones on NewEgg, but I want to make sure and get the one you have. Thanks.
Click to expand...

The cooler Sniper is using is a ZM80C-HP. I went and picked up one from fry's earlier along with the zalman fan and i put it on my 6800GT. My temps are in line with Sniper's and already there is a noticeable difference. I had my GT @ Ultra speeds (400/1.1). With the stock cooling I could only get 410 core before 3dmark03 would hiccup (pause) and then resume...415 or 420 would do this...

I put on the Zalman and 420 core with no pauses...I let it run for half an hour and no problems...my load temps went from ~86C to ~68C after the Zalman...

This should go to show better cooling will definately yield some better headroom in these cards :)

Also...mounting the Zalman is kind of a pain because the screws used to attatch the front/back plate are too wide to fit in the mounting holes around the core. I had to use the stock backing plate to hold on the front plate, and the back plate is not held down because the stock screws will not work (hard to describe) since they are only threaded slightly on the end and interfere with the back heatsink because they dont screw in far enough on the back side. Fortunately you can still use the back heatsink because the Zalman unit is held together with the side braces where the fan goes. It turned out pretty sturdy and works just as designed because the back plate is not supposed to make contact with the back of the card anyway...

I have some pictures but I don't have a host...

Anyone want to host some pics?
 
Ehehe... more cooling do help. AS I plan to do volt mod too it should help more.
Memory cooling, I am not sure. I got 0 more mhz out of after putting lapped copper ram sink using arctic alumina + arctic silver mixture vs NO RAM SINK :p
Currently on Exos loop and temps are in lieu with Zalman (tad bit lower and load temp doesn't budge as much). 430/1.15 ATM. Once I do volt on V-core I expect it to do easy 450-460. The only thing I am not sure is ... where to find Vmem mod.
 
mikemodano9c said:
The cooler Sniper is using is a ZM80C-HP. I went and picked up one from fry's earlier along with the zalman fan and i put it on my 6800GT. My temps are in line with Sniper's and already there is a noticeable difference. I had my GT @ Ultra speeds (400/1.1). With the stock cooling I could only get 410 core before 3dmark03 would hiccup (pause) and then resume...415 or 420 would do this...

I put on the Zalman and 420 core with no pauses...I let it run for half an hour and no problems...my load temps went from ~86C to ~68C after the Zalman...

This should go to show better cooling will definately yield some better headroom in these cards :)

Also...mounting the Zalman is kind of a pain because the screws used to attatch the front/back plate are too wide to fit in the mounting holes around the core. I had to use the stock backing plate to hold on the front plate, and the back plate is not held down because the stock screws will not work (hard to describe) since they are only threaded slightly on the end and interfere with the back heatsink because they dont screw in far enough on the back side. Fortunately you can still use the back heatsink because the Zalman unit is held together with the side braces where the fan goes. It turned out pretty sturdy and works just as designed because the back plate is not supposed to make contact with the back of the card anyway...

I have some pictures but I don't have a host...

Anyone want to host some pics?
Click to expand...

Actually I used the D version twin heat pipe, the C version is the single heat pipe.

There is a way of getting a good solid mouting of the backplate using 4 arms on the back and front, it doesn't tighten down on the core as much as two does but it is about 10 times more stable, heres the pics.

http://snipershide.free-universe.co...n_layout_2/zalman_frontside_screwconfig_1.jpg

http://snipershide.free-universe.co...n_layout_2/zalman_frontside_screwconfig_2.jpg

Please note that using the black screws from the stock ramsink is not ideal, they don't actually fit the thread on the X backplate but they are soft enough that they will re-thread themselves once you jam em in there. Also note that they are screwed into the backplate while OFF THE CARD, and they are screwed in untill they stop, this will give sufficent pressure to hold the arms. The front side (chromed) screws are threaded in untill they hit the tips of the black screws (thus the lower pressure on the core).

http://snipershide.free-universe.co...an_layout_2/zalman_backside_screwconfig_1.jpg

http://snipershide.free-universe.co...an_layout_2/zalman_backside_screwconfig_2.jpg

Also of note is that I had to elongate the holes in the crossbars just a touch with a mini round file.

http://snipershide.free-universe.com/remote/zalman_zm80d-hp/zalman_layout/top_side_layout1.jpg

I did initially use just two arms per side, while i was happy with the ammount of core pressure, I just didn't like how stable it was on the core thus coming up with the 4 arm config, less pressure on the core but it is one hell of a lot more solid mouting.

Just for referance heres the pics of the screw config for 2 arms per side.

http://snipershide.free-universe.com/remote/zalman_zm80d-hp/zalman_layout/back_side_layout_1.jpg

http://snipershide.free-universe.com/remote/zalman_zm80d-hp/zalman_layout/front_side_layout_1.jpg

Either of these configs can be done with whats included between the stock 6800 GT screws and whats included in the Zalman kit. It's basicly up to the user if they want to try em.

Try it at your own risk. :D
 
sandman78 said:
What Zalman "kit" is that? I have seen various ones on NewEgg, but I want to make sure and get the one you have. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Zalman ZM80D-HP read the post above this one too.
 
Woohoo! I'm glad there's a way to make these work. I've got one of the original ZM80s without the fan option, but it was easy to add.

Do you think the single heat pipe version can transfer enough heat to be better than stock cooling for the 6800GT or Ultra?
 
Advil said:
Woohoo! I'm glad there's a way to make these work. I've got one of the original ZM80s without the fan option, but it was easy to add.

Do you think the single heat pipe version can transfer enough heat to be better than stock cooling for the 6800GT or Ultra?
Click to expand...

Just about anything is better than the stock cooling, Overall including the temp drops from using Shin Estu and the Zalman I've had a temp drop of 16C from 84C stock to 68C with the Zalman/Shin combo, the Shin alone can drop temps 6 C.

As for the single heat pipe I would think it would probably drop 5 to 6 C using it vs the dual pipes 10 C drop (10 C is drop - the shin). But it could be higher than that too. I sold me 5900 with single pipe cooler or I could say for sure.
 
I'm impatient, but I'm going to wait until the Arctic-Cooling solution is availble (although I do like Sniper's setup...good work).
 
Tenchi4U said:
I'm impatient, but I'm going to wait until the Arctic-Cooling solution is availble (although I do like Sniper's setup...good work).
Click to expand...

Thks :)

Origional intention was to do it with just the parts available between the card and whats in the zalman kit. Now that I've accomplished that its time to start doing some modding of the X plate.

What I'm mostly considering is just drilling through the X plate with 4 holes and countersink them from the side that faces the card and mount the backplate that way, just 4 holes just inside the 4 boss nuts on the X plate. Either that or just find some longer shanked screws that will fit the X plate and mount it in more of a traditional manner similar to Zalmans default mounting, just gotta find some end cap bosses similar to Zalmans and of course the shanked screws that will fit through the 4 holes around the GPU.
 
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