Video card watercooling block help!

R

romeo11523

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 20, 2006
Messages
135
I got my 8800 512 gts's yesterday and I planned on water cooling them. I started taking the first one apart tonight but I'm at a stopping point because of experience and could use some help.

Here is a picture of the card with the plastic and the fan off it:
watercard.png


I know I use the swiftech sinks on the little chips and I know where and how the waterblock goes on but what thermal paste do I use where the block goes? I have a tube of AS5, MX2 and ceramique but I don't know what application each is used for. I appreciate all the help!

NOTE: I set the sinks on the board along with the block with the inserts in it, the top two sinks interfere with the barbs and will definetly be a problem when the hose is installed. Any ideas here?
watercard_prob.png


Thanks,
Ryan
 
First: Why is one of your tubes coloured orange and the other is blue... You didn't do what I THINK you did... did you :p

Second: any thermal paste will do for the core. Might as well use MX2.

Third: You can cut the ram sinks that are obstructed by the tubing down with pliers, or bend them.
 
Thanks for the replies guys!

Do I need a line or a dot of thermal on it then? The hose is that color on the end only, I used that little piece for a hole trace with a perm marker.

Thanks,
Ryan
 
oooow nice , fully populated power supply circuitry.


eh, everyone has their preferences.

I put my finger in a baggie and rub a thin haze on both the die and the bottom of the block then add a dot in the middle of the die almost trying to put too little on. Test fit with a little pressure and a small wiggle or two and then pull off check the coverage, if needed add a tad more, otherwise slap it back on, little wiggle and bolt it down. Probally all wrong according to AS's latest installtion instrucions 35-36C idle 36-38C load 675 core 962 memory.

Btw, ATI tool will let you think you are getting great OC's I can go 700+ core easy and 1000 memory, but expect to freeze in games. I found I could not run anywhere near what ATI tool "verified" with no artifacts for over an hour. YMMV.
 
someone in another forum made the comment that I needed to epoxy the sinks to the chips, I don't really want to do this. Is there a way to get around this or should I give in and buy a full plated block?

Thanks,
Ryan
 
What I do (and just did) is use basically the same method as above on the ram /mosfet sinks, being even more careful to not put too much and get "squeeze out". after I look at the contact footprint (BTW my ram sinks were covered with crappy adhesive and no-where near flat so I spent an hour getting the gunk off and another hour lapping all of them with 800grit wet and dry, the footprints finally became decent.) what I do is:

carefully set the sink on one memory chip, with a tooth pick I get a little ball of RTV glue and place it at each outside corner getting some on the memory chip/board and the side of the ram sink. Its a pain to make it look nice and you will go through a bunch of toothpicks but it holds the sink securely on and can easily be peeled off later without a trace of anything being done. The two chips/sinks under the hose barbs were a real pain in the butt but its doable with steady hands and patience. I then press down on the sink for a minute or two until the glue starts to set up. Give it 5 minutes to dry and then go do the next one being very carefully not to bump the one I just did. It helps to have a TV on or good music, it is a finicky job and takes a while. Don't hurry. It is vital the sinks are flat and sit well, they then develop an almost "vacum" like suction onto the memory chips holding good contact while the glue dries. If the fit is not good since the glue is just holding the sink in place you will not get good thermal transfer. Thats why I carefully check the footprint, when you go to pull the sink off to check, it should almost be hard to "unstick" because of the good fit.

You can cut/dilute AS5 with the epoxy and it will reduce the bond strength, I did that once and it was not hard to get the sinks on or off (sharp twist popped them right of 40% epoxy 60% AS) but it left residue on the memory chips that was a pain to clean up and the bottom of the sinks had to be cleaned before reuse too. The gunk was hard so it would not just wipe off.
 
So I should be using AS5? Shouldn't I be using ceremique since it's non conductive? I have no idea what they are all used for but when I made my order I was sure to get a tube of everything! Is watercooling my video cards going to do anything performance wise or just drop the temp a couple degrees over the stock cooler? My last wuestion is, where can I find a mount plate to replace the dual mount plate for the pci hole?

Thanks,
Ryan
 
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