GFX Card HS+F

GFX Card HS+F

Postby Grump642 on 21 May 2009 14:59

OK, if you are using the stock cooler on your card, take the HS+F off the card. When you do this , look to see if the pads they use on the memory chips are even compressed. I have seen a case where they were not even touching!. Then clean the old thermal compound off both the GPU and HS. Take the cover off the cooling fins, usually a few small screws, and clean them. Put it back on apply a good non-conductive thermal compound to GPU. When you put the card back together, your memory chips should now be closer to the HS. If they still are not touching, use 2 thermal pads instead of one. @ pads are better then the pads not touching at all. Most mfg use cheap thick thermal compound, or even pads, on the GPU. This will hold the HS away from the memory chips. And taking the cover off the cooling fins lets you clean then very well. You can not always see this dirt just by looking at the card. You can see , in the other thread, what it did for my 4850. I can OC it to the max w/o it melting. I hope this helps.
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby audioave10 on 22 May 2009 04:44

Step 1...monitor your temps please! Then do as Grump says as soon as you see that temps are starting to get higher. I don't
run a temp-monitor while gaming but some programs will give
you a temp "history" so you can see how hot it was while danc-
ing with a bloodsucker. :mozilla_surprised:
"Let the Zone take me if I am"
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby nandersen on 24 May 2009 09:20

For monitoring temperature some utilities like Rivatuner (for NVIDIA cards) and ATT (ATI Tray Tool) are really great - they can be configured to display an in-game OSD with different monitoring data like FPS and core temperature for the GPU.

HINT: thermal grease is usually easily removed with kerosene which doesn't harm any of the components and is less flammable than most other solvents.
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby Grump642 on 24 May 2009 21:08

FYI- RivaTuner works on ATI cards also. That is what I use for my 4850.
I use alcohol to remove old thermal grease. It evaporates pretty quickly, but yes, it is flammable.
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby nandersen on 24 May 2009 21:44

I found spirit to be almost useless on the grease. It simply doesn't dissolve it like kerosene does. Plus (at least where I live) a bottle of kerosene is cheaper :)

RivaTuner works on ATI cards? Cool...
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby EggChen on 24 May 2009 22:36

I have an altogether more embarrasing problem....

I cannot remove my GFX card ](*,)

The 280 is so bulky I cannot see or even feel the release catch for the PCIE slot. I spent about an hour yesterday trying to get to it (was a scheduled PC spring clean). It does not help that one of the mobo's heatsinks is right in the exact wrong spot. Anyone have really thin treble jointed fingers?

I had to settle with blasting through the GPU with compressed air, when I would rather have stripped it and completely cleaned out the heatsink.
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby Grump642 on 25 May 2009 01:42

Uh, WOW, EggChen. Try forceps? Works for me.
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Re: GFX Card HS+F

Postby audioave10 on 26 May 2009 03:59

That's one thing I noticed about the newer Gigabyte mobos. They are more forward-thinking about clearance spaces with the
cpu cooler, video card, and RAM. A friend of mine just "straitened out a hanger wire" and got to it but you have to be very careful and have your PSU shut off and purged of all
built-up voltage. Good Luck.
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