• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

7900GTX overheat problem!

Associate
Joined
16 Aug 2004
Posts
804
Hi,

I just bought a Club3D 7900GTX. Since I also have a Zalman NB47J chipset cooler, I couldn't use the stock cooler, so I bought a Zalman vf900 VGA cooler. After excessive testing and gaming I noticed that the card's memory overheats. The first symptom was artifacts in Quake4 after about 30 minutes of gaming. Same with 3dmark06 but in much less time, about 5 to 10 minutes. I also noticed that the problem happens mostly when AA is enabled. Then I lowered the memory clock to 200MHz and everything was fine in 3dmark. What I can guess is that the ram sinks didn't glue very well with the Zalman thermal pads. I am about to buy some Arctic Silver adhesive and glue them again. Do you have any other ideas? Should I just drop the vf900 and test the Accelero x1? Would this fit to my mobo (A8N-E) and the Zalman NB47?

Thank you in advance
Yannis
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
You bought a zalamn VF900 Over the 7900 GTX silent highly efficient stock cooler?

Why.I would rather have a fan on my NB on a fan controller than taking the 7900 GTX stock cooler off.

Just try reapplying the ramsinks is all i can say! :eek:
 
Soldato
Joined
4 Sep 2005
Posts
12,785
Location
London
easyrider said:
You bought a zalamn VF900 Over the 7900 GTX silent highly efficient stock cooler?

Why.I would rather have a fan on my NB on a fan controller than taking the 7900 GTX stock cooler off.

Just try reapplying the ramsinks is all i can say! :eek:

Surely a third party cooler which is made to be quiet, aswell as better cooling would offer better performance than a stock cooler? The X1 and the VF900 were designed for the latest gen graphics, so i wouldnt think it would be worse than the stock cooler.

As for the ram problem, make sure theres a good airflow, and like easyrider said, re-apply the ram sinks
 
Associate
OP
Joined
16 Aug 2004
Posts
804
easyrider said:
You bought a zalamn VF900 Over the 7900 GTX silent highly efficient stock cooler?

Why.I would rather have a fan on my NB on a fan controller than taking the 7900 GTX stock cooler off.

Just try reapplying the ramsinks is all i can say! :eek:

As I said in my first post, I used the Zalman because the stock cooler didnt fit my motherboard. I use a big chipset cooler from Zalman which interferes with the stock cooler. Do you think I should use the thermal pads again? Should I just press the ram sinks a bit? Or do I get them off, clean the surfaces and apply the adhesive all over again?
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2004
Posts
5,779
benjo said:
Surely a third party cooler which is made to be quiet, aswell as better cooling would offer better performance than a stock cooler? The X1 and the VF900 were designed for the latest gen graphics, so i wouldnt think it would be worse than the stock cooler.

As for the ram problem, make sure theres a good airflow, and like easyrider said, re-apply the ram sinks
The 7900gtx cooler is the best stock cooler ever, i reckon it ranks on par if not better than the zalman as it exhausts also, maybe worth some benchmarks.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
yannis76 said:
As I said in my first post, I used the Zalman because the stock cooler didnt fit my motherboard. I use a big chipset cooler from Zalman which interferes with the stock cooler. Do you think I should use the thermal pads again? Should I just press the ram sinks a bit? Or do I get them off, clean the surfaces and apply the adhesive all over again?

clean the ram with cleaner and re aplly from scratch.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
benjo said:
Surely a third party cooler which is made to be quiet, aswell as better cooling would offer better performance than a stock cooler? The X1 and the VF900 were designed for the latest gen graphics, so i wouldnt think it would be worse than the stock cooler.

As for the ram problem, make sure theres a good airflow, and like easyrider said, re-apply the ram sinks

No the 7900 GTX is the mother of all stock coolers.Massive slow spinning fan,silent and heatpipes and masses of metal!

I bet the difference between that and the vf900 is zilch
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
Vegeta said:
The 7900gtx cooler is the best stock cooler ever, i reckon it ranks on par if not better than the zalman as it exhausts also, maybe worth some benchmarks.


Agreed,

Only thing is everyone knows its the best and would only remove if water cooling or it simply wouldnt fit ;)
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Nov 2004
Posts
9,857
Location
UK
yannis76 said:
As I said in my first post, I used the Zalman because the stock cooler didnt fit my motherboard. I use a big chipset cooler from Zalman which interferes with the stock cooler. Do you think I should use the thermal pads again? Should I just press the ram sinks a bit? Or do I get them off, clean the surfaces and apply the adhesive all over again?
If you use the AS adhesive it'll bond like an SOB. You'll never get those heatsinks off again, at least not without the chip still attached. Getting them off is a distinct advantage if it dies inside the warranty. Re-apply with some top quality tape and clean with IPA. Have a look on a popular auction site for Sekisui #5760 double-sided thermal adhesive tape.
 
Caporegime
Joined
24 Dec 2005
Posts
40,065
Location
Autonomy
fornowagain said:
If you use the AS adhesive it'll bond like an SOB. You'll never get those heatsinks off again, at least not without the chip still attached. Getting them off is a distinct advantage if it dies inside the warranty. Have a look on a popular auction site for Sekisui #5760 double-sided thermal adhesive tape.


YUP used that stuff on my old 7800 GT worked a treat :D
just make sure the ram is grase free and clean
 
Associate
OP
Joined
16 Aug 2004
Posts
804
fornowagain said:
If you use the AS adhesive it'll bond like an SOB. You'll never get those heatsinks off again, at least not without the chip still attached. Getting them off is a distinct advantage if it dies inside the warranty. Re-apply with some top quality tape and clean with IPA. Have a look on a popular auction site for Sekisui #5760 double-sided thermal adhesive tape.

If I use a hairdryer wouldn't the adhesive melt back?
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2004
Posts
5,779
best thing todo is run the gpu under ati tool then try pulling ot off - poweroff as soon as it is removed however very quickly.
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2004
Posts
5,779
I just checked out that Sekisui #5760 and it says not to use on gpu core/memory as it will fry it, does anyone know of any thick thermal adhesive pads I can use for my 7900gtx heatpipe cooler, I took the HSF off it and applied as5, but the stock stuff is thick and now the ram doesnt make contact with the HSF and artifacts after 5-10 mins.
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Nov 2004
Posts
9,857
Location
UK
Its like 0.90p 1"x6". Get some spare.

You can try and get the Arctic Silver adhesive to let go with a hairdryer, but a chisel will work better. :D Only kidding, its an epoxy resin, its permanent. One technique is to use a tiny dot to hold on, that comes off with a twist. Can't say how good that be for the thermal conductivity. The proper tape's safer I'd say. Memory doesn't run hot, some even run em naked at stock speeds.

Sorry, did you mean the existing Zalman adhesive? Its a bad idea to re-apply, once used its no where near as tacky and it'll be contaminated anyway. Not to mention the edges sort of curl up. It won't go back on flat, not like it should.
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
3 Nov 2004
Posts
9,857
Location
UK
Vegeta said:
I just checked out that Sekisui #5760 and it says not to use on gpu core/memory as it will fry it, does anyone know of any thick thermal adhesive pads I can use for my 7900gtx heatpipe cooler, I took the HSF off it and applied as5, but the stock stuff is thick and now the ram doesnt make contact with the HSF and artifacts after 5-10 mins.
Read it again, its not for CPU/GPU. Its designed for memory chips. I looked for thicker thermal pad tape, 3M. I could buy 20M from **, but that might leave me a bit left over. I did see a chap asking members if they had any spare on their old HSF?
 
Last edited:
Soldato
Joined
6 Nov 2004
Posts
5,779
fornowagain said:
Read it again, its not for CPU/GPU. Its designed for memory chips. I looked for thicker thermal pad tape, 3M. I could buy 20M from **, but that might leave me a bit left over. I did see a chap asking members if they had any spare on their old HSF?

Hi, I was the guy asking members for some thick thermal tape but no one had any except this one fella whos sending me the stuff now but I wouldnt mind knowing where to get it from just incase it doesnt work second hand, and sorry to sound rude bit I dont know what you mean by:


"I looked for thicker thermal pad tape, 3M. I could buy 20M from **, but that might leave me a bit left over."

Did you find some thick thermal stuff? whats 3M and 20M?
 
Soldato
Joined
3 Nov 2004
Posts
9,857
Location
UK
Vegeta said:
"I looked for thicker thermal pad tape, 3M. I could buy 20M from **, but that might leave me a bit left over."

Did you find some thick thermal stuff? whats 3M and 20M?
Lol, I was you? You got an offer, thought you did.

Sorry, 3M is a massive tape supplier, back in the day I used to work with the reps for heatsink tapes and stuff. There is a massive electrical firm **, can't say who, who could special order pretty much anything. But it would be something like a 20m roll and not cheap. :(
 
Back
Top Bottom