Grr, about torched my 9800np...

[Albuquerque]

Was putzing around last night after downloading RealGTA3 and having some fun with all the new cars. I noticed the gameplay was a little choppy (no artifacts, just really jerky in places), so I exited the game and went into the control panel to check my AA/AF settings. (the original GTA III sometimes chops on my rig if I'm running 6x + 16x for some dumb reason)

I notice that the settings are correct in the GTA III profile (2x + 8x) and start to wonder... I check my RivaTuner to check that my clockspeed hasn't changed from my default OC and it hasn't... I check my available ram in system task manager, check processor utilization, check for stupid threads that might be doing dumb things in the background.

Nothing :(

So I reboot, and on the BIOS screen, all the characters are fuzzing out with the typical ATI checkerboard pattern. WTF? Open the case, check the temperature of the heatsink on the GPU, and it pops off! :mad:

Now this isn't the stock heatsink, this is a bigassed Socket370 that I attached long ago with a thin dab of Artic Silver Epoxy. I don't have the first friggin clue how it ever became loose! But sure enough, it was just dangling there by a little tiny portion of ASE from the corner of the core. :mad:

Took it all apart, checked to make sure the core hadn't chipped somehow by that ASE ripping loose, and carefull had to remove it all from the core. That was a PITA!

I eventually ended up just slapping the stock cooler on for now with some Radio Shack white goo. Works fine again, but I still haven't figured out how I could have screwed up so bad on the epoxy... Half and Half, apply thinly, it's not THAT hard is it?!?!

Anyway, thought I'd share my near-second attempt at torching a good quality ATI card :(

[CamH]

Man, sorry to hear about that. :( It's good to hear that your story has a happy ending though. :D

Perhaps you should secure the heatsink in some other way also? Maybe you could try running a wire across the heatsink and through the heatsink mounting holes and then tie it in the back. That would help keep the heatsink on tight, and hopefully prevent it from falling off again.

[Albuquerque]

Before the 9800np, I had a perfectly modded 9500np that was doing 425/331 after a voltmod -- it was damn near as fast as my current 9800 project. The monster heatsink I had on that puppy was attached via two steel screws through the heatsink and through the stock mounting holes; fastened with a nylon washer and a steel nut.

I torched that 9500np accidentally after I had removed the heatsink (for no other good reason than me trying to be a perfectionist) and forgot to put the nylon washers back on before fastening down the steel nuts. ZAAAPPP!! Smoke! 9500np = wall attraction :(

I pretty much am figuring that this Socket370 sink wasn't attached right from the very beginning... The stock HS/F with the better thermal compound is actually performing better than my aftermarket attempt. You can't tell me that the stock HS/F capable of operating that much better than a full-sized aluminum Socket370 with an 80mm fan attached!

Back to the drawing board I suppose, it just makes me mad that I somehow screwed it up. I'm almost positive it was something I did wrong, as I don't recall anyone else having problems with AS Epoxy somehow falling off after a while -- hell, most people report that it almost wrecks the card when you try to remove the ASE.

Dunno how I screwed it up, but I did it somehow... :( Glad it didn't result in torching my 2nd ATI card