GeForce 3 Ti 500 with VGA silencer - going for 13K

[Panzerknacker]

So I got my eyes on the VGA silencer, one of the most used VGA cooling devices here on the forum. On Arctic Cooling's website (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/en/) I found that the VGA silencer should also fit on the GeForce 3 Ti series cards (It's mainly designed for ATI's 9500, 9700 and 9800 series). So I went on and got myself one.

Now I'm having some questions regarding the device itself/installation.

- I would like to know which revision I got. What are the differences between the revisions?

- On what voltage does the VGA silencer's fan run, and what is the output of my Ti 500 (if it's any different from 12v). My Ti 500 got another connector than doesnt fit the VGA Silencer's plug. I still gotta find something for that.

- I had to swap the two RAM heatsinks, 'cause the one to the left of the GPU has a thin edge which is too close to the mounting hole. The heatsink from above the GPU does not have this edge so I'm going to swap them. I took them of first, but they were glued to the memory and now there are rests of glue all over the memory. How do I get that off? And what glue should I use one the corners when I re-apply the RAMsinks, so that I'm still able to take them off later?

- On the memory it says 'EliteMT'. I like to know what brand that is and what people's OCing experiences are with it.

I'm going for a serious OC. I will even try volt-modding if that's going to be limiting it. I'm going for a 3Dmark '01 score of over 13K.

Pictures are coming soon!

ps. I'm posting this in the main video/sound section because ATI users may be interested as well in how the VGA silencer works.

[Overclocker550]

what clocks does your ti500 do so far? my best is 12.7k with mine but gimmie a good a64 and ill hit 14k

[bRiCe]

on my rig i had my ti500 doin like 13.5k with stock cooling just took off all the horrible thermal tape stuff and put some as3 on there and it cooled 200x better

[Overclocker550]

13.5k id have to see your compare link to believe

[funnyperson1]

Elite MT is made by a division of Micron, I couldn't tell you how it overclocked unless you want to hear about my old Geforce2 Pro.

[Panzerknacker]

OC550, were u using stock cooling? How high did u get on the GPU/mem?

bRiCe, I'm going to use AS5 on the GPU and memory. But those memory heatsinks were freakin' glued to the ram, I pulled them off and now there is still glue all over the mem. What can I use to clean it? I thought of thinner of something but I dunno if I f it up with that.

@funnyperson1 heh heh tell me about that gf2 pro!

[Steven4563]

i think u can hit 14K with it but its going to be hard and u might need to voltmod the card

u can use goo off stuff or whatever u US ppl call it

[Panzerknacker]

heh heh I'm dutch but I havent heard of goo off stuff, lmao!

[Steven4563]

LMAO nor me but i can remember someone saying about some stuff that they can buy which removes coffee and all sorts from computer parts without ruining it :D

[funnyperson1]

Well, it was a beast in its day, came with 5ns EliteMT chips which overclocked from 200 mhz to 230mhz and could hit 235+ on a good day. The gpu also survived two weeks after I forgot to plug in the fan and didn't even artifact until I tried to overclock.

:p

As for Goo Off its stuff you can get in pretty much any american hardware store thats supposed to take off the toughest stains from paint to coffee stains. Good luck finding it internationally :(. Although I am sure you guys have your own variants which work just as well.

[Panzerknacker]

Originally posted by funnyperson1
Well, it was a beast in its day, came with 5ns EliteMT chips which overclocked from 200 mhz to 230mhz and could hit 235+ on a good day. The gpu also survived two weeks after I forgot to plug in the fan and didn't even artifact until I tried to overclock.

:p

As for Goo Off its stuff you can get in pretty much any american hardware store thats supposed to take off the toughest stains from paint to coffee stains. Good luck finding it internationally :(. Although I am sure you guys have your own variants which work just as well.

Well, I've found out that the EliteMT chips were 3.8ns. That's pretty funny about the fan, lol. Not going to try that with mine, heh heh.

We have similar stuff like Goo Off as well, just another name :D

[Overclocker550]

my ti500 does 265/600 with iron heatsink and tweakmonster ramsinks. I bought it that way. Not bad but ive seen better. vmods rarely help geforce3's but good cooling does

[Panzerknacker]

Ok I've got it up and running. It's going 60 minutes now and everything looks fine.

I had to do some modifications before it would fit.

- I had to swap the RAM heatsinks, because the one to the left of the GPU had a edge that would be in the way of the VGA silencer. The other one has no ledge and it fits perfectly. I lapped the heatsinks first, then I used Actic Alumina in the center of the chips and glue on the edges. I still don't feel comfortable about it but I gues that will be over if it survives this weekend's LAN party.

- The FAN power plug of the VGA silencer did not fit the one on my board. I soldered the plug of the stock fan to the cable of the VGA Silencer.

- The large bracket did not fit. Some of the mounting holes and the gaps for the different connectors were a few milimeters too far to the other side. I used the Dremel to move 'em up and now it all fits perfectly!

- The bottom of the heatsink was touching the S-Video out, I used the Dremel again to cut some alu of it and now it's way better.

And I used Arctic Silver on the GPU!

I'm not going to try further OCing yet, I'm having a LAN party this weekend and it first needs to survice that! Then I can start frying things, :P.

I still need to find something for the memory, the heatsinks are getting pretty hot right now (they always did) and I'm going to see if I can get a fan blowing onto them.

I will post pictures very soon :D

[Albuquerque]

On my GF3, I lapped down the actual core quite a bit with good success. The stock core was VERY concave, and thus didn't make good contact with any heatsink you strapped on. You can basically lap that puppy until get it flat, you'll see an aluminum disc underneath all the plastic. Just lap it enough to get it flat and you're set.

While you're lapping, make sure to lap down the VGA Silencer too. They come a little rough and can use some loving with some 600+ grit sand paper.

[Panzerknacker]

hm that's weird. My core really seemed very flat, so flat that I didnt even think about lapping it. My VGA silencer was good as well, although it could have used some lapping I didnt bother to. Maybe I will later.

[Albuquerque]

I had a GF3Ti200 that I loved, it overclocked poorly in the beginning so I tried different heatsinks and fans and different types of thermal goo in the middle. One day I suddenly realized that I wasn't getting a good solid mark on the heatsink from the think layer of goo on the core, so I started lapping. And lapping. And more lapping. It took me quite a while to get that damned thing flat -- and it was easy to tell what kind progress I was making by how far "out" the sanding went onto the die.

It's difficult to lap that chip because it's surrounded by all manner of stuff; I used multiple pieces of sandpaper lightly glued to a known-flat piece of heavy glass. It took FOR EVER. :) Started with 300 and used that for probably 15-20 minutes, then once it seemed finally flat, I started working my way up. If I recall correctly, it may have even been copper under there after the aluminum silver color.

Either way, you really only need to lap it until it's flat. After all of that, my core overclock suddenly jumped by like 40mhz, and even the stock heatsink worked significantly better than before. I strapped a Socket 7 heatsink on it which worked quite well, then used a Socket 370 sink which worked even better with a voltmod.

It eventually died when I accidentally snagged the wire for the memory voltmod, which yanked the solder pad and the whole attached leg off the memory voltage regulator IC. Doh :( That was quite a good card...

[Panzerknacker]

Ok thanks, that's what I'm gonna try definately if I just can't get it high. Too bad that your Ti200 died, I don't like good hardware to die, even if it's old and I don't need it anymore I have a place for it in the show-case. Fortunately I still don't know how it feels :D

[Overclocker550]

volt modding rarely helps with geforce3's sorry to say

[Albuquerque]

I wouldn't say that... My memory picked up probably 30mhz with a voltmod versus what it was doing stock; I don't remember the GPU exactly but I want to say it was about 20mhz. Considering the clockspeeds it started at, those were quite good increases.

[Panzerknacker]

Well I may want to try that. Where can I get more information about voltmodding these cards?

[matrixzen]

Head over to the volt modding section. The MAAAD HATTERS there'll help you out.

[Steven4563]

i cant wait to see your results and please post pics :D of your card

[Panzerknacker]

I have to wait untill next week with OCing. I'm working on the pictures right now, they are on my DV camera I gotta take them to my computer.

[Overclocker550]

maybe I should send my ti500 to get vmodded, but only if I have a spare in case he kills it ;) ah well if it dies, at least I have the tweakmonster ramsinks to rip off and stick on another ti500

[Panzerknacker]

Ok I got the pictures online here (http://members.chello.nl/j.reubsaet/pics.html).

I already tried some overclocking, I'm now at 270/550 artifact free. I'm going to have some fans blowing onto the memory heatsinks, that feels safer.

[Steven4563]

that looks sweet you have done a nice job on that Ti500 :beer::thup:

[Sir Random]

I got 12k from my old Ti200. The core was very concave so I lapped it and gained 10Mhz (264/555) :D

http://www.handspun.utvinternet.com/daniel/101203_05d.jpg


I'd also advise lapping the VGA Cooler. Those ridges don't allow proper contact, check out this 9800 core after removing an un-lapped VGA cooler:

http://www.handspun.utvinternet.com/daniel/300404_03d.jpg

EDIT:
The VGA fan is designed for silence. I put an 80mm case fan on mine, gained 5Mhz on the core.

http://www.handspun.utvinternet.com/daniel/300404_04d.jpg

[Steven4563]

nice mods ill have to lap my VGA Sliencer i think and aim for 400mhz core :attn:

[Panzerknacker]

Originally posted by Steven4563
that looks sweet you have done a nice job on that Ti500 :beer::thup:

Thanks man!

And thanks to all of u for the tips! I'm going to see how far it goes like this, and then I'll try the lapping/volt modding. Do u guys think I'll need fans on the memory? Does any of u use fans on the memory? Those heatsinks get pretty hot now.. but the glue doesnt melt and keeps them in place, although I still look now and then to see if they still are.

[Steven4563]

no i dont think u need fan on there aslong as your case has good air flow

[Panzerknacker]

Ok I'm doing 270/560 now. I'm going to put fans on the memory because I don't thrust it getting any hotter. The VGA silencer blocks the air flow to the memory that's the reason.

[Steven4563]

yeah i notice it blocked the airflow on my ram chips but they only get warmish

btw whats the highest 3dmark2001 score u can get now with that overclock ??

[Panzerknacker]

I did only one run and got 11378. I don't know what to think of it. It was with the 40.72 drivers, they are the fastest as far as I know. I still have a long way to go before I'm at 13K that's for sure.

[Steven4563]

cant u overclock that cpu anymore past 2.2ghz with a higher fsb around 220 ??

[Panzerknacker]

Yeah I want to try that soon but I think my NF7-S is one of the crappy ones.

[Overclocker550]

wow thats gonna be a long way, sorry :( can you link me to your published score so I can help you at least break 12k?

[Panzerknacker]

The compare url is http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7808447. Can u give me the url of your 12.7k run? U have any idea why u are getting so much more than me? Maybe ur 220fsb? The few extra mhz on ur videomemory? Windows 2000? Driver/bios tweaks? I understand if u don't want to tell me but I would appreciate if u want, heh heh.

[ElectroX]

How about a 2K3 run? That would be interesting :D

[Overclocker550]

oh you have a very long way to go. The most important thing you should do is get windows 2k, thats worth an easy 500 marks right there. second of all overclock your cpu and fsb. thirdly use lodbias


http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7530038

need an a64 to break 15k then I need a better ti500 for 16k!

[Panzerknacker]

@ElectroX: Nah, 2k3 just sux with cards like this cuz u get a -5000 points or something penalty for not being able to run the DX9 tests.

@OC550: I'm going to try win2k. Can u explain a little more what u mean with 'use lodbias'? One thing really affecting the score is the performance in the Nature test. How can u get that many more frames than me? I gues the other differences are just because u are running the memory on a higher speed and higher fsb.

[Steven4563]

what drivers are u using i would lowered the muliplier to 9 and up that fsb more

u do really need more fsb and cpu speed

[Panzerknacker]

I'm using 40.72, they get the best scores. I'm getting Win2k this week, see if it makes any diffence. I'm also going to make work of OCing the rest of my rig.

[Vertical_Zer0]

Does this VGA Silencer fit GF4 ti4600's? Just curious... I'm looking for a new cooler for mine, preferably a quiet one. What I actualy want to do is slap my stock AMD sink on my GPU, but unfortunately I cannot find any thermal epoxy anywhere... So this VGA Silencer is looking nice.

[ElectroX]

Originally posted by Vertical_Zer0
Does this VGA Silencer fit GF4 ti4600's? Just curious... I'm looking for a new cooler for mine, preferably a quiet one. What I actualy want to do is slap my stock AMD sink on my GPU, but unfortunately I cannot find any thermal epoxy anywhere... So this VGA Silencer is looking nice.

I think you missed your thread ;)

BTW, VGA Silencers don't fit GF4s

[Vertical_Zer0]

Oh poo... Thanks anyway :)