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Water Cooling done...BUT...!

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Xaggerate

Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2003
Location
San Diego
So I finished reinstalling my triple block DTEK setup and everything runs quiet and below 37C...BUT....I'm getting some lost pixels....I tried reseating the 9600pro to no avail....I was extremely careful in removing the stock fan on the GPU and attaching the new waterblock to it....

any ideas?
 
Could be a few things. You put actic silver or something simular on correct? Have you tried taking the block off to make sure it made a good imprint? Also what kind of connectors does it use to connect to the card? You could possibly overtighten which could cause a cracked core (does not sound like this is your problem). How hot is the back of your card when you touch it? Do you have it OCed? Do you have any fans blowing over the ram? Sorry for all the questions, but hard to figure out without some extra facts.
 
I agree with Devil... It sounds like you may not have decent contact with the core. What do you mean by dead pixels though? Are they artifacts, like black or white dots that apear on specific textures? Although, if they are always in the same spot then I'd put a different monitor on and see if they're still there, maybe you just have a few dead pixels. It really is hard to tell without knowing the clock rates and all though.
 
A few answers....

No clock rates have changed at all...everything is at stock speeds...

Card seemed a bit warm..not OVERLY hot...

the stock GPU had a yellow sticky material as its contact point to the fan/heatsink...I applied some Artic Silver over that...but perhaps that may not have been the best course of action...

I've been running the card at 1280x1024x32 for 4 weeks @ 100hz RR with not one hickup....

Pixels are black and white...but are not consistant with each window/screen appearing on the monitor....

Startup Window's screen proves much more pixels than any other screen...

I've never had this problem before...any more ideas?

I plan to pull the GPU waterblock and re-seat it tonight...
 
how hot is the ram? it sounds more like a ram problem to me. most of the time when the core gets to hot it will lock up/crash. you sound like you got artifacts.
 
Yeah you should really remove every trace of that yellow sticky stuff with some high % alchohol and then reapply the as5. Hopefully that will take care of your problem.
 
thegame said:
how hot is the ram? it sounds more like a ram problem to me. most of the time when the core gets to hot it will lock up/crash. you sound like you got artifacts.

Artifacts...pixels....don't care what they are at this time...just so long as they aren't on my screen...

I'm going to pull the card and clean the core off and reseat the waterblock on it and see how it does....

any thoughts?...precautions..or steps I should use/keep in mind?
 
The best thing to do is not panic! Whenever I install something new and I put my whole comp back together and it doesn't work I panic and end up making a simple problem a big one by taking apart everything and then adding like a million possible problems to the equation.

The first thing I would do is take off the waterblock, remove all of the AS5 and the yellow stuff. Then carefully inspect the core and make sure it isn't cracked or chiped. Make sure there wasn't any AS5 shorting out any resistors or anything on the chip. Stuff like that, then put a paper thin layer of as5 on the core and reinstall the waterblock.
 
The reason for the problem is going to be the yellow stuff. It is actually the thermal pad they used on the card. When it heats up for the first time, it actually melts onto the core. In order to get a good connection between your block and the card, you will need to carefully get it all off. Also if you are using AS5 make sure that none has gotten on the card anywhere becuase this can really mess up a good card fast. I take it that this problem started after you changed blocks. Check to make sure that the card is pushed in all the way and that all connections are all the way in. Also inspect the pci slot and part that slides in for any foreign objects or dust that could be keeping you from having a good connection. It is not your monitor. What you are seeing are known as artifacts. Also did you do a install of the new drivers when you changed that block? If the install did not go on properly, it can cause some of these problems. Try a fresh install of the new ATI drivers and see if there is any improvement. Keep us posted and good luck.
 
OK...update...no improvements as of this moment...

Took the waterblock off...got all the yellow padding off the top of the core...with some residual left on the very outer edges I deemed as impossible to get off...re-applied a very small amount of AS5 and proceeded to reinstall the card....no difference...

I made sure it was securely SNAPPED in and screwed down nice and tight...

Anyways...I'm going reinstall the drivers for the card and see if that does any good...the card is a 9600pro BTW...

Any other thoughts?
 
OK...uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers....artifacts are VERY WELL seen at any resolution below 1280x1024x32...and at that resolution...I can pick out a few obvious things..but nothing HORRIBLE....

Need some help here guys....
 
the stock GPU had a yellow sticky material as its contact point to the fan/heatsink...I applied some Artic Silver over that...but perhaps that may not have been the best course of action...
This and the heat your die now endures is IMO certainly the problem here.
MAybe th eresidue is not allowing a full-contact seating of the block. Remove ALL the Thermal Pad residue and make sure your block gets flow and isnt clogged or something.
 
Took all the yellow stuff off...reapplied the AS5...no difference...should I try stock again to see if there is a difference?
 
If the bakc of the card right above the core isn't hot, it isn't getting too hot guys.

Try the stock heatsink, and make syre there is nothing on the card shorting out.

Do you have another card to try out?
 
Tried stock heatsink/fan....still there....Going to try an old card here in a sec......

EDIT....GAH....no agp cards in the house....!
 
On and old PCI card right now...and no artifacts....

Going to iso the 9600p and blow out the agp slot...
 
back on the 9600pro...artifacts again...going to try her on a different computer...see if it's the agp or the card...any more ideas?
 
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