arctic silver on a video card chip

[lennytiger]

is it possible to put arctic silver on my video card and then put the heatsink back on it? would this drop the temps at all??

[snyper1982]

i was thinking about doing that exact same thing. but i dont think i am going to do it now! besides i dont even know how to get the heatsink off of my card. its a creative 3d annihilator 2. if anyone knows how let me know.

[lennytiger]

send us in some pics of it one the board and someone will tell u if its possible.

If it doesn't have anyscrews or clips the answer may well be no but if it does you may be lucky.

:)

[snyper1982]

nope, no screws or clips. i guess i am SOL. i didnt think i would be able to get it off of it. maybe i could use one of thse agp lifte thigs i saw. it sits on the top of the card over the chip, and blows air up away from the card. it seems like it would work. i also saw one guy put an old HSF on the top of his card and that lowered his temps.

[portorock]

I was thinking the same with my voodoo5, unfortunately, the two fans on the gpu's won't budge and I don't have the $400 to get the geforce3 that I want if I screw it up.

[Phil]

A lot of cards hold the heatsink on with epoxy, there are 2 ways of getting this off, the brave way, and the insanely brave way, I'll start wit the latter, first you take a credit card or something similar and put this on the pcb near the heatsink, this is to protect the card for the next bit, then get a flat headed screwdriver, put it under the heatsink and make sure the credit card is underneath it to protect the card, then pry it till the heatsink pops off, or more exactly flys off. I have done this and it was ok but some people have reported the gpu being pulled off with it so do it at your own risk. the next way is not so scary but still with it's risks. You will need an anti static bag like th one the card came in, put the card in this and seal it, and I mean seal very tightly so no air can escape. then put this in a plastic/polythene bag and seal that, and put it in the freezer for a few minutes until it is quite cold. This makes the epoxy very brittle and it should come off quite easily, then leave the card to warm up again and for any moisture that may have gathered on it to dry.
As for using AS on it this is fine, many people use artic silver and then use 4 dabs of super glue in each corner of the core to hold the heatsink on, you will need to use a fair bit of AS though as the cores are far from flat, as are the heatsinks.
Spode has done a guide on lapping a gpu core over at www.spodesabode.com (http://www.spodesabode.com/) but this is not for the technically inept.

[ve6jhc]

Why not just leave the factory heat sink on and upgrade the stock fan to a higher performing one?

[Silversinksam]

Lenny,

Phil gave the good instructions on removing the Heatsink, now I strongly suggest you dont use Supergue and instead use ArcticSilver Thermal adhesive on the corners as Cyanoacrylate adhesives(superglue) are definitly not good thermal conduits :p

You can buy ArcticSilver thermal adhesive for $9.99 with free shipping from SVC promotional price Arctic Silver Adhesive (http://svcompucycle.com/arsiltherad.html)

Here is a few suggestions from another post but its basicly along the lines of this topic http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34446


PS I've removed many stock heatsinks held on by thermal adhesive and have never had a problem. Just follow Phils excellent instructions except the super glue thing :p

[Bakkteria]

I just did this for a tnt2U. I stuck the card in the freezer for bout 20min and the sink popped right off. You should have seen the tiny dab of crappy glue leadtek used to stick it on. I put lapped greenie on with a 6000rpm vantec fan and AS with 4 dabs of super glue. My previous overclock was 150-205 stable, now it's 170-205 stable. Yes, the graphics chip is not close to flat and very concave so it required a thicker layer in the center.

[lennytiger]

cheers everybody I'm gonna try it on an old card that i'm not using and if that works i'll do it on mine!!

[Phil]

Originally posted by Silversinksam
Lenny,

Phil gave the good instructions on removing the Heatsink, now I strongly suggest you dont use Supergue and instead use ArcticSilver Thermal adhesive on the corners as Cyanoacrylate adhesives(superglue) are definitly not good thermal conduits :p

You can buy ArcticSilver thermal adhesive for $9.99 with free shipping from SVC promotional price Arctic Silver Adhesive (http://svcompucycle.com/arsiltherad.html)

Here is a few suggestions from another post but its basicly along the lines of this topic http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34446


PS I've removed many stock heatsinks held on by thermal adhesive and have never had a problem. Just follow Phils excellent instructions except the super glue thing :p

Theres nothing wrong with the superglue thing I suggested, did you not read it properly I suggested to use artic silver for heat transfer and then the 4 dabs of super glue in each corner of the gpu to hold the sink on, this works just fine and probabally slightly better than using AS thermal epoxy as standard as is a better heat conducter(very slightly) and not everyone can afford to splash out $10 especially if they already have some AS

[funnyperson1]

actually i just played unreal for an hour or so then shut down the computer and wiggled the heatsink, and it popped right off....this probly wouldnt work unless you have a vooodoo or a geforce

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by Phil


Theres nothing wrong with the superglue thing I suggested, did you not read it properly I suggested to use artic silver for heat transfer and then the 4 dabs of super glue in each corner of the gpu to hold the sink on, this works just fine and probabally slightly better than using AS thermal epoxy as standard as is a better heat conducter(very slightly) and not everyone can afford to splash out $10 especially if they already have some AS


Obviously you didnt read my post well with the links I provided, I did completly understand that you mentioned using thermal paste, and if you read what I wrote I mentioned Arctic Silver adhesive on the corners and Arctic silver on the rest.

First I'm a retired engineer with a pretty good understanding of cyanoacrylate properties

Cyanoacrylat e(superGlue) has a flash point of Flash Point 83° deg C and has an even lower boiling point of Boiling Point 62 deg° C may become unstable at high temperatures. Under certain conditions, slow depolymerization of the polymerized cyanoacrylate has been shown. Now is this the sort of product you want affixing your expensive video card's HSF. Not to mention if your not using Superglue Gel the migration of the viscous liquid could cause you undo propblems.

Wht dont you spend a few minutes and read the MSDS white papers on Superglue, you will see why its not such a great product to use in a high heat envirment.

PS they make high tempature Cyanoacrylate adhesives but its probably not the garden variety stuff available in most stores.

[lennytiger]

my old voodoo3 has clips and I can just pop it off easily but can you get HSFs for the voodoo3s???

[AlanSr]

I replaced my original HSF on my geforce 2gts with the blorb and used artic silver 2, but the clips fit my card perfect, so I didn't need any adhesive.

I'm pushin my ramdac over 435 now.
well I also have the cyclone agp cooler right under it suckin hot air out the back of my case, and I have a duel 60mm "60cfm" card blower with it also:)

I like to push it to the limit

'air is awesome'

[oc jason]

anyone got a Leatek GF2 Pro 64, hey have this weird little HS thas is NOT square and covers some of the ram also - any ideas, i ws thinking uf using the blade of an exacto knife since it is so thin and sharp, it should slide throught the glue once you get the card hot?

[Sohryu Asuka Langley]

I have 3 1/2 PCI slots worth of cooling on my MX, which I gotta update the stats again: 250 core 210 mem now.

I'll gets some pic when I get a camera handy again.

[silent bob]

I believe the blorb does work for voodoo I have to pick mine up from robjustice if I ever get away from my puter long enuff

[Phil]

Originally posted by Silversinksam



Obviously you didnt read my post well with the links I provided, I did completly understand that you mentioned using thermal paste, and if you read what I wrote I mentioned Arctic Silver adhesive on the corners and Arctic silver on the rest.

First I'm a retired engineer with a pretty good understanding of cyanoacrylate properties

Cyanoacrylat e(superGlue) has a flash point of Flash Point 83° deg C and has an even lower boiling point of Boiling Point 62 deg° C may become unstable at high temperatures. Under certain conditions, slow depolymerization of the polymerized cyanoacrylate has been shown. Now is this the sort of product you want affixing your expensive video card's HSF. Not to mention if your not using Superglue Gel the migration of the viscous liquid could cause you undo propblems.

Wht dont you spend a few minutes and read the MSDS white papers on Superglue, you will see why its not such a great product to use in a high heat envirment.

PS they make high tempature Cyanoacrylate adhesives but its probably not the garden variety stuff available in most stores.

Well I have used superglue and not had any problems with it, I suppose with newer cards the 62oC bioling point could be a problem. Epoxy Resin would be better for holding the heatsink on, not everyone wants to have to spend $10 just for something they may not use more than once. AS epoxy would be best and if you have other uses for it then by all means go for it, but if you already hae AS and don't want to fork out then using 4 dabs of epoxy resin will suffice, or anything that can be used to bond, I have attached heatsinks using mastic adhesive (rubbery) and contact adhesive before.

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by [OC] Jason
anyone got a Leatek GF2 Pro 64, hey have this weird little HS thas is NOT square and covers some of the ram also - any ideas, i ws thinking uf using the blade of an exacto knife since it is so thin and sharp, it should slide throught the glue once you get the card hot? http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=242755


Jason, the Leadtek gf2 pro uses Push/pin fasteners and doesnt have thermal adhesive but thermal paste so you just remove the pins and it pops right off.

Also keep in mind that none of the Ram is cooled by the vectored air heatsink, not one chip touches the heatsink. under the fan area where there is 2 ram chips the gap between the ram and the hsf is approximatly 1-2 millimeters.

Here is a similiar topic discussing adding a new Gpu cooler to this particular video card.
http://forums.overclockers.ws/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34446