Stupid 4870 watercooling

[schmide]

I just started watercooling my 4870 with my cheep cooler. A aquagate duo viva block with 2 radiators. The temps are low around 30c-35c idle 33c-37c load. I haven't burned it in yet so the coolant hasn't heated up yet.

It runs fine, but I have to attach the original coolers fan or I get a BSOD when the driver in vista loads. (the catylist control center icon)

WTF any ideas? Advice?

It's a SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 BTW

[Conumdrum]

I typed this in Google.
SAPPHIRE 100259L Radeon HD 4870 512MB 256-bit GDDR5 BTW fan bsod

Got a Newegg thread, might want to read through the responses/reviews by users.

[schmide]

That was a totally different issue. I've been looking into it and it seems that some bios(s) don't like not having a fan. There seems to be some custom ones that get rid of the issue.

[thorilan]

I haven't burned it in yet so the coolant hasn't heated up yet.

?

[Conumdrum]

You could possibly look into forums/subforums for GPU's, ATI one as to be sure. BSODS sound more like a driver issue, I dunno. Unless you bricked your GPU when installing the WC kit.

[Rich'[ard]]

You could possibly look into forums/subforums for GPU's, ATI one as to be sure. BSODS sound more like a driver issue, I dunno. Unless you bricked your GPU when installing the WC kit.

whoa! brick with physical contact? i thought stuff can only be bricked when flashing firmware/BIOS etc.

like when hacking a PSP or flashing mobo BIOS.

[Ric2L]

;5922661"]whoa! brick with physical contact? i thought stuff can only be bricked when flashing firmware/BIOS etc.

like when hacking a PSP or flashing mobo BIOS.


I Bricked a 4870 1gb card by putting a water block on it!! Not really sure what went wrong, I think it was to much TIM and that shorted it out, but really not sure. I'll know when my new one arrives and I try again, this time being very very very very careful.

[schmide]

The card is working fine. Making a USB boot disk from Vista. Not so fine.

As for the burn in comment. It takes time for the liquid to reach temperature from a cold boot. So far only 1 degree increase.

I really have no choice but to flash it, unless I want a big ass cooler hanging out in the bottom of my case.

[Spawn-Inc]

just get a fan header and run a fan for the northbridge or case off the gpu.

[schmide]

It's a weird 4 pin header. I think I'm going to try and flash it.

Wish me luck...

[Rich'[ard]]

good luck :p
what a quality post...lol

bricking by using too much TIM is scaring me. i'm about to put some ICD7 on my TRUE. cpu better not brick.

[Conumdrum]

A 4 pin header isn't wierd. Two pins for fan speed voltage, one for speed monitoring, last for PWM (kinda speed change modulation).

Some Mobo CPU fan connectors use 4 pin connections, and allow standard 3 pin connections.

[Spawn-Inc]

A 4 pin header isn't wierd. Two pins for fan speed voltage, one for speed monitoring, last for PWM (kinda speed change modulation).

Some Mobo CPU fan connectors use 4 pin connections, and allow standard 3 pin connections.

exactly, actually i've not really ever seen a mobo have a 4 pin ONLY connector.

;5923062"]good luck :p
what a quality post...lol

bricking by using too much TIM is scaring me. i'm about to put some ICD7 on my TRUE. cpu better not brick.

you would have to put ALOT of tim on a (IHS'd) cpu to brick it.

[schmide]

I reflashed my own bios with the fan fix patch and it didn't work. I'm asking sapphire what they think I should do. I may end up using one of the modded bios out there.

Some images of the card and fan header to see what I'm talking about. It would be hard to find a fan with that type of connector. It's kind of like the audio connectors for sound cards.

http://www.schmide.com/fanheader.jpg

http://www.schmide.com/cardandstock.jpg

[Conumdrum]

Why can't you gently lay the old HS near the GPU and plug in the fan and see what happens? You could lay the old HS on a peice of newspaper or something. That would remove any fan bios issues.

Thats just a mini connector for the fan, just different.

If that don't work, put the original HS on and try the card. If that don't make it work, well, looks like the card is now a thin brick and can't be RMA'ed. Unless you got other ideas.

[schmide]

Why can't you gently lay the old HS near the GPU and plug in the fan and see what happens? You could lay the old HS on a peice of newspaper or something. That would remove any fan bios issues.

Thats just a mini connector for the fan, just different.

If that don't work, put the original HS on and try the card. If that don't make it work, well, looks like the card is now a thin brick and can't be RMA'ed. Unless you got other ideas.

That's what I've been doing. Running it with the original fan attached. It's just annoying that the thing will BSOD without a fan. Documented elsewhere. (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=204621) I don't want to have an extra fan in my system. That's why I watercool and why I asked if anyone here had any ideas about what to do.

BTW I never said it was bricked where did you get that?

[Conumdrum]

Ahhhhh. Thought it could of been, wouldn't be the first GPU when WC installed it bricked the card. Thats all.

Glad it still works, you never said you got it to work by installing the original fan. I guess keep looking for the right bios I guess, good luck.

[Rich'[ard]]

schmide, what heatsink was on your 4870?
looks like a TR product, but it's too thick for a T-rad2 and too thin for a HR-03 lol.

[x30Jx]

Sorry to be the gray cloud here, but is this a cry for a new card by your system?

[Ric2L]

If I get this right, your card works with a water block installed, but only if the origional Heat sinks fan is plugged into the card? If this is so, you should only have to jumper the the fan header of the card, fan to ground,. The other 2 wires are for sensor & fan speed, they shouldent need power. You just have figure out which wire controls the fan and which is ground, or as Conumdrum states find a different bios that doesnt need the fan header plugged in.

[Spawn-Inc]

If I get this right, your card works with a water block installed, but only if the origional Heat sinks fan is plugged into the card? If this is so, you should only have to jumper the the fan header of the card, fan to ground,. The other 2 wires are for sensor & fan speed, they shouldent need power. You just have figure out which wire controls the fan and which is ground, or as Conumdrum states find a different bios that doesnt need the fan header plugged in.

no, i would not do that, it will draw a ton of amps and **** it up. if anything you should find the same style fan header else where then attach the sensor wires to a fan (assuming it has them) some where else in the case.

[Vengance_01]

Just take any old fan that 4 pin, and splice the wires to the stock heatsinks connector. Should work fine till you can get a bios that works.

[JaY_III]

This might be a stupid question but have you tried a different driver yet as per a few suggestions?

What driver are you using anyhow?

[schmide]

I'm just running it with the fan in the bottom of the case.

I contacted Sapphire and they said it is most likely a hardware issue and the card should be RMAed. I may have some clay drying/cooking in my machine. Although I told them exactly what I've done and they said they would accept an RMA. Not exactly sure the tech knew what he or she was talking about.

The block is a cheap aquagate duo viva block hooked up to a good rad.

http://www.coolermaster.com/products/product.php?language=en&act=detail&tbcate=1&id=141

Works surprisingly well.

[schmide]

BTW I'm using the latest drivers 8.12