Cooling the 5870?

[1kingd2]

Hello everyone,
today I took apart my 5870 to put artic silver 5 thermal paste on the gpu. This has decreased my my full load temp by about 5c while use 3Dadvantage. I was thinking about adding Zalaman ZM-RHS1 memory heatsinks to the memory on the card. My question is, if I do this do I need to take off the pads on top of the vga casing? Also if I put these heatsinks on then put the casing back on would they still be effective? Thank you

[vixro]

Hello everyone,
today I took apart my 5870 to put artic silver 5 thermal paste on the gpu. This has decreased my my full load temp by about 5c while use 3Dadvantage. I was thinking about adding Zalaman ZM-RHS1 memory heatsinks to the memory on the card. My question is, if I do this do I need to take off the pads on top of the vga casing? Also if I put these heatsinks on then put the casing back on would they still be effective? Thank you

You would remove the pads first then apply the sinks directly to the memory chips. As long as there is space between the sink and anything else for airflow, then yes they would be effective in what they are intended to do.

If you have contact and it's forced you could cause damage to the memory chips. I'd make sure you actually have clearance with the stock cooler first before adding any memory sinks.


Slightly off topic, but your results could be minimal. The cooler that comes on my powercolor card (not the reference cooler) works fantastic on the core and is pretty silent but contains no memory contact whatsoever. No pads or sinks. I haven't run into any overheats or cooling problems.

[1kingd2]

I over clock my gpu, so I was a little concerned with the memory heat what are safe tempature range for the the memory? I am waiting for the prolimatech mk-13 vga cooler to come out. Thank you for your input.

[baris_]

I over clock my gpu, so I was a little concerned with the memory heat what are safe tempature range for the the memory? I am waiting for the prolimatech mk-13 vga cooler to come out. Thank you for your input.

Just keep the temps under 80C at load. Preferably under 70C for a wee bit longer lifespan.

[1kingd2]

Just keep the temps under 80C at load. Preferably under 70C for a wee bit longer lifespan.

Using 3D benchmark it never gets over 65c, so I guess I should be ok. 1040 clock 1325 memory speed (1.3v). Thank you.

[mxthunder]

Does your card have the reference batmobile cooler on it? If so, your better off leaving it alone. The factory metal plate that covers the memory/VRM's is the most effective way of cooling things, as well as the GPU itself. I have spent $100 on products from thermalright to try and keep the noise down as well as do a better job at cooling, but nothing aftermarket works as good for keeping the temps down as the factory setup with the fan at 60%.

[bda1967]

60% is the sweet spot. My 5870 doesn't go past the low 50's in temp with the fan at 60-65%