Ok, I just finished replacing the thermal tape with Artic Silver 5 on all the chips on my PNY 6800GT. Thanks to tieros in this thread http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=396933 for the inspiration!
Before doing this it reported idle temps of 66core/46ambient, and after 59/43. A significant improvement, and I'm glad I took the time. Before the mod I was running the card at 423/1050 (well above ultra specs), and have no doubt the cooler temps will make 435/1150 possible.
Under load, I am seeing temps peaking at 85/61, using Real-Time High-Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting Version1.2 http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/ to stress the card. The thin voltage regulator heatsink is too hot to touch(!), and the memory heatsink is hot. This card is seriously undercooled when overclocked, and I'm worried about those voltage regulators!
There is one thing to watch out for: The stock memory heatsink and the thin voltage regulator heatsink on this board both stand far off the surface of the chips they are meant to cool, having been designed for use with thermal tape. This must be addressed before re-assembly.
Be sure to file down all the screwdown points a bit on both these heatsinks, especially on the VR heatsink, which leaves quite a gap. In addition, I lightly sanded off the paint where the memory chips contact, which should give slightly better thermal transfer.
These cards have lots of screw holes in them, which will make attaching much beefier heatsinks fairly easy. Can't wait to see what becomes available in the market, or I may do something creative with a 120mm fan and an old cpu heatsink myself!
rms
Before doing this it reported idle temps of 66core/46ambient, and after 59/43. A significant improvement, and I'm glad I took the time. Before the mod I was running the card at 423/1050 (well above ultra specs), and have no doubt the cooler temps will make 435/1150 possible.
Under load, I am seeing temps peaking at 85/61, using Real-Time High-Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting Version1.2 http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl/ to stress the card. The thin voltage regulator heatsink is too hot to touch(!), and the memory heatsink is hot. This card is seriously undercooled when overclocked, and I'm worried about those voltage regulators!
There is one thing to watch out for: The stock memory heatsink and the thin voltage regulator heatsink on this board both stand far off the surface of the chips they are meant to cool, having been designed for use with thermal tape. This must be addressed before re-assembly.
Be sure to file down all the screwdown points a bit on both these heatsinks, especially on the VR heatsink, which leaves quite a gap. In addition, I lightly sanded off the paint where the memory chips contact, which should give slightly better thermal transfer.
These cards have lots of screw holes in them, which will make attaching much beefier heatsinks fairly easy. Can't wait to see what becomes available in the market, or I may do something creative with a 120mm fan and an old cpu heatsink myself!
rms
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