what can I do to properly cool my new 9800p

ok it looks like im severely heat limited. I took the stock cooler off. The copper heatsink isnt too shabby, ill give you this but the fans a joke! I tried tornado fans but it didnt really help. I need a large heatsink and a big fan blowing directly on it too. I was also thinking of VGA silencer but how good is that? I hear the fans very weak but quiet. I could use my slk-800 but I dont see how ill attach it unless I either use lots of string or epoxy it(bad idea) I will shoot for 500/400 clocks once I get the heat issues worked out and the boost in nature just might get me 26k then


the seller who sold me this card said the volts are a bit above stock, but this is the last of my worries at the moment. Is this any good?



I have ramsinks on my card too, will this block the silencer? Is there anything else I need to know? Is the silencer a good idea, if not then what as my choice for cooling

I have heard alot of good things about the silencer. But if it were me, I would try out the new Zalman VF700-Cu Graphics Card Cooler. I put an AMD CPU heatsink on my 9700 pro and think it works great, so that is another option.

I've got one on my 9800pro flashed to xt and it idles around 50°. Great deal for the price and quality.

Overclocker550

I could use my slk-800 but I dont see how ill attach it unless I either use lots of string or epoxy it(bad idea)

Click to expand...

Awesome, I am very glad that you bought yourself a new card, you'll be happy with it dude .

An SLK800 is an excellent bet for cooling it - especially if you already own one. It is very easy to mount a CPU HSF to the card - just drill two holes through the base of the heatsink, that line up with the mounting holes on the card's PCB - you can use the stock cooler as a template.

For mounting hardware you will need:

~ 2 threaded rods
~ 4 washers
~ 2 nuts
~ 2 wingnuts
~ Small piece of Neoprene
~ Small piece of metal, to make a bracket out of

All this will cost less than $10 at home hardware.

The long threaded rods, pass through the video card, and the holes in the heatsink. A piece of thin metal, and a piece of neoprene, make an excellent bracket for the rear of the card. The rods pass through the bracket/neoprene, so you can tighten the heatsink down, without putting pressure on the video card. The neoprene goes underneath the bracket, preventing it from scratching the rear of the card, also helping to 'pack out' the mount, for even pressure without stressing the card.


It will end up looking like this:

~ ~ <- two wingnuts, on the threaded rods - tighten these to tighten heatsink
------- <- metal mounting bracket
++++ <- neoprene
======= <- video card
||||||| <- SLK800
~ ~ <- two nuts, on the threaded pass-through rods

The washers go underneath the nuts/wingnuts, to prevent any damage to your bracket, and your heatsink . You might also want to suss-out the heatsink a tad, to provide a flat-spot for the nuts to mount evenly on it.


If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask .

Are you planning on voltage modifying the card?

Hurray for a new videocard dude.

Have fun with it

I removed the stock heatsink but theres still this back mounting plate that wont come off. I havent tried hard, gonna ask the previous owner if he used thermal tape or epoxy. If epoxy I may return the card to him or slap the stock heatsink back on and ebay it as a stock 9800p cause the silencer must have a clear, unobstured back. This card has ramsinks too, does this get in the way of the silencer? if so then even removing the back plate arent gonna help I will only keep the card if I can get 450/380 100% artifact free for my 24/7 gaming else I might as well use my 9700 as a primary gaming card and slap the silencer on that instead.

stock VGA's are junk...I found that out within 20 minutes of installing one and within 30 minutes was modding the POS...

I personally found that stripping the shroud and POS fan off and adding 2 YS Tech fans for cooling does a great job...and the ram monster vga ramsinks does a great job on cooling the memory...the added Tt2 fan blowing directly on the Pro also helps cool the memory...

463-467/414 is benchable...

Good luck running at 450 artifact free....very few cards will do that with extreme cooling...let alone air and no vmods...

I have seen people claim artifact free clocks 450 to almost 500 core and around 400 ram with their cards air cooled. Some dude a while back offered me a 480/380 artifact free card but I didnt have the funds and his price was a bit high. My 450MHz with stock cooling plus a tornado fan blowing the back is 99% artifact free. Occasional white dots, especially on dragon but I have to look closely. You are right that few 9800s do 450 but I think mine will do that and more with proper cooling. Maybe ill just buy one already properly cooled as im not real good at putting non standard heatsinks and if I do it wrong I may fry a $150+ card


I cant get the hercules copper heatsink off, not even with a metal thingy, the metal bends and the heatsink wont bulge! I am afraid ill break something if I use all my strength, I guess its a lost cause, will try to sell it here for the $150 I paid and maybe one of you can put it to use back to my 9700 I go

Seems like the older Pros had better luck running at 450+ on core with air cool...the newer ones seem to have issues running at over 420 anymore...

Case in point...my old Pro was able to run at 500 artifact free...while the newer one rans at just over 420 artifact free...463 - 467...does give slight artifacts...but nothing like a big blurr...

Whats weird is...I have to start out at 455 and work its way up to 463/467...(467 = 01...463 = 03, 05 AM (was able to run at 466 in AM before))...just cant set it too 463 and go...another sign of how the newer ones run weird compaired to the older Pros...

Overclocker550

I cant get the hercules copper heatsink off, not even with a metal thingy, the metal bends and the heatsink wont bulge! I am afraid ill break something if I use all my strength, I guess its a lost cause, will try to sell it here for the $150 I paid and maybe one of you can put it to use back to my 9700 I go

Click to expand...

Don't give up OC550!


Is this the card which you have?




If so, check out this article: http://www.stuartfrench.com/9800pro.php

It is specifically about removing the front/back heatsinks from your exact video card, and modifying it. The guy used a plastic ruler to get it off. You could try a butter knife, or the 'freezer method' if that fails.

The freezer method will get the thermal epoxy that the rear heatsink is attached with nice and brittle, and easy to get off safely. Stick your card in a sealed airtight ziplock, and then into the freezer for an hour. Then, give another go at carefully prying the heatsink off with a butter knife - the brittle epoxy should come right off without hassle

Good luck.

If you are going to put on a heatsink, I recommend using springs on the screws, as it makes it harder to damage the board.

thanks for the tip, but before I do this, will a vga silencer fit? I do not plan on removing the copper ramsinks, is there gonna be enough clerance?

There definately will be enough clearance.