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Whats a good 6950 cooler upgrade?

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Nevermind I got the card open, I just had to keep pulling till I overcame the glue they used. And I readily see why it's overheating the thermal pads over the VRM look like they been through Beirut and Baghdad. How do I remove the casing around the fan itself? There's a whole bunch of dust on what looks like a heatsink and I need to be able to get to it to clean it out.

Also can I use rubbing alcohol and coffee filters to clean up the dust and thermal paste? Or do I need to use something special. Cause when I remove thermal paste from my CPU I use rubbing alcohol but I don't know if it's safe to use it inside a graphics card.
 
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I usually use canned air (outside) to remove dust in a fan blade or heatsink. If you choose to use air, don't let it spin the fan too much - it can damage the bearing.

Alcohol (90%+) & filters are great for the old thermal paste though.
 
Outlawstar15a2 said:
Nevermind I got the card open, I just had to keep pulling till I overcame the glue they used. And I readily see why it's overheating the thermal pads over the VRM look like they been through Beirut and Baghdad. How do I remove the casing around the fan itself? There's a whole bunch of dust on what looks like a heatsink and I need to be able to get to it to clean it out.

Also can I use rubbing alcohol and coffee filters to clean up the dust and thermal paste? Or do I need to use something special. Cause when I remove thermal paste from my CPU I use rubbing alcohol but I don't know if it's safe to use it inside a graphics card.
Click to expand...

If the thermal pads look like that, you'll have to replace them.
 
I'm looking at the directions for the arctic cooler xtreme plus 2 I got it earlier then I expected. I just have a few questions.

1.) In the directions for mixing the G-1 compound it mentions a cure time, what is that the time to let it stand before using? I've never heard that term before.

2.) The directions say to use a eraser to clean the circuit components, but won't a eraser leave debris? Isn't it better to use rubbing alcohol and coffee filters?

3.)"Ensure there is no physical interference between the heatsinks and the circuit components" I'm not quite sure what that means it's worded kinda funny.

Kit looks like it has everything I need to set up the cooler now.
 
1. if i'm not mistaken you've got a "old" version of the Arctic... the G-1 is thermal GLUE if i remember correctly. I *think* you can use regular mx-4 instead, but i'm not sure.
I'ld hold off installing 'till this is cleared up if i were you.

2. yep, use isopropyl, just be careful

3. make sure to not leave hair, bolts, washers, boogers, etc between the chip and the heatsink :)
 
Outlawstar15a2 said:
I'm looking at the directions for the arctic cooler xtreme plus 2 I got it earlier then I expected. I just have a few questions.

1.) In the directions for mixing the G-1 compound it mentions a cure time, what is that the time to let it stand before using? I've never heard that term before.

2.) The directions say to use a eraser to clean the circuit components, but won't a eraser leave debris? Isn't it better to use rubbing alcohol and coffee filters?

3.)"Ensure there is no physical interference between the heatsinks and the circuit components" I'm not quite sure what that means it's worded kinda funny.

Kit looks like it has everything I need to set up the cooler now.
Click to expand...

1. I mixed it and used it as quickly as possible. It's how you attach the heatsinks
to the RAM.

2. I used carb cleaner and q-tips to clean the RAM because I didn't have any rubbing alcohol.

3. I remember one of the heatsinks for one of the VRM's (for the RAM I think) had to be shaved down, otherwise the heatsink assembly wouldn't fit over it. This is what they're talking about I think, is to test fit the heatsink to make sure everything will fit.
 
Should I order some mx-4 just to be safe? I want to be ready for Archeage's CBE3 next Thursday.

Also when I opened the first card up I didn't see no thermal tape being used just thermal pads on the memory and what looked like thermal glue securing the heatsink/fan assembly to the GPU board. So is that what I have to put the thermal tape on? The glue was located on a row of small chips that sat directly below where the fan would be. So that the GPU core and this row of really small chips had what I assume was glue because I had some difficulty getting the fan/heatsink assembly off the board.

EDIT: Yeah this G-1 stuff is a glue of some type. But if I don't use it how am I going to secure the heatsinks to the memory and other components cause the 6950 gets placed upside down.
 
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well if nobody chimes in on alternatives to glueing... then glue

normally the Arctic should come with some MX-4 for the main chip ; it might not be labeled MX-4, but it is (even if it looks like a packet of mystery sauce).
 
RnRollie said:
well if nobody chimes in on alternatives to glueing... then glue

normally the Arctic should come with some MX-4 for the main chip ; it might not be labeled MX-4, but it is (even if it looks like a packet of mystery sauce).
Click to expand...

The cooler came pre-applied with some thermal paste which I assume is mx-4 on the grounds that the directions themselves recommend it in case you have to do this a 2nd time. So the GPU core is good to go.

I guess the only things I have to put heatsinks on are the RAM and voltage regulators and then I guess that's it. I probably don't need any of the tape since nothing seems to require it. My guess would be if something touches the main cooler unprotected but this is a rather slim board the only thing that sticks up are the heatsinks I'm gonna put on.

Which makes me wonder what do the voltage regulators look like? When I got the 1st 6950 open there were a row of super small chips that had thermal paste on this and looked like it was applied freely to to the point were it cascaded down the side of some of the chips. Is that them? I have a row of capacitors, then a row of boxes labeled R22, and then the chips on question.
 
I sent a ticket to arctic cooling and Sapphire. From Sapphire I requested anything that will show me the major circuit components so I know what needs to be cooled. And from arctic I asked for further clarification because if I put the heatsinks on the RAM modules I'm gonna be left with a ton of extra parts and something doesn't seem right about that.

Let's see what they say.
 
those 7 metallic looking sugarcubes
Sapphire-Toxic-Radeon-HD-6950-2GB-GDDR5-(11188-07-40R)-PCB_30608.jpg


But check HERE for details & info & help on the card
 
To the right of those 'sugarcubes' are what needs to be cooled... the small black squares. You picture even shows tape on them.
 
EarthDog said:
To the right of those 'sugarcubes' are what needs to be cooled... the small black squares. You picture even shows tape on them.
Click to expand...

Yes! That's them. The small set of black boxes. On mine there are a row of very small black boxes next to a row of larger ones. The small ones were coated in thermal paste.
 
Since those already had a thermal interface product, it needs them again. You need to remember that the heatsink kit is a one size fits all. Meaning, you may have some left over parts.

You need to cover the memory IC's and those black squares including the one below the bios switch.
 
EarthDog said:
Since those already had a thermal interface product, it needs them again. You need to remember that the heatsink kit is a one size fits all. Meaning, you may have some left over parts.

You need to cover the memory IC's and those black squares including the one below the bios switch.
Click to expand...

My card doesn't have a BIOS switch on it... I do see a few chips in the vicinity of the crossfire bridge connector but neither of them had thermal paste on them, though I suspect one is the BIOS chip as it kinda looks like a BIOS chip.
 
I'm gonna install the heatsinks for the two sets of chips later on today and then I'm gonna either walk away for six or more hours or go to sleep and then finalize and install it upon waking up. Wish me luck and if all goes well I should be good. :)

How thick of a layer of G-1 should I give each chip? And should I apply it to the chip or the bottom of the heatsink?

Also I finnaly figured how where to use the thermal tape. When I go to heatsink the small chips on the side I might have to put some tape down because the heatsinks might touch some of the chips adjacent to them. So I put the tape on the parts of the adjacent chips that will touch the heatsink, correct?
 
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