Take the heatspreaders off your cores!

Quailane · 12-13-04, 01:34 PM

Hey, last night I removed the heatspreader from the core of my 5900XT. Today when I got home from school I installed the card and all I can say is wow. I can play artifact free with the core at 500Mhz up from 450Mhz stable. I also took the ramsinks off my memory and they don't artifact on the desktop or in games at 1Ghz. In games it was 950Mhz before and on the desktop it was 925Mhz. Do this, it is good for a quick boost!

MonroeM · 12-13-04, 07:34 PM

What'd you use to remove the heatspreader?

Quailane · 12-13-04, 08:13 PM

A razor blade. I just pressed in firmly on all corners and pressed it into the sides untill I could pull it off.

MonroeM · 12-14-04, 02:49 AM

What does the core look like? Does the HSF rest back on it ok or can you tell if it's fragile like a P4's core?

consumer9000 · 12-14-04, 12:12 PM

Wow...I'd never have the balls to do that on purpose. Seen it done to a P4 and it rendered it useless. Seen it inadvertantly done to a P4 (phase change cooling led to the change in expansion rates causing it to eventually pop off) render the cpu dead as well. While direct core contact is great, a good copper heatspreader likely improves the chip's ability to dissipate heat more effectively, as it provides a larger thermally conductive contact patch with the heatsink. It's also nice not to have to worry about cracking the core, or any interfernce/grounding problems with your cooling solution.

Quailane · 12-14-04, 06:09 PM

The core seems tough. I put a lot of pressure onto it at not exactly straight with my Zalman heatpipe sink and it worked after I got it settled straight. The core looks tough. It is at a 45 degree angle and is a square. The heatspreaders are just crappy aluminum with a crappy TIM that seems more like rubber than thermal paste. It was really easy to do. These nvidia cards are tough.

Chixofnix · 12-16-04, 10:36 AM

did you use rubbing alchohol/qtips to clean the tim like i ususally do?

got any pix?

EDIT: i guess i'm assuming you changed out the paste... is that right as well?

MonroeM · 12-17-04, 08:37 PM

Yeah, I'd like to see some pics too. xD

MonroeM · 12-25-04, 05:35 PM

I vouch for taking off the heatspreader off your core. Just make sure your HSF still fits once you take it off.

MAKE SURE NOT TO BEND THE SIDES OR CORNERS! Just incase you need to put the heatspreader back on.

RAMMAN · 12-25-04, 11:35 PM

if you were to do that to a X800/6800 it would hit 100degrees and quite literaly blow up in your face.did you know that?(just joking ...not joking about temperature however
and no i did not do anything to my card).prescotts?dont even think about it.

MonroeM · 12-27-04, 01:13 PM

Prescotts and P4's in general... this thread wouldn't apply to. P4's cores are extremely fragile. However carefully removing the spreader then applying some AS5 undernieth would probably benefit temps a little.

As for the FX line of cards, It's definitely worth it.

Aphex_Tom_9 · 12-27-04, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RAMMAN

if you were to do that to a X800/6800 it would hit 100degrees and quite literaly blow up in your face.did you know that?(just joking ...not joking about temperature however
and no i did not do anything to my card).prescotts?dont even think about it.

Uh, neither of those cards have heatspreaders on them, they're bare cores.

Some newer P4's have thermal epoxy under the sperader, so if you try to pop them off, your core goes with it...

KoolDrew · 12-27-04, 01:51 PM

I would like to see some screenies.

Elwood1984 · 12-27-04, 03:55 PM

agree... and pictures of this video card surgery being performed...
i'd end up slipping and knocking a transistor or some such off...

Quailane · 12-27-04, 05:31 PM

This is a picture with as5 on the core. Tha black stuff is hard as a rock. You can't get it off, you can only cut through it when you take the heatspreader off.

RAMMAN · 12-27-04, 06:30 PM

Aphex_Tom_9 are you trying to tell me the front of the cards has nothing but a small fan?! no wonder they run at 70 degrees load without any mods!!!

pwnt by pat · 12-27-04, 06:46 PM

In theory, taking heat spreaders off will reduce the temperatures because there is one less gap between core and cooling element. Think of it this way:

WITH HEAT SPREADER
core>tim>heat spreader>tim>cooling element

WITHOUT
core>tim>cooling element

We all know that the best heat transfer happens with thermal paste ONLY in the microscopic gaps and not completly pasted on the core. Thermal paste can also contain air if not applied properly and air sucks for transfering heat. If you remove a possible place for air to get in, you run a greater chance of lower temperatures.

If anyone can verify if the 9800p has a spreader, I'll cut mine. I don't think it does as the core is rather small and it has a shim around it but I don't want to take my wc system apart just to check.

Elwood1984 · 12-27-04, 07:10 PM

so lets see those screen shots drew was askin for

Quailane · 12-27-04, 07:59 PM

Sorry, but the video card in question died of accidental lethal votage increase, or ALVI, as I like to call it. I was measuring 2d voltages when I increased it. I forgot that in 3d the voltage increases. It ran fine for a while in 3dmark 05 at 596Mhz core, not even done overclocking it, but before it could finish the comp restarted and the video was corrupted greatly. When I get a new leadtek 5900XT, I will remove the spreader and take screenshots of the temps. It should arrive here any day now.

Someone Stupid · 12-27-04, 09:50 PM

9800's do not have a heatspreader. ATi seems to favor leaving their cores bear at the moment.

12-13-04, 01:34 PM	Thread Starter #1
Quailane Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Who stole my white stars?	Take the heatspreaders off your cores! Hey, last night I removed the heatspreader from the core of my 5900XT. Today when I got home from school I installed the card and all I can say is wow. I can play artifact free with the core at 500Mhz up from 450Mhz stable. I also took the ramsinks off my memory and they don't artifact on the desktop or in games at 1Ghz. In games it was 950Mhz before and on the desktop it was 925Mhz. Do this, it is good for a quick boost! __________________ I DRIVE A HYUNDAI AND I'M PROUD OF IT!
	QUOTE Thanks

12-13-04, 07:34 PM	#2
MonroeM Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Back in class =(	What'd you use to remove the heatspreader?
	QUOTE Thanks

12-13-04, 08:13 PM	Thread Starter #3
Quailane Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Who stole my white stars?	A razor blade. I just pressed in firmly on all corners and pressed it into the sides untill I could pull it off. __________________ I DRIVE A HYUNDAI AND I'M PROUD OF IT!
	QUOTE Thanks

12-14-04, 02:49 AM	#4
MonroeM Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Back in class =(	What does the core look like? Does the HSF rest back on it ok or can you tell if it's fragile like a P4's core?
	QUOTE Thanks

12-14-04, 12:12 PM	#5
consumer9000 Former STASIS Guy Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Bay Area, CA	Wow...I'd never have the balls to do that on purpose. Seen it done to a P4 and it rendered it useless. Seen it inadvertantly done to a P4 (phase change cooling led to the change in expansion rates causing it to eventually pop off) render the cpu dead as well. While direct core contact is great, a good copper heatspreader likely improves the chip's ability to dissipate heat more effectively, as it provides a larger thermally conductive contact patch with the heatsink. It's also nice not to have to worry about cracking the core, or any interfernce/grounding problems with your cooling solution. __________________ [un]Productivity System: -Lian Li V1200B Plus & TR-3 Fanbus -Swiftech APEX Watercooling / STORM Waterblock -PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510 SLI -Asus A8N32 nForce4 SLIx16 Deluxe -AMD Athlon64 X2 4400+ (2600MHz "10260") -2GB Corsair ProSeries XMS3500 (1T/CAS 2-3-3-6) -XFX 7800GTX Extreme Edition (520/1360) Cooled with STASIS IceStorm NV7800C5* -(2) WD CaviarSE 250GB SATA3G 16MB in RAID0 -Creative X-Fi Platinum / ATI TV Wonder 550Pro -Plextor PX-716AL Slot Loading 16X DVD+RW DL -Klipsch ProMedia 5.1 / Monster XPHP CL3 Cables -Dell 2005FPW LCD / Monster M500 DVI Cable
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Take the heatspreaders off your cores!

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12-14-04, 06:09 PM	Thread Starter #6
Quailane Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Who stole my white stars?	The core seems tough. I put a lot of pressure onto it at not exactly straight with my Zalman heatpipe sink and it worked after I got it settled straight. The core looks tough. It is at a 45 degree angle and is a square. The heatspreaders are just crappy aluminum with a crappy TIM that seems more like rubber than thermal paste. It was really easy to do. These nvidia cards are tough. __________________ I DRIVE A HYUNDAI AND I'M PROUD OF IT!
	QUOTE Thanks

12-16-04, 10:36 AM	#7
Chixofnix Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Kansas City, KS USA	did you use rubbing alchohol/qtips to clean the tim like i ususally do? got any pix? EDIT: i guess i'm assuming you changed out the paste... is that right as well? __________________ Current Rig: CPU: Phenom II X4 965BE, 3.4GHz RAM: OCZ 2x2Gb DDR3-1600 GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5770, 1Gb HDD: (1)Raptor 74Gb, (2)Seagate 250Gb, (1)WD Green 1.5Tb PSU: ENERMAX ELT620AWT-ECO, 620W MBD: Gigabyte GA-MA785GT-UD3H CASE: Antec P180 Previous Rig: CPU: Manchester A64 X2 3800+ w/ stock cooling RAM: 2x1Gb of generic DDR400 GPU: XFX 6800GS (AGP) PSU: Antec True380 PSU MBD: AsRock Dual939 SATA2 mobo (AGP+PCIe) My Heatware
	QUOTE Thanks

12-17-04, 08:37 PM	#8
MonroeM Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Back in class =(	Yeah, I'd like to see some pics too. xD
	QUOTE Thanks

12-25-04, 05:35 PM	#9
MonroeM Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Back in class =(	I vouch for taking off the heatspreader off your core. Just make sure your HSF still fits once you take it off. MAKE SURE NOT TO BEND THE SIDES OR CORNERS! Just incase you need to put the heatspreader back on.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-25-04, 11:35 PM	#10
RAMMAN Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: gold coast, australia	if you were to do that to a X800/6800 it would hit 100degrees and quite literaly blow up in your face.did you know that?(just joking ...not joking about temperature however and no i did not do anything to my card).prescotts?dont even think about it. __________________ xfx gtx260 @ 700/1500/1150, core 2 extreme qx9650, 2x1gb crucial ballistix pc2 6400, gigabyte p35-ds3p, 74gb raptor, 750w thermaltake toughpower, 22in lcd and razer deathadder+exactmat.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 01:13 PM	#11
MonroeM Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Back in class =(	Prescotts and P4's in general... this thread wouldn't apply to. P4's cores are extremely fragile. However carefully removing the spreader then applying some AS5 undernieth would probably benefit temps a little. As for the FX line of cards, It's definitely worth it.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 01:51 PM	#13
KoolDrew Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: NY	I would like to see some screenies.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 03:55 PM	#14
Elwood1984 Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Texas	agree... and pictures of this video card surgery being performed... i'd end up slipping and knocking a transistor or some such off...
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 05:31 PM	Thread Starter #15
Quailane Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Who stole my white stars?	This is a picture with as5 on the core. Tha black stuff is hard as a rock. You can't get it off, you can only cut through it when you take the heatspreader off. __________________ I DRIVE A HYUNDAI AND I'M PROUD OF IT!
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 06:30 PM	#16
RAMMAN Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: gold coast, australia	Aphex_Tom_9 are you trying to tell me the front of the cards has nothing but a small fan?! no wonder they run at 70 degrees load without any mods!!! __________________ xfx gtx260 @ 700/1500/1150, core 2 extreme qx9650, 2x1gb crucial ballistix pc2 6400, gigabyte p35-ds3p, 74gb raptor, 750w thermaltake toughpower, 22in lcd and razer deathadder+exactmat.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 06:46 PM	#17
pwnt by pat Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Cranberry Twp. PA	In theory, taking heat spreaders off will reduce the temperatures because there is one less gap between core and cooling element. Think of it this way: WITH HEAT SPREADER core>tim>heat spreader>tim>cooling element WITHOUT core>tim>cooling element We all know that the best heat transfer happens with thermal paste ONLY in the microscopic gaps and not completly pasted on the core. Thermal paste can also contain air if not applied properly and air sucks for transfering heat. If you remove a possible place for air to get in, you run a greater chance of lower temperatures. If anyone can verify if the 9800p has a spreader, I'll cut mine. I don't think it does as the core is rather small and it has a shim around it but I don't want to take my wc system apart just to check. __________________ Intel 630 ASUS P5LD2-VM 2x256 WINTEC AMP-X Raptor 360gb + Seagate sata 400gb Pioneer DVR-106 Antec True350 Cheapest black USB keyboard from the Egg + Razer Viper Some people don't deserve to have anything electronic other than a TV, and maybe a toaster, becuase they may hurt themselves and possibly someone else.
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 07:10 PM	#18
Elwood1984 Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Texas	so lets see those screen shots drew was askin for
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 07:59 PM	Thread Starter #19
Quailane Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Who stole my white stars?	Sorry, but the video card in question died of accidental lethal votage increase, or ALVI, as I like to call it. I was measuring 2d voltages when I increased it. I forgot that in 3d the voltage increases. It ran fine for a while in 3dmark 05 at 596Mhz core, not even done overclocking it, but before it could finish the comp restarted and the video was corrupted greatly. When I get a new leadtek 5900XT, I will remove the spreader and take screenshots of the temps. It should arrive here any day now. __________________ I DRIVE A HYUNDAI AND I'M PROUD OF IT!
	QUOTE Thanks

12-27-04, 09:50 PM	#20
Someone Stupid Registered Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: New Orleans, LA	9800's do not have a heatspreader. ATi seems to favor leaving their cores bear at the moment.
	QUOTE Thanks

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