Remove stock HS for 7950gt and use AS5?

Hello,

I just had a question and was wondering whether this would be worth the hassle. I'm building a new C2D system, and this video card should be arriving tomorrow. Is it worth removing the stock heatsink to apply AS5 and reinstall the stock heatsink? This is an eVGA card from newegg. I probably won't overclock it for now, but I just like things to be running as cool as possible. Is it worth it? Thanks for your input!

If you have the time and know what your at, go for it. Just don't use it on the RAM chips. Use something like Artic Ceramique on them as its non-conductive. I got that advice from Artic themselves

Its not really worth it man. Honestly, the stock cooler is already a little overloaded with the 7900gt cores, especially with the higher vcore manufacturers are using on the 7950 cores (1.2 for 7900, 1.45 for 7950). The stock cooler can also be on the loud side. Trust me when I say that its really a good idea to get an aftermarket cooler for these cards. The 50 dollar investement will make a huge difference and can let you get some serious oc's on these cards. Trust me, with a zalman on there @ the stock 1.45v you will easily see 650 to 700 core speeds.

Thanks for the info madgravity..

I guess I'll probably just leave it be for now, and maybe look into OC'ing the vid card down the road. I wasn't really intending on OCing it, but we'll see how noisy (I hate noisy pc's after having one for a while) the stock cooler is. If it's only noisy during games I can live w/ that. I'd be perfectly happy w/ the stock speeds I think at least for a little while, but maybe I'll look to OC it down the road.. Thanks!

mikeos said:

Thanks for the info madgravity..

I guess I'll probably just leave it be for now, and maybe look into OC'ing the vid card down the road. I wasn't really intending on OCing it, but we'll see how noisy (I hate noisy pc's after having one for a while) the stock cooler is. If it's only noisy during games I can live w/ that. I'd be perfectly happy w/ the stock speeds I think at least for a little while, but maybe I'll look to OC it down the road.. Thanks!

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You can get a cooler for ~$25 shipped. ARCTIC COOLING NV SILENCER 5 REV. 3 VGA COOLER
Just cut off 1" or so off the back end of the exhaust and you got yourself a good cooler for cheap!


Personally, I would put AS5 on it regaurdless. The goop they use it pretty bad and AS5 is better for those crappy rough coolers. I immediatly tore off the stock cooler on my 7900GT, the stock cooler had NO reflective qualities at all, which means bad efficiency.

Thanks WonderingSoul.. damn where were u a couple days before a placed a huge order to newegg.

I have an Arctice cooler for my 9800pro, and that looks liek a good deal for the 7950gt, but for a little more, is the VF900 (from your sig) considerably better? I noticed it comes w/ nice little ram sinks, and the temp drops based on the reviews from the egg are huge! It's selling for ~$38 shipped, in which case I just may have to order it. I dont need the BEST cooler, but am looking in terms of the best bang for the buck. Thanks everyone for all the advice and help!

mikeos said:

Thanks WonderingSoul.. damn where were u a couple days before a placed a huge order to newegg.

I have an Arctice cooler for my 9800pro, and that looks liek a good deal for the 7950gt, but for a little more, is the VF900 (from your sig) considerably better? I noticed it comes w/ nice little ram sinks, and the temp drops based on the reviews from the egg are huge! It's selling for ~$38 shipped, in which case I just may have to order it. I dont need the BEST cooler, but am looking in terms of the best bang for the buck. Thanks everyone for all the advice and help!

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The VF900 is very nice, but I doubt you will get much more of an overclock, if any, if you use different coolers. If you don't mind spending the extra cash then get the VF900. My temps (in a hot case with no side duct) were around ~42c idle ~55c full load on 3D05, also fully overclocked. I'm not a fan of the ramsinks that come with the VF900 though, which is why I like the Artic because the sinks are part of heatsink base, cooling much more efficiently. Also the Zalman has a bit of noise to it, negligable when it is in your case though (can be put on silent mode with the Fanmate, but cooling suffers), but the Artics are more or less totally silent. One other thing is that the Artic blows hot air out of your case instead of recycling it, which may drop your overall temps by some.

Ok, it looks like I might just stick w/ the arctic cooler like you mentioned. Having the hot air exhausted out the back of the case is probably a decent difference, and the arctic cooler should be nearly silent. Thanks again!