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X1900CF GPU Only Block+Ramsinks Airflow Quick Fix

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Wastrel

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Joined
Nov 15, 2006
I came up with this quick and dirty cheap mod to get some airflow over ramsinks and the VR area. I used a dozen of good-CFM low profile fans 50x10mm/60x15mm(Master) 40x10mm/60x10mm(Slave), zip ties, wooden matches and some strong glue to make 5+5mm/4+4mm cooling bricks to blow over the VR area. I have those fans facing ramsinks, trapped under the GPU blocks so that they dont move around due to vibration. In addition the compositing engine chip on master card is getting some airflow too. Dealing with slave card was much harder though because of the sound card's close proximity to the slave card that leaves little space to fit the fans inside. Yea fans with wooden legs. :D



 
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Creative work man :) I have never seen matchsticks involved in a mod before. Have you managed to achieve a higher clock because of it? Post back :) I did a similar mod a while back, I took an 80mm Zalman 'Quiet' Fan and used the screws and made 'screw feet'. I also placed sticky rubber grommets to the bottom of the feet so it wouldn't short out the card. It was centered over the backplate of my X1800 and brought idle temperatures down from ~50C to ~43C. I took it off though because I needed the fan for another computer :p

Cheers
 
Thanks. :) Its more of an in-situ kind of mod. I was just looking for a quick fix, didnt really care about the looks. :D

I am not quite sure if it allows for higher clocks but I haven't tested yet. I guess it shouldnt give much higher OC with meaningful performance increase. You know something like 40-50 MHz. Temps did drop, 10-15 C on VR area, 1-2 C on GPU. Also ramchips feel much cooler to the touch.

The biggest improvement I see is getting rid of accumulated heat over voltage regulator area and ramchips when playing games for many hours with high clocks. Using those little fans I think I am not far behind a full cover block in voltage regulator/ramchips temp department. Its a huge plus that X1900 series allow for software voltage increase.

Keyword for me was full stability under sustained hours of high-res high-AA/AF gaming with high clocks/raised voltage.
 
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