Turophiliac Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) I decided the other day that my EVGA 8800GT SC was getting too hot during games at it's current overclock. I decided I would clock it back to its stock speeds 650/1620/1900, but that really didn't help a whole lot with temperatures, it was just getting too hot (hitting peaks of 80C during games and ATITool testing). so I decided to mod the card's cooling. Here's what I did and how it helped: I began by removing the aluminum shroud around the card's heatsink: I then proceeded to remove the card's heatsink, replace the thermal compound with some Tuniq TX-1 that came with my Tower. (sorry no pic of the heatsink off.) I then put the heatsink back on. Then I took the stock processor heatsink that came with my e8400, and removed the fan. I cut off 2 of the tabs on the plastic housing of the fan so it would sit on the video card's heatsink like so: Here are some close up shots: The other side: On top: Here is the card in action: (i'm not exactly sure how to count the number of slots this particular cooling solution takes up, I know that if I really wanted to squeeze another vid card into the black slot, I could, but I wouldn't want to.) And here is where I plugged the intel fan in, right below the card: Temp Results: Before the mod I would run a pretty consistent 78C during games, which would jump to 80C on occasion. After the mod, I have yet to break 68C on full load with ATITool or with any game. Before the mod, the card was overclocked to 702/1728/1024 (core/shaders/mem not double pumped) and was hitting temperatures previously mentioned. After the mod, I have successfully overclocked to 720/1782/1053 and run ATITool at an average load temperature of 67C Note: the temperatures before the mod were recorded with an ambient room temperature of about 68F and after the mod, the room temperature was about 63F. So conservatively, about 3-4C in core temperature can be attributed to the weather, but still 7-6C can be attributed to the mod. Thanks, and I hope this interests you! PS. Feel free to ask any questions you'd like. Edited February 8, 2009 by turophiliac Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) Nice mod. I did something similar, but not quite as extreme with my XFX 8800gt. The aluminum shroud, like you mentioned, is restrictive. So what I did was bend along the edges of the end of the card where the hot exhaust comes out back and forth until it broke off. It really reduced the restriction of the exhaust. It ended up helping the heat drop 5c during load and made it slightly quieter. I don't have any before pics, but here's what it looks like afterward: Edited February 8, 2009 by slngsht Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
werty316 Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 You do know that cutting the metal shroud voids your warranty? It would have been easier to bend the shroud thus keeping your warranty. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 It seems like you'd get better cooling if you left the shroud on but used the better fan...although with a 13C reduction in temps it probably doesn't matter much anyway. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turophiliac Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 It seems like you'd get better cooling if you left the shroud on but used the better fan...although with a 13C reduction in temps it probably doesn't matter much anyway. you know, I thought about it, but I would suspect that it wouldn't let the air through as easily. anyway, today my card is colder than it's ever been, so i'm happy . It's actually sitting at 46C right now, which is about 5C colder than it normally is at idle. w00t w00t! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
slngsht Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 (edited) You do know that cutting the metal shroud voids your warranty? It would have been easier to bend the shroud thus keeping your warranty. you're right, that's why I did bend it. I have no clue why I said "cut" you can see in the bottom picture the texture of the edges. it shows how it was bent. Edited February 8, 2009 by slngsht Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waco Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 you're right, that's why I did bend it. I have no clue why I said "cut" you can see in the bottom picture the texture of the edges. it shows how it was bent. Bending it to break it off and actually cutting it off are the same thing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
malmsteenisgod Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 Sweet mods both of you. I should try cutting up my 4850. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
werty316 Posted February 8, 2009 Posted February 8, 2009 you're right, that's why I did bend it. I have no clue why I said "cut" you can see in the bottom picture the texture of the edges. it shows how it was bent. What I meant by bend it was to bend it so that the metal shroud is at an angle and not snapped off like you've done so this way you can bend it back flat in case the card needs to be RMA'd Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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