New 4850 heatsink

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Wal-Mart Security

Wall-E
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Jun 23, 2007
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I'm thinking about getting myself a 3rd party heatsink for my ATI HD 4850. I did my homework and THIS one seems perfect for me. I first didn't think it would work with my card but after reading reviews a lot of people have put this on their 4870s and 4850s and have seen a huge drop in temperature. Now I've never put on a 3rd party VGA heatsink but again, from the reviews they say its pretty damn easy. What do you guys think?
(By the way, I picked this one because its small, affective, cheap, zalman, and comes with ram heatsinks. Just what I would want.)
 
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I have had such great results with both the cpu & gpu cooling options from Zalman. Both had very notable drops in temperatures and so have gone in my last three pc builds. (Used Arctic Silver 5 on both these)

Side note; man.. I love the cases that they offer.. pricey but worth it imo.
 
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This one may also warrant a look. I was considering getting one myself, but it turns out there was just too much dust buildup in my video card's heatsink.

But from what I've heard, anything Zalman will work well.

You'll want to make sure it'll fit in your case. I've heard these things can be pretty tall/wide and it might not fit if your case is small.
 
I have a VF700 on my 3870 and I must say... it works well. I don't think you would go wrong with the VF900.
 
And as far as applying thermal paste goes, is it applied the same way as putting it on a CPU? (I plan on getting Arctic Silver 5) Apply just a little amount (about the size of a grain of rice or 2) then spread to entire surface?
 
Wal-Mart Security said:
And as far as applying thermal paste goes, is it applied the same way as putting it on a CPU? (I plan on getting Arctic Silver 5) Apply just a little amount (about the size of a grain of rice or 2) then spread to entire surface?
Click to expand...

do it like your cpu. it basically is a cpu, just for graphics :D hence the name gpu
 
Wal-Mart Security said:
And as far as applying thermal paste goes, is it applied the same way as putting it on a CPU? (I plan on getting Arctic Silver 5) Apply just a little amount (about the size of a grain of rice or 2) then spread to entire surface?
Click to expand...

I was taught never to spread the paste as apparently that might cause micro air pockets? (dunno) Also, to much is bad anyway.

I apply the paste dead center of the cpu/gpu as that is where the heat originates and radiates outwards to the edges. The rice grain size (or a tad bigger) seems like the perfect amount.

Also, this might be common knowledge but it is vital that both surfaces are extremely clean, getting the old paste off can be a real pain! I believe u can use denatured alcohol with lots of q tips , i know allot of people use regular rubbing alcohol as well. (even those leave a slight residual that needs to be wiped off)

The difference between a clean and not so clean surface can be 5-10 Celsius difference... based on my own personal experience.
 
My friend has a 4850 with a 3rd party heatsink without a fan, just a giant block. it keeps it really cool, 40?C 100% load

I can ask wich one he has got ;)
 
I've had my ATI X700 with a Zalman product before and it worked like a charm. Also their instruction booklet is quiet detailed (sometimes it's just a piece of paper) and easy to understand.
 
Jv -I|G- said:
My friend has a 4850 with a 3rd party heatsink without a fan, just a giant block. it keeps it really cool, 40?C 100% load

I can ask wich one he has got ;)
Click to expand...

I think I found the one he had: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016

I've been thinking about getting this one as another option as well. Its silent and a lot of people say that it keeps the card nice and cool even without having a fan.

One other thing I'm wondering is what do I do with the voltage regulators on my card? I'll put the main heatsink on, then I would put the 8 ram heatsinks on but then my regulators would be bare. Should I get myself a pack of heatsinks for the regulators or what?
 
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I have the VF1000 on my 4870 does it's job well. But.... you can't connect it to board with the 4870, you need a controller.
 
Wal-Mart Security said:
I think I found the one he had: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186016

I've been thinking about getting this one as another option as well. Its silent and a lot of people say that it keeps the card nice and cool even without having a fan.

One other thing I'm wondering is what do I do with the voltage regulators on my card? I'll put the main heatsink on, then I would put the 8 ram heatsinks on but then my regulators would be bare. Should I get myself a pack of heatsinks for the regulators or what?
Click to expand...

Yep, that's the one.
 
Well I guess I'm not getting one as soon as I thought. I've been having an overheating problem lately with my card. I tried looking at the card (while still in the case, which wasn't the best way to look) to see if I could find any dust maybe and I saw nothing. But last night when I read Dr.Death's post about him having a dust problem it made me think to look again so this morning I actually took my card out to take a look and WOW. There was soooo much dust and dog hair in the space between the fan and where the heatsink begins. Almost no air was getting through! After getting that all out my idle temp dropped from 59c to 39c and in game (ex. GRID) I was getting to 95c and now its at 65c in game. I do still plan on getting a new heatsink but its just not as urgent now lol
 
I know this is slightly off topic, but I have dual 4850's and I use the stock cooling.

I dont know if you have done this already, but there is a fanfix you can apply that changes the stock fan speed up from 20%

I know that at stock speeds, my cards idle at 80 C and under load the temps go up to 105-110, which, according to ATI is still alright for this card. The thing that is annoying is that the fan randomly ramps up and down under load. With the fan fix, I have put both fans to 45% and they now idle between 50-60C depending on the room temperature and under load they average about 80-85. I know it still seems hot, but it is well below the operating temperature ATI has specified. In addition, you can boost the fans even higher for lower temps, but then the sound becomes louder.

If you are interested, I will find a link and post it back here.
 
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