SPCR

I installed a Zalman ZM80D-HP on my All In Wonder 9600XT over the weekend. Once complete, I reinstalled the 9600XT to find corrupt video during boot. The card is toast!! I don't know where I went wrong and followed the directions exactly as stated.

Does anyone have advice in reference to doing this? I ordered another 9600XT and it should be here in a few days. I am a little scared to try it again because I don't want to break another $200.00 card.

The only thing I can think messed it up was my cleaning the VGA CPU with Alcohol. I wanted to get all the past from the original heatsink and fan off of it. It was very hard and gunky, like glue.

Should I use a hair dryer to heat it prior to removal maybe ?
Suggestions would be appreciated. Otherwise, I think I may have to put up with the noise maker. It is the loudest fan in the computer. Extreme difference when you stop the fan.

Choose the right solvent for removing the old thermal paste.

I fitted A ZM80C to a Radeon 9800 Pro, and to remove the old paste I used Akasa TIM cleaner. Its expensive, but did the job. There's probably some cheaper alternatives.

You also need to use the right tool for scraping the old gunk off the Gpu. Metal objects cant be used, or they will scratch the surface and wreck your Radeon. I would suggest using an old credit card. Make sure ALL the old paste is gone before applying the new.

Try not to go overboard when applying the new layer of paste, too much can lower the transfer of heat to the heatsink.

It's also a good idea to make sure that extra thermal goop on the gpu block isn't shorting things out anywhere else on the card. That happened to me after changing the heatsink on my 9600p, and it worked fine after I cleaned it up a little.

I once broke a connection on a capacitor removing and reinserting my video card. I didn't realize it until the powering up the computer, when the video was messed up, although I don't remember the specific symptoms. A touch-up with some solder solved my problem and elevated my computer maintenance abilities to a whole new level.

I have done a good cleaning using Blue Shower Tech Spray. The card is clean. I allowed it time to try and then plugged it in again. Still corrupted video. Oh well, the new card will be a new attempt.

I think this time I will test it as soon as I take the HS off and make sure it works as a stand alone unit before mounting the Zalman.

I will only leave it on long enough to power up and then shut back down to prevent any heat damage.

UPDATE:
Well, I bought my new All in Wonder 9600XT. Let me just say people should not try to modify this card. I was extremely careful with it. Used bench with electro static wrist bands, heated the card about 1 minute and removed the heat sink / fan assy. I then mounted my Zalman Heat Pipe EXTREMELY CAREFULLY. Still the card had corrupted video when I booted. I can't imagine being more delicate than what I did today. I build about 200 PCs per year in my own business and another 50 or so though second business. I am experienced at these things, but this card is just too delicate. I think it is because the chip is not protected and the weight of the Zalman just crushes it.

I am going to order a new card, but this time a something passive.

Not to sound cruel, but any full size zalman video cooler is massive overkill for this card (9600xt) anyway, it doesn't produce more than ~25w of heat under load (and that's being generous).. compare to nearly 100w for the latest cards!

villa_joe wrote:UPDATE:
Well, I bought my new All in Wonder 9600XT. Let me just say people should not try to modify this card. I was extremely careful with it. Used bench with electro static wrist bands, heated the card about 1 minute and removed the heat sink / fan assy. I then mounted my Zalman Heat Pipe EXTREMELY CAREFULLY. Still the card had corrupted video when I booted. I can't imagine being more delicate than what I did today. I build about 200 PCs per year in my own business and another 50 or so though second business. I am experienced at these things, but this card is just too delicate. I think it is because the chip is not protected and the weight of the Zalman just crushes it.

go with the VGA silencer, I've always been scared to go the zalman route becuase it's not fool proof, you can over tighten the screws and kill it, with the VGA silencer, you have to actually TRY to put it on too tight.

WUMPUS - Yeah I knew it was overkill, but I had it sitting around on a rack and nobody has bought it so I decided to use it. I was not concerned about the heat so much as just getting rid of the noise from that aweful fan. It is just loud. Didn't sound cruel.

MonsterMac - VGA Silencer? Could you give me a part number? I am afraid I don't know what you are talking about.

I think I might have tighted the screws too much and hurt the processor, but that just seems so crazy because I finger tightened the screws and it was not that tight. Anyway, as I stated before, I think this card is too easily damaged. ATI should take a lesson from AMD and cover their VPU.

Thanks for the warning, I think I'll stay away from 9600xt's. And screws. And maybe the big zalman heatpipe coolers, 325-400 grams is a little scary. I just got a cnps3000 for my video card, and subjectively it feels heavy, though I know that at 150g it's one of the lightest CPU heatsinks available(though I would have prefered the 120g all aluminum version). But I heard about people attaching much heavier heatsinks, and tested the diluted thermal adhesive, so I'm pretty confident.

UPDATE!!
Well, I decided to give it one more shot. I noticed that one of the little plastic washers in the package had some Artic Silver on it and so I cleaned all the components before assy. I tested the card after a good spray cleaning with Blue Shower Tech Spray.

I was very careful and again only finger tightened the screwed and bolts on the card. It worked! I can't believe it, but I think there was a little heatsink compound on a couple of the transistors from the plastic washer.

This is one of the many reasons I don't recommend arctic silver..

Ceramique all the way.

Not like I can argue that point now. I ran out of it and decided to use Artic Silver this time. Next time, I will order more and wait.

"Order more" has a potential double meaning here. I assume you mean another tube, but at first I thought you meant one of the nice big 8ml tubes isntead of the regular 1ml ones. Kind of hard to find, but they seem like a great deal.

So were both your 9600's shorted out?

I actually found a 22ml tube for about 10 bucks and am ordering it. The original 9600XT was broken. I think it was because I acutally used the small screwdriver that Zalman includes in the package to tighten the bolts on the card. This time they are finger tightened, but still tight enough have a good bond with the tiny VPU.

I wonder if it's at all possible to transplant a GPU from one card to another, like from a 9600np, or even a 9600se or 9550 onto that one; sure is a pity to let the 600mhz ram, the TV tuner and the rest of that card go to waste.

I have been communicating with one of the ATI guys. He said I can send it in for repair and pay to have it fixed. He said I needed to put the stock fan back on it and include a note that said I would pay for the repair. He said it might cost $60.00 or so plus shipping.

meh, i'd just scrap it, thats alot of cash to get something that's broken repaired. i'd just buy a new AIW 9600XT (passively cooled of course) or maybe a lower or higher end card but if it was me i wouldnt blow the money to get that repaired.

MonsterMac - I have 2 of them. The one in the PC is working great with the Zalman Heat Pipe now. (That was the second one I bought) The first one I bought is still broken.

QUESTION:
DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THERE IS SOME FREEWARE OR SOMETHING THAT WILL MONITOR THE TEMP OF THE VGA CARD?

only the ATI XT's and AIW i belive (im sure of the XT's) have the ability to monitor temperatures, the others don't have the sensors built in. someone correct me if i'm wrong.

Mine is an ATI 9600XT so I guess / hope it can monitor temps, but does it do this with software? I didn't see anything in the software that came with the card that contains info on temp monitoring.

You need to get the last release of ATI drivers from ATI site.
After installation you will find some new ATI branded tabs in your monitor property dialog.
On the OVERDRIVE (tm) tab you will find temps an clocks for the card.
If you install the last ATI drive from the Microsoft site, instead, you loose this tabs from the dialog box.

Ah, ATI drivers comes in 3 parts if I remember it well.
Basic, advanced and AllInWonder; I can't remember the right names.
You should need both basic and advanced.
I downloaded a full package and let it do by itself.

Bye