GFX 5700 LE with Zalman ZM80D-2HP fried - next step?

[Thomas]

Okay, I've fried my GFX 5700 LE with a Zalman ZM80D-2HP. Probably, it's my own fault. I'm ready to buy a new graphics card, but my problem is, that I'm not sure about WHY it fried... Actually, I'm pretty confused. And one thing is to make a mistake, but repeat it, NO!

So I would appreciate some advise on my next move.

Story is:

Mounted the Zalman on my 5700. I was very carefully and took a lot of extra time, to check and double check, that every thung was done right. I've mounted a lot of high amp transistors on heatsinks, so I'm pretty sure that every thing was done right.

Mounted the 5700+Zalman in the cabinet. This cabinet only have a PSU mounted 12cm 0,3 amp fan for exhaust (dont have further fan-data). The CPU fan also acts as an intake fan, during a fan duct on the side of the cabinet. Cabling didnt hurt airflow.

Mobo temp: approx. 40 deg C. HDD = approx. 40. CPU around 48-50.

After mounting the Zalman, I gamed for 10-15 minutes. I measured the temp on the Zalman with an infra red tempgun. The warmest point I could find, was 35 deg C. Afterwards I checked the temp by hands, and it was never uncomfortable to touch.

The 5700 use 10 watt idle, and around 25 under load.

The card worked gret for 3-4 weeks.

One night, I opend the cabinet and did some work inside. I accidently pushed the Zalman, and I felt it moving sligthly. Later this night, the GFX died, during gaming. This night is was hot, I believe ambient temperature reached 27-28, maybe a little more. Usually, it dont exceed 25.

I shold mention, that the card aint entirely dead. I works fine in XP with some generic driver. But once I try a nVidia driver, XP wont start up. I've tried reinstall nVidia drivers, and also the entire XP. No change. When PC boot up, there's some strange vertical green lines over the BIOS screen. I've also tried re-install the BIOS, and set everything to default. No change. When I mount another graphic card, everything works as intended. This, however, is with different drivers.

Which temperatures on the Zalman would be reasonably? Other people have reported much higher temperatures, but they use other cards and I dont know the wattage of these cards, so it's hard to compare. Zalman claims, that this combo should work well.

Event though I believe I mounted the Zalman correct, can the relative low HS temp, indicate wrong installation?

Can the airflow have been an issue? Is it because I accidently moved the Zalman, causing bad contact between GPU and Zalman? Higher ambient temperature? Or is it a combination?

If you've read all the way to here, thanks. As said, I'm confused.

So, to sum up. I'm not convinced, that the Zalman solution is the way to go. I would like to get a graphics card with a Artic Cooling solution mounted by the manufacturer. But that dont fit my budget. Budget is another 5700 LE, maybe plus 25%.

Please give me some advise on this.

[Thomas]

I've almost decieded to get an GF6600 from PixelView. With an Arctic Cooler

My reasons are as below:

1) Probably THE card with best bang for the buck, performance wise.
2) Heat production on the reasonably side.
3) The Arctic Cooler will help keep CPU and other stuff at a lower temp. Especially interesting, since I got a (too) cheap PSU with a 12cm fan, which I would like to spin slower.
4) A little more expensive, but I believe I'll be more satisfied in the long run.
5) I've lost confidence in that Zalman heat pipe thing. Probably, it's me who havent mounted it properly in the first place. But I dont want to take another chance on that

What do you guys think, is there something else I should consider?