Problems with removing stock ATI 4850 cooler?

They make noise, too.

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kenratboy
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Problems with removing stock ATI 4850 cooler?

Post by kenratboy » Mon Sep 08, 2008 9:41 am

As in, I read ONE thing somewhere that mentioned that when you remove the stock cooler from the ATI 4850, that the card will shut down after 30 seconds.

Anyone ever come across this, or is it false? I have parts coming for my 4850 which means the stock cooler will be long gone.

Thanks!

tuz
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Post by tuz » Mon Sep 08, 2008 6:33 pm

Nope, no problems with mine. Sounds like something wasn't being cooled properly, maybe poor contact with the GPU and the new heatsink, and the card entered thermal shutdown after 30 seconds.

thejamppa
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Post by thejamppa » Mon Sep 08, 2008 7:57 pm

nope, nothing like that... Guy either lied or had done poor installation.

kenratboy
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Post by kenratboy » Mon Sep 08, 2008 8:58 pm

Cool, thanks guys.

Parts are currently between Boise, Idaho and Reno, Nevada :lol:

ara
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Post by ara » Mon Sep 08, 2008 11:52 pm

Don't laugh, I'm a bit of a scater brain. I can though confirm the following:

1. If you run your CPU without a cooler it will shut down very quickly if you bios is set correctly. (Been there, done that)
2. If you run your HD3870 without cooling it will shut down very quickly as well (Been there, done that)

So I'm pretty sure that if you don't fit you aftermarket cooler properly you card will warn you without any damage. :)

Sylph-DS
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Post by Sylph-DS » Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:00 am

ara wrote: So I'm pretty sure that if you don't fit you aftermarket cooler properly you card will warn you without any damage. :)
I would say it's probably not a good idea to 'tempt fate'. Fact is that if the shutdown somehow fails your brand new card will be very dead, very fast.

Now I'm not saying that it's likely to fail, but if it does fail, that's going to suck.

ara
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Post by ara » Tue Sep 09, 2008 1:47 am

Yes, I did not mean ppl should tempt fate, but just indicate that ppl should not necessarily be scared to change coolers on cards. I was one until I took the plunge and started changing the coolers

kenratboy
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Post by kenratboy » Tue Sep 09, 2008 7:36 am

With the sun-like heat the 4850 puts off, I cannot imagine how quickly things would go to hell if the cooler was not making proper contact with the GPU :twisted:

mexell
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Post by mexell » Tue Sep 09, 2008 11:33 am

When I S1-modded my 4850 I almost felt like back in AthlonXP-days - fragile die, lots of pressure, lots of money at risk and no warranty anywhere. But I did scarier things back in the days, you know :D, and everything works fine.

kenratboy
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Post by kenratboy » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:19 pm

Image

Install complete!!!

Sorry, I forget pictures, but...

...Oh my gawd that was easy! I used the Sapphire card, so the RAM sinks and voltage regulators were already installed. Put the 120mm fan on with aip ties, popped off the old cooler, cleaned the GPU and new cooler with rubbing alcohol, AC5 on the GPU core, installed all 4 screws and tightened (not a whole lot, just until snug). I had more trouble installing the stock Intel cooler on my friends motherboard!

Installed in my computer (fit fine, the 4850 is the only card I have and my case is roomy) and fired it up.

Idle temps in my 83F/28C bedroom are 40C, and under 100% load (HL2: EP2 looking at fire, which is very demanding) it touched 60C. I guess this might get better as things cure (this was all within 15 minutes of powering on).

REMEMBER, THIS CARD IS OVERCLOCKED BY ABOUT 12-15%

The 800RPM fan is quieter than any of the other fans I have, no it adds no noise (the stock 4850 at 35% was very loud, louder than the rest of the system by a lot).

Only issue is there is some play in the 800RPM fan, so it ticks a little bit (fan itself has some play on the shaft or whatever, it moves up and down). I hit the fan a little and it stopped, but I will keep an eye on things. Thankfully this is a very minor issue.

***VERY*** happy. It is at/below my threshold of annoyingness. At idle (CPU cooler spinning slower than in games), its as quiet as a hi-end mass-market desktop (where you have 1-2 very quiet case fans with lots of acoustic engineering). Oh, and temps are very low of course!

I seriously suggest this mod to anyone. It is very easy and very quiet.

Yes, you void your warranty, but I guess this is the world we dabble in.

Oh, and a huge thank you to this forum and all the help you have given me, I would not have been able to do this without you (SRSLY).

kenratboy
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Post by kenratboy » Tue Sep 09, 2008 6:20 pm

mexell wrote:When I S1-modded my 4850 I almost felt like back in AthlonXP-days - fragile die, lots of pressure, lots of money at risk and no warranty anywhere. But I did scarier things back in the days, you know :D, and everything works fine.
Actually, that metal spacer made me feel a lot better. Not a lot of chance of putting things on at an angle and screwing up the card. At no point did I have to force anything.

mexell
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Post by mexell » Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:43 am

Nice to hear everything went fine, I also liked the metal spacer.

I do just hope that your mission isn't as accomplished as GWB's is :wink:

thejamppa
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Post by thejamppa » Wed Sep 10, 2008 4:56 am

That metal spacer gave me also huge relief. Bit like using shim in my old XP 3000+ system while it had nearly 800 grams of Copper and plastic on it...

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