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8800 GTS dead - cheap replacement?

artaxerxes

artaxerxes

artaxerxes

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Joined
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1,684
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Moseley
My XFX 8800 GTS had just thrown up some graphics errors. Dragon Age has killed it.

It is at least 2 years old - so I think it has no warranty.

What can i bung in the box for similar or better performance for £50. Dragon Age, Left 4 Dead 2 and a smattering of other games.

I will have a look at the for sale forum where 8800s are going for £35, but I must suspect the lot of them will be long in the tooth.

E4300 1.8 @ 3GHz
3GB of RAM
Gigabyte 965P-DS3

{EDIT Trying the OVEN TRICK}

Put it through the oven.. yay. Looks fine. No dropped components.

Scraped of the old goop and replaced it with arctic silver.

However when I screw the HSF back on I can see daylight between the GPU and the copper surface. Looking at the goop scrapings they had a real thickness.

What can I use to get depth in my thermal interface material? This seems to be madness!

Can I use these 'shims' http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-CL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27

Thanks in advance!!
 
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If your motherboard can take an ATI Radeon, there are plenty of cheap cards with performance superior to their Nvidia GeForce price-range counterpart. I would get a 5770 or a 5850. If your motherboard can only take Nvidia cards, a GeForce 260 Core 216 is a good choice.
 
260gtx would be a nice middle runner but if it's cheap cheap you are looking for then what about the 4870, you can pick them up for £100, it's great bang for your buck.
 
Put it through the oven.. yay. Looks fine. No dropped components.

Scraped of the old goop and replaced it with arctic silver.

However when I screw the HSF back on I can see daylight between the GPU and the copper surface. Looking at the goop scrapings they had a real thickness.

What can I use to get depth in my thermal interface material? This seems to be madness!

Can I use these 'shims' http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-CL&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27

Thanks in advance
 
MiNxYyY said:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-001-AK&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=27

I think they would be more suited.
Click to expand...

Wow... Is that suitable for a GPU? I would have thought ok for a chipset...

One of the reviewers says it brought his core down 14 degrees so it looks like it.

Any other suggestions before I pull the trigger on this big money purchase.

I am worried that it won't address the fact the HSF is fractionally distant from the GPU surface ( I see a little daylight) and that space was filled with goo. But it is adhesive so if I just squeeeze....?
 
I wouldn't go using that stuff to bond the two together! You won't be able to remove it ever again :eek:
 
[UPDATE] I just smeared some more Arctic Silver on it - though I hate to do it! Should be a vanishingly thin layer.

The OVEN TRICK has worked... I am running 3d tests right now!
 
Worked for about two weeks... back into the oven and this time plenty of TIM. I was asking for trouble with that! Has been working like a champ since then... 3 weeks or so.

What is the longeveity of this? Who holds the record for most repeat.. servings?
 
Id replace it,You dont want to keep having to cook it every few weeks :p

Look into getting a 5770 or 5830 if you want to stay on the "cheaper" side of things....DX11 ready and not a bad card.
 
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