8800GT cooler

[Gromm]

So I have one of the early BFG 8800GT cards, the ones with the old (small) fan, and dislike the way it gets to about 88 degrees under load at stock speeds. I'm thinking about getting a heatsink for it, and was looking at the Thermalright HR-03-GT. A couple of questions:

How easy is it to fit on? Is it just a case of taking the case and fan off the GT and attaching it and the heatsinks?

How easy is it to get the case back on again, should the GT fail somewhere down the line? It voids the warranty doesn't it? Would this be a problem if I wanted to RMA it, or could I just put the case back on and no one would ever know?

Also, any other recommendations for heatsinks or ways to cool it are welcome. I'd probably look into attaching a 120mm fan to it, using cable ties. Is this practical?

Cheers all

 

[C64]

Get the arctic cooling accelero s1 performs better and is cheaper than the thermalright.
I get 33-36c idle 40c gaming load and 46c max fur benchmark load and that's with only an 800rpm fan cable tied to it.
It's easy and yes how would they know you changed the cooling ?

 

[Neal]

Definately go for the S1, I slapped a 120mm yate loon on the S1 and one 120mm yate loon in the side panel on my crappy cheap case and get idle 36c and load 50 tops (crysis)

Better than the 87 degrees as it was stock.

 

[Gromm]

It's easy and yes how would they know you changed the cooling ?

Well yeah, that's what I'm asking really.. There's no tell tale signs that give it away or anything.

That heatsink seems popular, people recommend getting some thermal tape along with it though, would you agree? Also, does it come with thermal paste, or shall I get some Arctic 5?

 

[Neal]

well on mine the old heatsink and casing came off really easily, however some of the thermal pads fell apart.... so probably wont pass an RMA inspection, I dont mind though, never RMA'd anything before, just slung it and bought new.