Before you buy that new graphics card.....

[Scania]

Taken from a friends post on www.e30zone.net - thought it may be of interest....

Short story.

Two and a half years down the road with what has basically a good and very overworked pci-e en6800 ultra card. I have three pc's and this is my main machine basically. Been thrashing Battlefield 2 and GTR 2 to death on it. Lately has been behaving badly with graphics hanging in GTR2 typically after a short time while driving. I do keep my machines in good order and clean em quarterly and usually clean the exteriors of components etc bla bla.

The 6800 Nvidia cards have a plate which covers the cooling venturi and fins assembly. The plate is retained by a set of tiny screws hence I kinda put off removing it. You can guess the rest lol. I finally remove said plate and discover a micro climate encapsulated in a mire of dust the likes of which I never thought could exist in a pc. Get soft brush and hoover, loosen the dust, blast it all out and hoover the offending crap off the floor/desk. It is clear to me that cooling with this range of cards is quite critical in the sense that a little dust can bring forth a multitude of problems which may have you jumping through all sorts of hoops to try and fix. (see also defreagging regularly, driver updating, driver roll back, driver re-updating, re-seating the card etc etc waffle waffle you know...)

So folks don't be afraid of those little screws, and if your cards similar, sure as eggs are vaguely oval shaped you'll find a mess in there. Get em undone and get under that thing. It's cheaper than a 400 quid replacement. The card has since been perfect and performing like it did when new.

A nice post i thought, with a good point I think.

 

[kkthxbye]

or just keep the inside and outside of your case dust free all the time, i dust mine every other day and give it a once over when ever iv got the side off which is about twice a month.

 

[oweneades]

or just keep the inside and outside of your case dust free all the time, i dust mine every other day and give it a once over when ever iv got the side off which is about twice a month.

You will still have to remove the dust from your graphics card as its shocking how much dust can get i them despite having a clean room / desk area.

 

[joshlane]

some thing that has alwasy made me wonder is why the gfx cards on mobo's is oreintated with the fan pointing to the bottom of the case.

if it was the other way up, heat could rise away from the card and it would also be far easier to clean.

or is that a simple solution to a more complex issue.....

 

[tom_e]

some thing that has alwasy made me wonder is why the gfx cards on mobo's is oreintated with the fan pointing to the bottom of the case.

if it was the other way up, heat could rise away from the card and it would also be far easier to clean.

or is that a simple solution to a more complex issue.....

iirc it was some thing to do with they had to be set up that way in the olden days and its just continued

 

[Dutch Guy]

I had a 6800NU a while ago and that ran at 103C for a while until I noticed, no surprise that the intake vents were blocked with dust

 

[jaykay]

I have a passive 6600 so i dont ned to clean it.
Been at a cool 50C for 1 1/2 years

 

[simonnance]

Before you buy that new graphics card.....

overclock the bejesus out of the old one

 

[misterPK]

I replaced the cooler on my old X800 with a Zalman jobby, so much easier to keep clean!

As far as the position of the fan goes, I'm guessing its because the GPU has traditionally been the top slot on the motherboard, so when fans where needed to cool them, they had to be put below to fit in the space for certain. That and having another slot to use as a grill. The answer is to get a case that inverts the motherboard, like my lian li.

PK!

 

[spookywillow]

thats what i'm planning on doing but these heatpipe equipped mobo's prevent you from doing so unless you get the appropiate coolers for the northbridge and the mosfets

 

[Darg]

thats what i'm planning on doing but these heatpipe equipped mobo's prevent you from doing so unless you get the appropiate coolers for the northbridge and the mosfets

As has been shown, the P35 boards with heatpipes are actually using fake ones. No liquid or anything in them, they're only glued on as well so worse then useless. I wouldn't worry about turning one of them upside down as all their cooling depends on whats on each individual piece and not the heatpipes.

 

[joshlane]

it also depends on the wicking system in the heatpipes i'm sure a lot of people asked whetehr they could change the oreintation of the A8 board that had passive cooling on the NB.

i have a zalman jobby which does make it much easier to clean and much quieter than the stock cooler lol!

i do fancy a new case my tsunami *cough* dream *cough* is doing my head in i keep cutting the crap of it to try and make it look better but tis still a terrible vibration loving case. think it will be a new case with a new system though

 

[misterPK]

i have a zalman jobby which does make it much easier to clean and much quieter than the stock cooler lol!

Thats two recomendations for the Zalman Jobby, go google it people, while we go off to become their new marketing and product name gurus!

Coming soon, the Zalman Fatal1ty Edition Jobby, its got LED's!!!!!

PK!

 

[roadie]

Positive case air pressure through filtered openings also helps keep dust under control. That way, all that needs cleaning are the filters.

 

[joshlane]

Thats two recomendations for the Zalman Jobby, go google it people, while we go off to become their new marketing and product name gurus!

Coming soon, the Zalman Fatal1ty Edition Jobby, its got LED's!!!!!

PK!

lol, we could have a fully range, much better than putting '1's where 'i's should be

thingy's

majiggie's

wotsit's

and macallit's

(patent pending)