Radeon Cooling - Advice Needed Please

[nheather]

I have a Connect 3D X1800 XT which I have never overclocked.

I think the stock GPU speed is 621 and the RAM speed 747.

This evening I got an alert saying that the GPU was over temperature and that the ATi utility was automatically reducing the the GPU clock speed.

I've given the computer a good clean out and the card is now running as follows

GPU Requested - 621
Current GPU - 594

RAM Requested - 747
Current RAM - 693

Current temp = 53 degC

So I have some questions

1 - Since it is running so cool why won't current clocks rise to the requested values? Is there a way of forcing back to stock defaults (selecting the 'defualts' button doesn't help.

2 - Ideally, I'd like to take the heatsink off and reseat it with some fresh Arctic Silver. What's stopping me is the sponge pads on the RAM. I assume they are double sided sticky and I will have to damage them to remove the heatsink. Is this correct? If so where can I buy some replacements - they around 2mm thick not the tape.

3 - The alternative is to buy a new heatsink. Is the Akasa VC03 a good choice

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...ame=Akasa AK-VC03-BLUV Vortexx NEO VGA Cooler

Would I see an improvement over the stock fan?

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Amonlym]

the ati ram pads are not especially sticky, they come off cleanly.

the clocks its showing as current are the 2d clocks. fire up a game and monitor with rivatuner and you will see them jump up to the requested levels.

 

[benjo]

When i had my X1800XT, i found the Zalman VF900 to be a great cooler. The load temps were around 55c. Worth a look.

 

[nheather]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I ran the overclocker tuning tool and it stuck the GPU\RAM right up to 688\788 and temperature maxed out at 82 degC.

I don't want to run it at that but it looks like cleaning out all the fluff might have done the trick.

Thanks for the heads up on the 2D speeds - I'd have never figured that one out.

Cheers,

Nigel