T-Rad2 installation Guide and Initial Thoughts

TaKeN · 10 Jan 2009 at 15:52

Hi Sharpy, nice mod

What card do you have exactly? my Sapphire HD4870 512mb (with their big new heatpipe cooler) doesn't show any of the voltages and VRM temps in GPU-Z .. :confused:

I'm running version 0.3.1 aswell

Ice Rich · 10 Jan 2009 at 20:44

TaKeN said:
Hi Sharpy, nice mod

What card do you have exactly? my Sapphire HD4870 512mb (with their big new heatpipe cooler) doesn't show any of the voltages and VRM temps in GPU-Z ..

I'm running version 0.3.1 aswell

It should do, you sure you are on the sensors tab?

sharpygsxr · 10 Jan 2009 at 21:32

mines the 512mb GDDR5 version, as rich said make sure your on the sensors tab and scroll down a little to see the VDDC temps

TaKeN · 11 Jan 2009 at 00:06

I'm on the sensors page

.. How odd

Ice Rich · 11 Jan 2009 at 10:02

TaKeN said:
I'm on the sensors page .. How odd

That is odd. I'm using GPU-Z version 0.3.0, i don't know if that would make any difference as i can't see them removing features in new builds. Did you do a clean install of drivers?

sharpygsxr · 11 Jan 2009 at 10:41

that is weird indeed, ill have a search around and see if i can get any ideas if you havent solved it by that time

TaKeN · 11 Jan 2009 at 11:10

thanks for your replys, I did a fresh install of the Latest 8.12 package from the ATi/AMD Site. I will keep googling, although reinstalling the Graphics drivers might help

sharpygsxr · 11 Jan 2009 at 11:17

ive found a few posts from people who had problems with using some AMD clock program for overclocking GPU but id say try a clean install of the full driver package and see if that sorts it.

TaKeN · 11 Jan 2009 at 12:03

sharpygsxr said:
ive found a few posts from people who had problems with using some AMD clock program for overclocking GPU but id say try a clean install of the full driver package and see if that sorts it.

I put on the Catalyst 8.11 package after removing all the ATi stuff and then running Driversweeper but the sensors still arn't showing up

I've signed up to the GPU-Z Forum (well, its not their forum) and will post up my problem there as I don't want to derail this thread anymore.

Although.. I am very tempted to get the T-Rad2..

*hovers over buy button*

liquidex · 11 Jan 2009 at 16:18

What card have you got? Some of the non-reference 4870s do not use digital vrms so there would be no temperature readings for vddc in gpu-z.

TaKeN · 11 Jan 2009 at 17:49

Liquidex, the card is a Sapphire HD4870 512mb...

liquidex · 12 Jan 2009 at 05:47

Hmm not sure tbh. My 4870 is a non-reference palit/gainward/xpertvision one and does not have those readings. It looks like yours just has the normal mosfet, inductor and capacitors. Would not worry about it as digital vrms run hotter anyway from what I have read.

Always thought the Sapphire ones even with the new coolers still had digital vrms though.

DrSteve · 13 Jan 2009 at 10:55

Well the new heatsinks arrived from the US today. They are very nicely finished. I'll try to get them installed later today and post back any results.
Here's a quick pic...

p4radox · 13 Jan 2009 at 11:34

Here's my 4870, using the sharpy method for the RAM cooling:

Couldn't be happier. The Xilence fans are running at about 5V and are completely silent from more than 1ft away, and the temps are absolutely fine.

DrSteve · 13 Jan 2009 at 11:45

Ok so I got the new sinks installed. Used MX-2 between the sinks and VRMs/RAM. Very easy to install. Here's what it look like.

Going to fire up ATITool and see if it actually makes any difference to the temps.

TaKeN · 13 Jan 2009 at 12:14

Someone should tell AMD that they stuck their GPU chip the wrong way up

These mods look v.tasty, not sure if I want to spend the £50'ish though...

DrSteve · 13 Jan 2009 at 12:37

I guess it is a bit expensive. Think it came to about £40 including p&p.
Looks like the temps on the vrms are down by about 20C. I was hitting 100C+ originally in ATITool with the spinning furry cube after about 5 minutes. Just ran it for about half an hour and one of them is just creeping into the low 80s. It's a definite improvement but I suppose the temp drop from recycling the stock plate is even greater.

ticktock · 13 Jan 2009 at 14:58

DrSteve said:
I guess it is a bit expensive. Think it came to about £40 including p&p.
Looks like the temps on the vrms are down by about 20C. I was hitting 100C+ originally in ATITool with the spinning furry cube after about 5 minutes. Just ran it for about half an hour and one of them is just creeping into the low 80s. It's a definite improvement but I suppose the temp drop from recycling the stock plate is even greater.

So £40 a waste then?

DrSteve · 13 Jan 2009 at 15:33

ticktock said:
So £40 a waste then?

Not entirely. They definitely work well and look well. Sitting with VRM temps of 70C now with the core at 790 using artifact scanner which itsn't half bad.

sharpygsxr · 13 Jan 2009 at 16:43

p4radox said:
Here's my 4870, using the sharpy method for the RAM cooling:

Snip*image*Snip

Couldn't be happier. The Xilence fans are running at about 5V and are completely silent from more than 1ft away, and the temps are absolutely fine.

Glat to hear it mate

i do like to help the humans every once in a while

Did you still have the default thermal tape on your backplate or did you fashion somethin for yourself? Hows your load and idle temps?

DrSteve said:
Ok so I got the new sinks installed. Used MX-2 between the sinks and VRMs/RAM. Very easy to install. Here's what it look like.

Snip**image**snip

Going to fire up ATITool and see if it actually makes any difference to the temps.

DrSteve those sinks look superb mate glad they got there in one piece.

Your temps seem a great improvement on the trad sinks under load i should think they were well worth the cost for yourself.