T-Rad2 installation Guide and Initial Thoughts

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 09:45

got the temperatures this morning from my card on stock, and will get the new temps tonight on the new cooler *fingers crossed* so will post results and pics.

Shame about the thermal remover, I never thought of it at the time. I've never used any in the past for getting thermal paste off CPU's when I swap coolers on them so hopefully I can do a good job with the GFX ones, with wipes and cotton buds

rjk · 23 Oct 2008 at 10:09

Ice Rich said:
Great review, hopefully will receive mine shortly. Will get some pics up.

Quick question though, I thought it would be best to put the 'pipes' to the rear of the card? Can it be mounted both ways?

Stock cooler is very easy to remove on the 4870, quite a few screws but that's about it (including 4 'core' screws). I would recommend getting some thermal remover though, you should always apply a fresh coat whenever you remove your cooler and the old paste needs to be removed. (i find Artic Silver 5 best).

Edit: ahh I see you were talking about the memory, i would imagine they would need to be cleaned well.

they do need to be cleaned well - i cant stress it enough - it wont stick - and you only get one spare heatsink - so if you mess up [well... you know]

also the cooler can only be installed one way

the TIM that comes with the cooler is ok
i just prefer to use arctic silver and dint see the point in opening a new tube when i already had one

ALSO - UPDATE

added my final results - see end of the OP :cool:

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 10:15

Really good results for the 9800....cant wait to get this on my 4870.

I'm hoping to scrounge some thermal remover off the engineers who come in to my work during the day..if not i've got some cd lens cleaner at home so should be able to use that.

^JP^ · 23 Oct 2008 at 10:18

Really great final results and very nice review.

HEADRAT · 23 Oct 2008 at 10:21

Nice review, I see it's made it to the "News" section on the OcUK Shop site, this seems like an excellent idea and promotes the forum as well providing the end user experience.

I would say it would be a nice gesture for OcUK to give rjkoneill a voucher for his efforts

rjk · 23 Oct 2008 at 10:33

Willbo said:
Really good results for the 9800....cant wait to get this on my 4870.

I'm hoping to scrounge some thermal remover off the engineers who come in to my work during the day..if not i've got some cd lens cleaner at home so should be able to use that.

cool - should be ok - just make sure there is no excess TIM or moisture on the modules and it should be fine

^JP^ said:
Really great final results and very nice review.

cheers - it really has been worth it just to get a quiet graphics card - the fact that it have given me a larger overclock is a bonus [+6fps over stock speed in Crysis Warhead bench @ max settings @ 1680X1050]

HEADRAT said:
Nice review, I see it's made it to the "News" section on the OcUK Shop site, this seems like an excellent idea and promotes the forum as well providing the end user experience.

I would say it would be a nice gesture for OcUK to give rjkoneill a voucher for his efforts

a voucher certainly would be nice!

i think a customer reviews section in the forums would be good - the reviews on the website are a little one sided.

with mine i have tried to be as fair as possible and just wrote what i thought of it - if it was a piece of carp then i wouldn't of hesitated to say so.

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 13:13

Bit stuck as to where I'm fitting the heatsinks.....
I havent got my dig camera with me so had to draw a rough layout for my HD4870 1Gb board

As you can see there are 8 chips around the main processor so thats easy enough, they all take heatsink B as the cooler allows enough room, however I'm unsure on the other locations.
On the stock cooler there is strips of thermal paste for the 8 chips around the main processor, and there is another thin strip over the 5 small chips circled on the right hand side which i was going to put heatsink Cs on there.

That is the only locations that had any signs of thermal paste on...so does that sound right? Only asking as the 3 bigger chips on the right side, are directly below the gap in old cooler for the fan...just wondered if these will need a heatsink on?

If somone can help I'd be really grateful

Gibbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 13:29

Willbo said:
Bit stuck as to where I'm fitting the heatsinks.....
I havent got my dig camera with me so had to draw a rough layout for my HD4870 1Gb board

As you can see there are 8 chips around the main processor so thats easy enough, they all take heatsink B as the cooler allows enough room, however I'm unsure on the other locations.
On the stock cooler there is strips of thermal paste for the 8 chips around the main processor, and there is another thin strip over the 5 small chips circled on the right hand side which i was going to put heatsink Cs on there.

That is the only locations that had any signs of thermal paste on...so does that sound right? Only asking as the 3 bigger chips on the right side, are directly below the gap in old cooler for the fan...just wondered if these will need a heatsink on?

If somone can help I'd be really grateful

Hi there

Yes those 5 little chips of the VRM's and its critical those are cooled properly.

Make sure the thermal tape secures them well as you need to keep VRM temps ideally sub 100c.

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 13:41

So as long as I've got 8 heatsinks on the 8 chips around the main processor, and put a long heatsinks to cover the 3 VRMs on one side and another on the 2 VRMs on the other side thats everything sorted?

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 14:23

the one long one fit perfectly over the top two VRMs, but the other one (when placed in the middle of the three) leaves a bit of gap either side, only 1/2cm max
will that be ok, or should would it be best to completely cover them by squeezing two heatsinks over the three; so two are completely covered by one, and the other is covering the remainding vrm?

let me know what you think, I've never messed with changing coolers on a GFX before so want to get it spot on

bledd · 23 Oct 2008 at 14:39

well since ocuk seems to be the only supplier able to get stock.. lol

i've ordered one

any chance of lumping it in the post today for me lads?

Schnippzle · 23 Oct 2008 at 14:46

Very nice review, and it does look fairly tempting

I wonder how well it would work with crossfired 4870's? Also, I wonder if there would have been any performance increase if there was a little more space between the base of the cooler and the actual radiator to allow for more air-flow.....

rjk · 23 Oct 2008 at 14:54

Schnippzle said:
Very nice review, and it does look fairly tempting I wonder how well it would work with crossfired 4870's? Also, I wonder if there would have been any performance increase if there was a little more space between the base of the cooler and the actual radiator to allow for more air-flow.....

like i said - if you use the stock cooler as a guide you can see what parts of the card need cooling and thus - where the heatsinks should go

Gibbo said:
Hi there

Yes those 5 little chips of the VRM's and its critical those are cooled properly.

Make sure the thermal tape secures them well as you need to keep VRM temps ideally sub 100c.

like gibbo says - make sure the tape is secure as you will bork your card if it isnt

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 14:58

rjkoneill said:
like gibbo says - make sure the tape is secure as you will bork your card if it isnt isnt

In that case I'll make sure they are all completely covered by putting three heatsinks over them instead of the two just so they are all covered properly

Fitted the heatsinks, all secure, and fitted cooler....be careful if you use the included thermal paste as the one I had wasnt that easy to use and at first all I had was big POP and a load of paste came out covering chip and board :mad:

Wiped clean and reapplied thin layers as requested...

can see what was meant now about not overtightening the screws as the card does bend so be careful...card fits a treat to the HD4870....will install and post results later when I get in.

rjk · 23 Oct 2008 at 15:24

cool - [well i hope it turns out to be anyway

]

post up some pics of it on the 4870

would be interested in seeing your efforts Willbo

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 15:35

I've got to reinstall Windows on my home PC tonight so will get some pictures and results uploaded tonight

*Fingers crossed* it works, always worrying the first time you attempt something like this

rjk · 23 Oct 2008 at 15:53

you will be fine!!!

Willbo · 23 Oct 2008 at 16:08

I'll be looking like the one on the right hand side of your sig if something goes wrong

HAHA

rjk · 23 Oct 2008 at 16:21

no - the guy on the right of my sig got a TRAD2 and then realised it doesnt fit on his GTX 280

thats why he looks mad

bledd · 23 Oct 2008 at 16:23

bledd. said:
well since ocuk seems to be the only supplier able to get stock.. lol

i've ordered one

any chance of lumping it in the post today for me lads?

Your Order has been packed and is in the process of being shipped. :cool: