T-Rad2 installation Guide and Initial Thoughts

lettuce · 31 Oct 2008 at 15:47

Right i have looked on the underside of the old cooler and notice that there is a long vertical gap where the fan can blow/suck through onto the card, which would be blowing or sucking air on the 2 chips indicated in the picture below, maybe one of these is the VRM??

Ice Rich · 31 Oct 2008 at 15:54

lettuce said:
Right i have looked on the underside of the old cooler and notice that there is a long vertical gap where the fan can blow/suck through onto the card, which would be blowing or sucking air on the 2 chips indicated in the picture below, maybe one of these is the VRM??

I initially thought that too, but if you put the long VRM coolers on these then the heatsink will not fit as the chips are raised already.

lettuce · 31 Oct 2008 at 15:59

Bugger!, its got to be where ive put that very thin HS then, like someone said above, as everything else is covered

lettuce · 31 Oct 2008 at 19:07

Right, just replaced the thin HS with the larger narrow type, and even added the 2 thin HS to the 2 chips circled in the picture above and still my VRM temps reach 86c when under stress. I cant for the life of me think why the vrm temps are sooo high. The only thing i can think of is that the long narrow chip circled in yellow in the above pic must be the VRM, cos thats the only thing on my card that doesnt have a HS on it!

Ice Rich · 31 Oct 2008 at 20:04

lettuce said:
Right, just replaced the thin HS with the larger narrow type, and even added the 2 thin HS to the 2 chips circled in the picture above and still my VRM temps reach 86c when under stress. I cant for the life of me think why the vrm temps are sooo high. The only thing i can think of is that the long narrow chip circled in yellow in the above pic must be the VRM, cos thats the only thing on my card that doesnt have a HS on it!

Hmm, that is odd. I don't have anything on them 'raised' chips either and my VRM temps are around 60 load. I do have a side case fan though that blows directly into the middle of the card.

lettuce · 31 Oct 2008 at 23:12

Ive but some HS on those 2 chips now and still the VRm temp at idle is around 42c!!!, it just doesnt make sence, how the VRM temp with the stock cooler on was cooler than it is now

lettuce · 1 Nov 2008 at 01:12

http://www.overclock.net/hardware-news/362258-expreview-powercolor-hd4870-gddr5-has-awesome.html

Well reading that page it does indeed look like the PowerColor uses 4 VRM chips, which are in fact the four chips that are indicated via the lower yellow oval in the picture posted above. So i dont know why im getting such high VRM temps, maybe ill try putting 2 of the long narrow HS on instead of the 2 main memory ones i have on at the moment, but would have thought that the main memory HS would do a better job of cooling!?

Clock.It · 1 Nov 2008 at 12:50

lettuce said:
http://www.overclock.net/hardware-news/362258-expreview-powercolor-hd4870-gddr5-has-awesome.html

Well reading that page it does indeed look like the PowerColor uses 4 VRM chips, which are in fact the four chips that are indicated via the lower yellow oval in the picture posted above. So i dont know why im getting such high VRM temps, maybe ill try putting 2 of the long narrow HS on instead of the 2 main memory ones i have on at the moment, but would have thought that the main memory HS would do a better job of cooling!?

The vrm chips are the five small ones that you have already heatsinked beside the three bigger chips that are circled in yellow.

Unfortunately the vrm heatsinks that come with the trad-2 did'nt work well for me. It really takes one large heatsink+ mx-2 paste over the vrm chips to keep them cool unless you can get a lot of air blowing on them.

It is the same with the Accelero s1 cooler which gives good core temps but now uses 4 small vrm heatsinks instead of 1 large one which does'nt cool the vrms properly.

If you look at the pic of Willhub's card it shows one large heatsink with mx-2 paste applied between the heatsink and vrm's which produces far better temps. It was mainly the mx-2 paste instead of using thermal adhesive that reduced temps for me :

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=12439979

If you can get more air blowing on the vrm's it helps temps if you cant get a one block heatsink+mx-2 paste.

There is a red customised vrm heatsink for the 4870 available from the US which would be perfect to keep temps down but it is very expensive.

My vrm temps peak at 70 when running crysis and 85 in 10 minutes of Atitool. This is using one 120mm fan running at 800rpm, used to cool the trad-2 as well blowing on the vrm's. If the fan speed is increased vrm temps are reduced 10-20 degrees depending on fan speed.

Case airflow will affect vrm temps as well.

lettuce · 1 Nov 2008 at 12:55

Ok, moved some of the HS around, removed the thermal tape from the HS and applied some, Akasa Thermal Adhesive tape...

Im stressing the GPU atm with ATITool on the and the Noctua NF-B9 fans going full pelt at 1740rpm (rjkoneill, they are almost silent even at full speed, and can just hear them, fantastic!!!) and temps under stress after 15 mins in my cool bedroom without heating on are:

Core 38c
Mem 52c
Shader 42c
VRM 70c

and Idle with Fans at 960 rpm:

Core 29c
Mem 40c
Shader 30c
VRM 41c

So much better, dont know if it was the wrong type of HS on the VRM's or maybe the thermal tape on the HS arent up to much!??

Willbo · 1 Nov 2008 at 15:20

I've got the same card as new, bought it new as well as the T-Rad2 so swapped coolers over before installing the card.

I only put heatsinks on the 5 small chips, same way that you've got your heatsinks now, the 3 long ones over them and I've had no problems so far..might try putting the heatsinks on the other chips like you have...cant go wrong with more I suppose.

Ice Rich · 1 Nov 2008 at 15:38

lettuce said:
Ok, moved some of the HS around, removed the thermal tape from the HS and applied some, Akasa Thermal Adhesive tape...

Im stressing the GPU atm with ATITool on the and the Noctua NF-B9 fans going full pelt at 1740rpm (rjkoneill, they are almost silent even at full speed, and can just hear them, fantastic!!!) and temps under stress after 15 mins in my cool bedroom without heating on are:

Core 38c
Mem 52c
Shader 42c
VRM 70c

and Idle with Fans at 960 rpm:

Core 29c
Mem 40c
Shader 30c
VRM 41c

So much better, dont know if it was the wrong type of HS on the VRM's or maybe the thermal tape on the HS arent up to much!??

Thanks for update lettuce

Glad all is resolved.

I've just ordered some thermal tape as I am going to re-arrange my sinks.

Few questions

You've put one of them large sinks on the 'raised VRM's', I did that initially but when I came to put the heat sink back on It would not fit fully so thought I must have put them in the wrong place so I moved them over.
Is your sink not touching the TRAD cooler?

Also, when you applied the thermal tape, did you also put a little bit of thermal paste on?

lettuce · 1 Nov 2008 at 16:20

I dont think those raised chips are actually VRMs to be honest, i just left them on their from before hand, as the narrower HS are not as high as the square HS theres about a 2mm gap between the HS and the TRAD, and my TRAD is on slight slant aswell, so if yours is level then you should have plenty of room. Regarding the tape, i just applied the tape with no paste.

On a side note how tight are people tightening the nuts to secure the TRAD to their card, first time around i tightened them quiet abit and i noticed it warpped the card :eek:

, so now i just have them just finger tight until i feel abit of resistance, i also used some Arctic Silver 5 for the GPU core, i found the supplied thermal paste way to watery, and doesnt seem to be as high standard as the Arctic Silver stuff

Willbo · 1 Nov 2008 at 20:03

Just used GPU-Z again to look at my temps, after an hour or so on FC2 im getting temps of;

VDDC Slave #1 Temperature = 87.0
VDDC Slave #2 Temperature = 92.0
VDDC Slave #3 Temperature = 89.0

Are these too high?

At the moment on my 4870 I've only got the long the heatsinks as circled on the picture below covering the 5 VRMs. (Sorry lettuce I've used your picture as my card is installed at the moment and you have the same card as me, hope you don't mind) using the thermal tape that was already attached to the heatsinks that card with the T-Rad2

ticktock · 1 Nov 2008 at 22:49

Great review. Been looking at this Heatsink for a 9800 GT i am thinking of buying. Want to use it with a 120mm fan though.

Notice AtreuS has used an 120mm fan and the temps look really great. Not sure what fan he used?

rjk · 1 Nov 2008 at 22:59

he used a noctua i think

the 92 dual fan setup works best tbh

ticktock · 1 Nov 2008 at 23:12

rjkoneill said:
he used a noctua i think

the 92 dual fan setup works best tbh

If it works best, how come the scores are quite vague with the 92mm and the 120mm scores quite close to 2 92's in idle?

I quite like the idea of 2 92mm fans but i am after a really silent setup. I have 2 120mm Noctua fans and they are really silent.

ticktock · 2 Nov 2008 at 10:13

These fans would be good with the T-Rad?:

Noctua NF-B9 Vortex-Control 92mm Quiet Case Fan

lettuce · 2 Nov 2008 at 11:14

ok just got an email from from willbo:

"Hi, its willbo from the OCUK forums, just been reading your posts about the VRMs being too hot, and I’ve got the same problems with mine as after an 1-2hrs of gaming on FC2 the game crashes back to the desk top and when I check GPU-Z I’m getting temps of;

VDDC Slave #1 Temperature = 87.0
VDDC Slave #2 Temperature = 92.0
VDDC Slave #3 Temperature = 89.0

I’m guessing these are too high? I’ve got the same heat sink layout as you on your card (excluding the heat sinks on the raised chips next to the VRMs and the one on the bottom right corner of your card) with the long heat sinks stretching over the 5 VRM chips only but I’m only using the stock thermal tape that is on the heat sinks. How did you get the temps down? I’ve ordered some Akasa Thermal Adhesive tape, and a Antec SpotCool System Cooler to put more air on the GFX Card"

and i replied:

"....well after about 5 minutes or running the ATITool artifact program my temps through GPU-Z are:

VDDC Slave #1 Temperature = 86.0
VDDC Slave #2 Temperature = 91.0
VDDC Slave #3 Temperature = 92.0

Thats with my 2 fans running at there slow speed of 960rpm, if i increase the fans at full wack to 1800rmp then after 5 minutes at that speed the temps drop to:

VDDC Slave #1 Temperature = 78.0
VDDC Slave #2 Temperature = 83.0
VDDC Slave #3 Temperature = 83.0

I know on the stock cooler for the PowerColor with the fan set at just 25% the rpm speed of the fan was 1300rpm, and then at 35% (which i used for gaming) the fan rpm was well over 2200rpm!!!. So i believe it is the fan that actually cools the VRM's down on the stock cooler and indeed on the T-RAD2.

We dont even have full comformation yet of where actually the VRMs on this card are!? So this is still a problem for me too really as i would have liked the VRM temps to be a lot lower. Im just woundering if other posters on the T-RAd2 thread have looked at their VRM temps?, it might just be a problem with the PowerColor 1GB cards??? How are you controlling your fan speeds?? do you have them hocked up to the fan socket on the actual card itself?, as i have my 2 fans connected to my mobos AUX fan connections, and cant find a good was to control the speed as i wish, it might be an idea posts about these slave temps in the thread to bring it to peoples attention, and see if we can come up with a solution"

So my slave temps still are not great!, maybe we should get people to post their 3 slave temps???

lettuce · 2 Nov 2008 at 11:28

Ok the picture below shows where else the VRMs may be i think number 1 is a good shout possibly, as the copper heatsink from the stock cooler would be covering that!? As the the blue outline shows where the stocker cooler coverd on the card, so anythin outside that cant really the the VRM.....

I just cant figure out for the life of me why these temps are still so bloody high!? That is using the ATITool program however, with 96% GPU utilisation, will games always use 96%?

Ice Rich · 2 Nov 2008 at 11:39

lettuce said:
We dont even have full comformation yet of where actually the VRMs on this card are!? So this is still a problem for me too really as i would have liked the VRM temps to be a lot lower. Im just woundering if other posters on the T-RAd2 thread have looked at their VRM temps?, it might just be a problem with the PowerColor 1GB cards??? How are you controlling your fan speeds?? do you have them hocked up to the fan socket on the actual card itself?, as i have my 2 fans connected to my mobos AUX fan connections, and cant find a good was to control the speed as i wish, it might be an idea posts about these slave temps in the thread to bring it to peoples attention, and see if we can come up with a solution"

So my slave temps still are not great!, maybe we should get people to post their 3 slave temps???

I have both my Red-Wings connected via a fan controller. I always have both fans on full (no noise difference in noise between low & full power). I would not recommend plugging any fan apart from stock into the card itself.

As said earlier, I have some thermal tape on order as I plan to re-arrange my sinks similar to yours. At the moment I have everything covered the same as you except them 'raised' chips.

After about 1hr gaming them VRM temps are never more then 65 (on any of them). However, I think I am in a slightly different position then you guys. I am still on sk.939 so only game at 1024 (although with everything on max), so perhaps my card is not being as stressed as much as yours which could be why you are seeing higher temps then me.

If I get any different temp results after I rearrange my sinks I'll post them up.