Watercooled my 7800GT, hot memory though!

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 11:39

I've stuck a DD Maze4 Low Profile block onto my BFG7800GT along with some ramsinks on the memory, I can't believe how much quieter it is

Temps are nice and low with the core not getting above 35 degrees under load but i've noticed the memory on the card is getting REALLY hot.

I had the card overclocked to 500MHz core and 1200MHz memory but after an hours gaming I started getting graphics corruption so had a quick poke around the card with my finger and found the memory was burning hot. I've dropped the memory speed down to stock and I'm not getting corruption anymore but I can't help feeling that with more airflow over the card (kinda against this as that was the point of water cooling in the first place) or with a larget block like the DD NV78 I could whack the speed back up again.

Anyone else experienced high memory temperatures? What did you do?

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:08

I'm of an opinion the same as welshtom at the moment, if its cooled by the stock cooler then it needs to be cooled. Unfortunately I don't have the space in my case to get a 120mm fan below it (too many PC cards and a pump in the way) but i'm thinking i might be able to fit a 80mm fan perpendicular to the card blowing accross it. Though i'm tempted to get a block that covers the memory as well when i have some money...

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:09

Zefan said:
Why pull air from the rear of the case and chuck it straight back out into the case :\

To keep it a single slot card

(in the case of the 7800GT anyway)

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:12

Zefan said:
So you all agree that Nvidia's design is the be all and end all of cooling theory?

Not at all but if you were nvidia would you bother spending extra cash on a cooler that covers the memory as well if it wasnt needed? Granted it probably doesnt cost them much extra but its still money that could have gone to pure profit if it wasnt needed

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:12

weescott said:
The reference designs are pretty poor. My 7800GT blow's air towards my HDD's and against the intake fans, not good. Just as well the Fusion is going on soon, with no ramsinks I might hasten to add.

Keep us posted on how hot your memory gets

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:18

Zefan said:
A HSF covering the whole card also looks better than a puny 9800pro style piece of lego.

Thats true, the fan on my 9800Pro was straight off almost as soon as i had it

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 12:27

welshtom said:
£10 max to protect a potentially £500 card?

no brainer surely?

You mean for ramsinks? Only thing is I'm not sure they're sufficient...

Workshed · 13 Mar 2006 at 13:43

At 1200MHz the memory was so hot i wouldnt keep my finger there

But with nothing actively disipating the heat away it's only going to get hotter, which i think is why it crashed. I can run several 3D mark benchmarks and play any game fine but after about an hour the corruption occurs.

My system RAM gets hot too but its never too hot to touch.

Workshed · 9 May 2006 at 15:32

Yeah definately needs cooling, me and G33K are moving on to moddin an NV-68 each to fit 7800GTs. Should allow me to get good clocks off the memory without crashing then!