BFG8800GTOC + Zalman VF900-Cu cooler + stock heatsink

85merk · January 15th, 2008, 03:38 PM

Just thought i'd share my latest frankenhackjob.

Video Card : BFG8800GT OC
VGA Cooler : Zalman VF900-Cu

Nothing fancy, just basically had the GPU copper pad lasercut off @ work so i can install an aftermarket cooler instead.
The idea here is that although the card works perfectly fine WITHOUT any additional heatsinks, i thought why not recycle the original heatsink and re-use it so it's not entirely wasted.

** DISCLAIMER : This is MY opinion, and i'm not responsible in any way shape or form

**
For those skeptical about not using heatsinks, do so at your own risk.
Only understand it is my logical thinking that if my card could operate @ 85'C WITH a heatsink than i see no reason why it can't operate without one @ 50'C, because that's what
I measured for hotspots near the power components.
The factory heatsink does not cool anything, in fact it HEATS everything uniformely up to 85'C thanks to the GPU being a part of it.
** END DISCLAIMER

I tried using the factory fan, which i trimmed, but found out the Zalman fins pressed onto it

Temps with/without the heatsink thanks to the Zalman dropped from 55'C idle to 39'C.
Load temps dropped from peaks of 85'C (fan set to 55%) to 65'C (fan @ 100%)
99% of my games like CoD4, BF2, GTR2 etc... don't seem to push the GPU past 50'C.
Only applications like Fur Rendering push the GPU hard into the 60-65'C, but no higher.
Oh and the Zalman is DEAD quiet @ 100% (2400 rpm)...which is the MAIN reason i did the swap.

Happy with my install, i'm now going to do the same with my 2nd BFG for SLI.

Here are the pics : http://www.85merk.com/stuff/bfg_8800gt

Chaos · January 15th, 2008, 04:32 PM

It looks interesting though I wonder why you left the remainder of the original heatsink in place instead of ram sinks

85merk · January 15th, 2008, 11:36 PM

To be honest the idea came about after i messed up the ram sinks that came with the Zalman.
You see the VF900-Cu was NOT intended for the 8800GT.
They only supply 8 ram sinks, and nothing for the power components which according to some, need it.
The Zalman ram sinks are 4 row wide, and the 8800GT memory chips are 3 row wide, so i figured i could hack off 8 x 1 row to make enough to cover all memory chips and the power components.
The reason for this is because i don't have any extra ram sinks lying around at all.

In my googling, I also found this amazing work of art :

But since i wasn't going to want to spend that much time designing a heatsink,
i figured i could simply re-use the original BFG heatsink which covers everything.
Not only that, but the sheer size of the heatsink is far better at absorbing heat than
a bunch of little tiny stick-on ram sinks.
At least I can trust the factory heatsink to stay in place thanks to the screws.

Chaos · January 16th, 2008, 12:38 AM

true enough

Mac Daddy · January 16th, 2008, 01:31 AM

Cool mods

Nanogrip · January 16th, 2008, 01:50 AM

I have the same ripped cooler but I think I can only use the power IC section because the whole thing won't fit with my Thermalright HR-03 cooler. I used a damn wire cutter 90% of the time when I couldn't find my nosepliers, turned out they were in the bathroom where I used them to pluck my nose hairs a few days ago... 85merk, maybe you can use a propane torch to melt off the excess lead?