8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu in Overclocking/Modding

8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu in Overclocking/Modding http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r19493083 en Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:06:15 EDT Tue, 02 Dec 2008 03:06:15 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19764231 DKS : Welcome. ]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19764231 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:26:14 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19762984 anon : Thanks a bunch DKS.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19762984 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:05:37 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19762885 DKS : The card is 4" tall when installed. The Zalman protrudes no more than 1/2" above the card.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19762885 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:48:45 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19762518 anon : Hey everyone.

I have a quick favor involving the Zalman VF900-Cu and the 8800 gt.

I puchased an 8800gt, and like many other people, im also not liking the stock cooling. The problem is i am using a lame btx form factor mother board and i dont have a lot of clearance above my 8800 gt.

If someone could be so kind to post the height of the 8800gt with a Zalman VF900-Cu attached (From the bottom of the 8800gt card, to the top of the vf900), that would be awesome. I know the fan vf900 itself is 30mm, but i have been unable to find a good estimate of how big tall it is attached to the card. Thanks!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19762518 Tue, 08 Jan 2008 15:48:55 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19750970 DKS :

said by Wolfie00

:

My question is about the fourth little chip (a power control chip?)in those two cluster of four, that I've marked with the yellow arrows. This pic implies it needs a heatsink, other places I've seen implies it does not. The blue Zalman sinks don't appear to be large enough to cover all four. Do they not need a heatsink, or is it just not that big a deal?

I'm asking because we're finally getting around to installing our Zalman HSF tomorrow.

I did put a heat sink on it, but not all the way over. There is an excellent (but long) threat over at [H]ardForum about coolers, with lots of pics.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19750970 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 18:45:53 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19750623 Wolfie00 : Question for DKS

or someone else familiar with the 8800GT board layout. Here's a pic (from the other site) of the MOSFET chips that supposedly need heatsinks:

[att=1]

My question is about the fourth little chip (a power control chip?)in those two cluster of four, that I've marked with the yellow arrows. This pic implies it needs a heatsink, other places I've seen implies it does not. The blue Zalman sinks don't appear to be large enough to cover all four. Do they not need a heatsink, or is it just not that big a deal?

I'm asking because we're finally getting around to installing our Zalman HSF tomorrow.
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"Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain" -- Friedrich Schiller

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19750623 Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:21:33 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19695727 DKS : And another option... Accelero S1 factory installed by iChill

»www.inno3d.com/press/press_14_12···2_x1.htm
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19695727 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:20:13 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19693785 Dream Killer :

said by DKS

:

Zalman have been busy! Seems they have a new set of chip coolers to go with the VF-1000. The ZM-RHS88 heatsink is a one piece cast part that fits on the RAM chips and MOSFets. For a review, see here: »www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=497

I got the RHS88 to go with my 8800GTS 640. It really is an awesome RAM cooler. The MOSFETs on my card is still hot though. I attached the blue Zalman sinks (comes with VF-1000) on the backside of the board just to feel safe.

Modded VF-1000 with dual 80mm Nexus fans and RHS-88 on 8800GTS 640

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19693785 Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:16:07 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19684661 DKS : And an interesting overclocking guide!

»www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=484

quote:
For those who have already purchased the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, overclocking the card can give you a sufficient boost in performance that obviates the need for an upgrade to the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB. Our overclocking experience is really not the best possible for the card. In fact, many GeForce 8800 GT users have reported far better results.

If you are still pondering whether to buy the GeForce 8800 GT or the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, it all depends on your budget and the cards' availability at your locale. If you can only afford the GeForce 8800 GT, well, overclocking it will give you close to the performance of the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB, if not more, for $50 less. That's a pretty good deal right there.

But if you can afford it, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB could be a better buy. It offers you the same bang for the buck as the GeForce 8800 GT but has more overclocking potential. Because it has more stream processors, overclocking it will give you a bigger performance boost per MHz than you would see in the GeForce 8800 GT.

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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19684661 Tue, 25 Dec 2007 19:51:35 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19683841 DKS : Zalman have been busy! Seems they have a new set of chip coolers to go with the VF-1000. The ZM-RHS88 heatsink is a one piece cast part that fits on the RAM chips and MOSFets. For a review, see here: »www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=497
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19683841 Tue, 25 Dec 2007 14:46:44 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19649648 DKS : For an excellent review of all the aftermarket coolers available for the 8800 GT, see [H]ard|OCP'sa piece here. The Accelero S1 is not included, as the manufacturer told them not to test it.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19649648 Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:07:37 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19648033 enigmata : Just wanted to say thanks for doing this thread DKS. I have two 8800GT in SLi and have VF900-Cu coolers on both of them. Previously, the first card would be at 60 C idle / 85 C load, and the card lower in the case would be at 65 C idle / 86 C load.

With the coolers installed, both run at 43 C idle / 55 C load approximately (overclocked to 700MHz core / 1000 MHz memory each). While expensive, these coolers definitely do their job.

The increased performance shows both on the ingame benches and the 3dmark06. On the Crysis GPU test, using the 169.10 drivers, I get about 31-32 FPS ingame FPS on stock clocks. With the overclock, I get about 36-37 FPS.

From my experience, the card's not very stable above 725MHz... (I get blue screens / artifacting during the benchmarks) so I haven't tried anything higher than that.

Just my 0.02. Hope it helps anyone out there.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19648033 Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:08:12 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19620037 DKS : Above is a temp graph during a session of BF2142 with everything turned up. I think you can see the cooler temps and the relative stability over the stock cooler.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19620037 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:48:06 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19576102 Wolfie00 :

said by DKS

:

I needed four additional heat sinks for the mosfets, but you can get them from Zalman, too. Zalman's quality is excellent.

For what it's worth, the Zalman's "8-pack" heatsink package is not what you might expect. The VF900 does indeed come with 8 identical memory heatsinks of the kind pictured here. But the heatsink package comes with 4 of those, and 4 others that have the same footprint but are much taller. Not that that's an issue for the MOSFET's but just an FYI -- this is not a replacement for the included heatsink set. I also got (from NCIX) the 4-pack of Swiftech MC21 aluminum heatsinks which might be a better fit on some of the chips. That gives me more than enough to play around with on the MOSFET's. All of them come with thermal tape pre-attached.
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"Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain" -- Friedrich Schiller
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19576102 Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:33:49 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19564199 DKS : Interesting comments at [H]ardOCP. Overclocking the 8800 GT may be a muggs game.

quote:
The GeForce 8800 GT is a very powerful video card, and when the Add-in-Board partners (AIBs) overclock the GPU and memory speeds, the 8800 GT offers even more incredible performance. If you want a video card that will deliver a very good gaming experience with the latest titles, plus a little bit more, an AIB overclocked GeForce 8800 GT that offers a warranty may just be the ticket. The real question is, “Do any of these OCed card versions truly give you a better gaming experience?” The fact of the matter is that we can’t see anything in all of our testing that proves that. While we did not directly include a comparison here, you can go back through the last 7 articles on this page to find some performance comparisons. We just can’t find any compelling gaming experiences to tell you that the OCed cards are better. You will surely eek out few extra frames, but these OCed 8800 GT cards are not going to facilitate a higher resolution or quality setting in real world gaming. Benchmarks will however show you another story. So it all depends on whether you are a benchmark monkey or a gamer, or where you lie in between.

emphasis added
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19564199 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:44:42 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19562526 DKS :

said by Dream Killer

:

Worlds apart in terms of cooling performance. If the VF900 is lagging behind that badly, a GTS/GTX stock cooler would probably better than the VF900. You have to remember that the VF900 was designed for GPUs with small die size, the GTS/GTX's die size are a lot larger than previous generation GPUs.

Because it won't work on an ATI card doesn't mean that it won't work and work effectively on the 800 GTS series. A tad disingenuous by the author, I think.

EDIT: Besides, the VF900 won't physically fit on the GTS/GTX. The mounting holes are farther apart than what the VF900 could reach.

That's a legitimate reason.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19562526 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:18:29 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19562158 Dream Killer :

said by DKS

said by Dream Killer

:

You can't run the VF900 on the GTS/GTX - It's not designed for such high thermal loads. You have to use the Zalman ZM-RHS88 and VF1000 set.

What causes you to say that the VF900-CU can't handle the heat of the GTS/GTX?

»www.silentpcreview.com/article769-page5.html

Worlds apart in terms of cooling performance. If the VF900 is lagging behind that badly, a GTS/GTX stock cooler would probably better than the VF900. You have to remember that the VF900 was designed for GPUs with small die size, the GTS/GTX's die size are a lot larger than previous generation GPUs.

Don't get me wrong, I love the VF900. I had it on my 6800GT and it was amazing. It's just not the right cooler for the GTS/GTX.

Note that the X1950XTX loaded at around the same temp as my 8800GTS with its stock cooler (page 4).

EDIT: Besides, the VF900 won't physically fit on the GTS/GTX. The mounting holes are farther apart than what the VF900 could reach.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19562158 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 15:19:55 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19559897 DKS :

said by Dream Killer

:

You can't run the VF900 on the GTS/GTX - It's not designed for such high thermal loads. You have to use the Zalman ZM-RHS88 and VF1000 set.

What causes you to say that the VF900-CU can't handle the heat of the GTS/GTX?
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19559897 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 08:17:07 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19559544 Dream Killer :

said by RolteC

:

Whoa my GTX idles higher then that even with fan at 100%...
54celcius to be exact and can go much much higher when playing a game.

Maybe I should do the same?

Was this easy/plug and play? Where can I buy those parts/maybe better ones? Thanks!

You can't run the VF900 on the GTS/GTX - It's not designed for such high thermal loads. You have to use the Zalman ZM-RHS88 and VF1000 set. I have it on my 8800GTS 640 and it idles at 52C and loads at 72C while overclocked. That's on silent fan settings. On 100% fan, the VF1000+ZM-RHS88 barely makes 64C at full load.

As for the pictures, they were a before/after screenshot. Please note that the stock cooler is at 75% duty cycle and not the normal 60% - otherwise it'll show around 90C at load.

Stock 8800GTS cooler
VF1000+ZM-RHS88
Highly overclocked settings

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19559544 Tue, 04 Dec 2007 04:08:38 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19516720 DKS :

said by Wolfie00

:

Nice thread, DKS

Glad you enjoyed it. I could overclock the card, but I agree.The good chips are being culled for factory overclocking. At the same time, this card is already overclocked over the nVidia reference card.

Nvidia Reference Specs

Galaxy has this card running with 64 GB of memory bandwidth as opposed to reference 57 GB. Memory is also double clocked to 2000 mHz as opposed to reference 1800 mHz.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Galaxy 8800 GT

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19516720 Tue, 27 Nov 2007 07:44:22 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19515130 Wolfie00 : Nice thread, DKS

, thanks for the info.

Although when I first saw it I thought all this extra cooling was in preparation for overclocking and was anxious to see the results. ;) Son tried overclocking the XFX 8800GT on our new build and it seemed stable for an hour or two but it clearly was not as we got a crash. My suspicion is that the overclockable 8800GT chipsets are being carefully cherry-picked and then sold as such at premium prices (like the various eVGA factory-overclocked versions of this chipset).
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"Against stupidity, the very gods themselves contend in vain" -- Friedrich Schiller
]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19515130 Mon, 26 Nov 2007 22:06:27 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19494505 DKS :

said by m8trix

:

for anyone as most dont know is the heatsink on the 8800GT only runs at 29% and wont throttle up when temps increase.use reva tuner and bump the fan speed up to 40-50% and you temps will stay at 50c-55c and its no louder then the 29% level

That's right. You can also use nTune to control the fan directly.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19494505 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:16:31 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19494502 m8trix : for anyone as most dont know is the heatsink on the 8800GT only runs at 29% and wont throttle up when temps increase.use reva tuner and bump the fan speed up to 40-50% and you temps will stay at 50c-55c and its no louder then the 29% level]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19494502 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:15:29 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19494491 DKS :

said by RolteC

Was it easy? Yes. Zalman gives good instructions. I get my parts through NCIX in Vancouver. I needed four additional heat sinks for the mosfets, but you can get them from Zalman, too. Zalman's quality is excellent.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19494491 Fri, 23 Nov 2007 07:04:21 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493549 RolteC : Whoa my GTX idles higher then that even with fan at 100%...
54celcius to be exact and can go much much higher when playing a game.

Maybe I should do the same?

Was this easy/plug and play? Where can I buy those parts/maybe better ones? Thanks!]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493549 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:42:09 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493387 DKS : Temps were 56C after an hour of BF2142. Dropped to 50C quickly. 50C after a 3DMark05 run.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493387 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:04:45 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493377 DKS :

said by rawgerz

:

GTS has that same weird fiberglass ram chip paste.

I took mine apart to put AS5 on it all, only to find out the screws aren't threaded all the way up, preventing the HSF from making contact with ANYTHING but those thick pads.

Very fun.

Same screws on the 8800 GT. Half threaded.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493377 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:03:22 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493342 rawgerz : GTS has that same weird fiberglass ram chip paste.

I took mine apart to put AS5 on it all, only to find out the screws aren't threaded all the way up, preventing the HSF from making contact with ANYTHING but those thick pads.

Very fun.
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You can't make all the people happy all of the time. But it should be common sense to shoot for the majority.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493342 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:58:03 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493156 DKS : Step 4 was to install the heat sinks on the RAM cips and the extras I had from another cooler istallation on the Mosfets as per the nVidia forum pictures.

I applied an appopriate amount of Zalman's own suppplied thermal paste and spread it out thinly. A credit card helps.

Finally the fan unit was installed on the card as per directions and lowered into the case. I did not use the Fanmate controller but connected the fan lead to the motherboard.

Voila! All done!

The difference? The fan is more quiet, but idle GPU temps went from 66C to 48C. Load temps dropped fromn 72C t0 50C. A good and worthwhile investment.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

Heat Sinks Installed
In the Case
All tight

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493156 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:12:49 EDT Re: 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493123 DKS : Step 1 was to remove the screws on the back of the card and remove the heat sink. Note the thermal pads and the thermal paste on the GPU that appears to be applied in a rather generous manner.

Step 2 was to split the stock cooler away from the card. Lots of thermal pads in evidence.

Step 3 was a thorough cleanup with Isopropyl alcohol (99%). Lots of Q-Tips used.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.

12 Screws to Remove
Split Open and Nekked
All Cleaned Up

]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493123 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 21:05:06 EDT 8800 GT and Zalman VF900-Cu http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493083 DKS : Last week my Galaxy 8800 GT arrived. The installation story can be found here: »8800 GT Install

This card is well known for running hot. The huge heat shield that covers the face of the card pumps out a huge amount of heat. My idle temps were 66C with 72c being seen after gaming. Surely I can do better.

The solution was the Zalman VF900-Cu, which is the plain jane version of that cooler family. I've used it before with good results. I expected similar results this time. this time.

First order of business was to check out what I needed.

This thread over at nV News forums was helpful and showed me it could be done.

»www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthr···t=102371

So I ordered a VF900-Cu from Ncix. It was delivered next day, half a continent away.

So the transplant begins.
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Need-based health care not greed-based health care.]]> http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,19493083 Thu, 22 Nov 2007 20:54:25 EDT