EggXpert

Alright, I could use some Pro Help here so if you are great with cooling, keep reading. I bought my HIS 4850 about two years ago.

I've added an aftermarket cooler to my card, reducing the temperature at stock clocks from 90c+ on load to 70c+. Now after some heavy overclocking, I seem to have the same problem again. I'm back to 90c+ temperatures. I'm really looking into some solutions that don't include water cooling or some really heavy mods. Airflow inside the case is great although a pci blower just might help a tiny bit.

This is the aftermarket cooling I bought

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835191014

Now the heatsinks that came with it are rubbish, so i'm looking to purchase some forged copper heatsinks from either enzotech or swiftech

. My Problem is here. Due to the nature of the cooler, some of the forged heatsinks would have to be bent in order to fit. How would I go about doing this without damaging the heatsink. Here is an example.

http://www.swiftnets.com/assets/im [...] HD4850.jpg

Secondly, is there any place that i can place additional heatsinks to the back of the card without shorting it out? I have heard that some more heatsinks in the right spots will cool even further.
http://i433.photobucket.com/albums [...] 850-13.jpg
http://www.ixbt.com/video3/images/ [...] n-back.jpg

Similar idea, at least conceptually, with the Thermalright HR-11

http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_ [...] r_hr11.htm

Thanks for the input. and please, only helpful comments please.

Dude, me thinks there's something defective with that card, the temps should not be that high, with an after amrket especially.

I have a Zalman VF1000, and these are mine:

Something is amiss, hate to see yah spend more money on cooling, and still have temp issues. 70c idle is way high.

Sounds   like Electromigration...

Idle temps are tied directly to ambient...

But if this has happened over time.. Electromigration is electron leakage due to substrate breakdown.

This can happen with high temps, and operation over stock speeds.

Ok, let me note something that was already said in the previous message. The temps are on full load only. They max out at those temps after a few mins of running. Idle is fine, airflow is fine, I am speaking of high clocks and how to combat the additional heat.

 They were 70c+ on full load before overclocking and are now close to 90c. I tested these with OCCT. During games it isn't bad and never breaks 80c. Still high, I know, which is why i'm seeking other ventures.

I'm with Penewab. Something is amiss. I suspect the main cooler since it had kept the temps down. It could be something as simple as poor-quality TIM breaking down and just needs a new application.

I have also seen poor quality heat pipes spring a leak and die.

I recommend a fresh application of TIM first. If that doesn't do it, you may have to drop some bucks for a new cooler.

With heavy overclocking, even a great cooler will get hotter. These ATI cards run really hot as it is. My cooling inside the case is just fine. I'm just looking to do additional cooling.This isn't my first time building computers but it just might be my last time buying ATI.

 

Any useful suggestions regarding the heatsinks or other valid answers?

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-4850,review-31011-22.html

 Some 4850's ran much cooler then others, of course:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-radeon,review-31608-4.html

According to Toms (And Anandtech, and Maximum PC) your temps are normal. I personally own an HD4850 from Sapphire (The one in the article) and even with all the cooling in the case I have it in (NZXT Temptest with all extra fans added, high performance) it still manages to run ~65C idle and ~80C running at a load, with 87C at maximum load.

The 4850 series has always ran extremely hot. If you are OCing it then it will only get hotter, a 3rd party heatsink won't do squat. You'll have to go with watercooling (not worth it) or get an higher end GPU (May I suggest the 5850?).

Honestly, if you are OCing a GPU, the amount of performance you will gain from OCing is neglagible compared to it's energy usage and heat. It's why OCing the GPU isn't typically recommended without watercooling to be able to see any real performance gains. My first question is this: are you overvolting it? As soon as you start messing with the voltage on a GPU, the temps start rising almost exponentially for the HD4000 series. Most GPU's for that matter are the same.

Anywho, your OCing probably just bumped it back up to normal temps again, so the temps you are getting are not unusual in my opinion.

What case and case cooling do you have? I know you've already noted this, but I'm just curious for more specifics. You can probably reduce the temps quite a bit with an change in airflow (Changing direction/flow of air or replacing existing air cooling with more powerful fans, ect) or a powerful PCI slot cooler since your 3rd party H/S is an open air cooling design (and thus is probably heating up the inside of your case with ambient temps, making your GPU temps increase even more so). I've used both Evercool and Vantec PCI slot coolers and they do work, but they (PCI slot coolers in general) sometimes die on you; in some cases in a matter of weeks. But $6 or $15 versus a GPU overheating due to OCing is a bit less then a new GPU, so it depends.

Respectfully,

PROACEX1

I have the NZXT Zero full tower case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146029

It has 5 120mm intake fans and one 80mm intake fan. 3 120mm exhaust fan and one 80mm exhaust fan. Some I have added after I bought the case.

In addition to this, my heatsink on the cpu has a Vantec Tornado fan which pulls 120cfm. More than the 4 120mm fans on the side of the case lol

 Also, the graphics card is an HIS 4850 with that cooler on it which has two fans that circulate air. I bought a cheap blower from Best Buy just to see if it would help the airflow in between my card and the bottom of my case.

 My thoughts are that not enough air is passing through the heatsink. I think if i add better RAM heatsinks and maybe even an HR-11 Thermalright, backside vga cooler I can lower temps.

I have also contemplated adding a 120mm fan to the inside of the case, just after the HD to redirect some air to the GPU portion of my case.

I'm looking at all ideas here, even considering lapping the VDT2000, heatpipes and all.

 *Edit*

I was reading the Positive air flow vs. Negative air flows. sticky and i'm trying to figure out what the best option for my case. Surely the answer can't be more fans, I have 14 fans in my case already!

Well, before spending any money on more cooling, try rearranging your airflow. You may want to just get a new GPU instead of spending any more money too.

Respectfully,

PROACEX1