Overclocking 9700 Pro II

[Blub2k]

Hmm yes this is the same thread title but I didn't want to hijack the other thread, I have the sapphire 9700 pro and have heard that the stock cooler is not good on them, what would people recommend as a cooler for this card if I want to overclock it?

[Zathras]

Arctic cooling rev 3 or a Zalman ZM80 or Aerocool VGA cooler with a user-fitted fan.

[Blub2k]

Cheers Zathras

[SilentDeath]

Arctic cooling rev 3.

The heatpipe coolers are crap, they do less than a proper cooler and take more space.

If you have an old heatsink something like this is supprisingly good. I use it when I need to take my w/c off my card. Id put £10 on that it will beat a zalman. http://server6.uploadit.org/files/kbn2k3-9700hs.jpg
You need a 4mm drill, hacksaw and mounting bolts to make it from a similar heatsink.. and the hs only cost £1...

Its good to atleast 400mhz on core 1.7v, didnt bother trying it higher but the back of the cpu was only warm. This was with a 80mm silent fan blowing on it.

[Zathras]

Arctic cooling rev 3.

The heatpipe coolers are crap, they do less than a proper cooler.

No they aren't when you add an active fan as I suggested. The cooling of either the aerocool or the Zalman when fitted with an 80mm fan absolutely destroys the Arctic Cooling or any stock fan. Put this fan on a baybus or controller and turn it on for games and off for desktop use. Silent when you don't need it, unparalleled cooling when you do.

[SilentDeath]

Yes better than a stock fan. Better than a artic cooler is doubtfull. Better than my small peice of alu? no. Ive tested both with the same fan, my one kept the gpu colder. If you would like proof of this please pm me and I will sort out some proper testing to be done by a non-biased engineer that acctually knows what there doing unlike most reviewers of heatsinks.


Zalman coolers are not unparerlelled, just over marketed.

[MurphmanL]

I gots an artic cooler and im wondering what speeds on core and mem i should be looking for before i should quit

[Zathras]

SilentDeath, I'd be most interested to see an "unbiased" review for the aerocool, zalman and arctic cooling when fitted with active fans. Just about every review I've seen that I'd trust gives far better C/W for the Aerocool and the Zalman over the Arctic Cooling. There's far greater surface area for airflow for a start, and if the Arctic Cooling gave remotely the same cooling rate the manufacturers could promote it as a passive cooler as well, which they don't.

[SilentDeath]

I havent read the reviews so I cant comment on that.
If using the SAME fan the ACS should in theory be a lot better than the passive designed products.
Unless your willing to part fund a proper unbiased review (which would be cost of coolers) then theres not much point in this.

I wont bother explaining the technical resons why the ACS should in theory be better (in theory beucase I dont have one and have never used one so Im assuming its just a normal alu skivved/extruded heatsink, fan and plastic casing) but to anser your points:

For heat to get to that "far greater surface area" it first has to travel through a ~1" thick peice of alu and round a heatpipe and though about 3 TIM layers. The ACS might have much less surface area but it is much more effective becuase the heat only travels through a thin base (I assume about 5mm before the fins).

The ACS is more restricive for air to move and so makes a poor passive cooler, but with a fan it makes much better use of the airflow as the air travels along the whole surface - as opposed to hitting it and bouncing off with a fan on the zalman.

The zalman is imo a poorly designed cooler that was made as cheap as possible, but had good points for marketing - high surface area (the effectivness of it not mentioned ofcourse), and it is suppost to look good (that is not what I thought of it).
Also people ofcourse say aluminuim is better at dissipating heat than copper, while copper absorbs it better, which is bs. I suppose you belive this too?

I cant remember what an areocool is like exactly, but a heatpipe dessign with a slk800 like heatsink on the back, working passivly. Depending on its design it could be quite good, or very bad... I think it should easly beat a zalman.

[CrapshoT]

Zalman's are ok if its just silence you're after.For o/c they need a fan,which for me defeats the point of the zalman.Ive used a zalman and I'm now using a arctic cooler and I can honestly say the arctic cooler is better than what the zalman was,that was even with a 80mm fan blowing on the zalman as well(rad 9800 pro).With the zalman and fan i could o/c my core to 435 before i got sparklies and kept it a 425 24/7.With the arctic i can take it to 455 core and keep it at 440 24/7.I have the fan on high all the time as well and you can't even hear it.

[Efaill]

I've had a zalman and an artic cooler to replace it on my 9600XT.

With the zalman I could only get to 575MHz (500 default) stable adn that was with a 120mm case fan next to it. When I rpelaced it with the Artic cooler 585MHz is now stable. So it cools much better in my opinion.

Also the mounting system is far easier. only two screws compared to the zalmans massivly complex number of interfaces to be covered in paste.

All I can say is I wish I bought the artic cooler first.

[madwelshboy]

Hi murphman,
I have a 9700 flashed to pro (with samsung 2.8 mem) and my MAX overclock without atifacts was 381 core and 342 mem, using arctic cooler rev1. So I use 370 core and 335 mem constantly (mem overclock mem dependant tho!!)
Hope that helps.

[SilentDeath]

I think thosse ^ prove my point about the ACS being better....

madwelshboy does the back of the gpu get hot at 370mhz ? if not you can probably volt mod it (making it more like a 9800pro, they are already volt modded). stock for you is 1.5v and on air your can bring it up to 1.7, that should remove artifacts and let you get to 430mhz+

[madwelshboy]

I think thosse ^ prove my point about the ACS being better....

madwelshboy does the back of the gpu get hot at 370mhz ? if not you can probably volt mod it (making it more like a 9800pro, they are already volt modded). stock for you is 1.5v and on air your can bring it up to 1.7, that should remove artifacts and let you get to 430mhz+

Hi mate, have you got any links to a review of the volt mod ?
I'll give it a go

[SilentDeath]

Hello, Sorry I forgot about this thread. here is the vmod link,
http://www.ocfaq.com/article.php/ove...ng/voltmods/57
Only bother with gpu, the rest arnt really worth the effort on most cards afaik.