Author Topic: AIW9800Pro/Fan Chg. (Read 1898 times)

aSTAR · « **on:** January 15, 2004, 05:13:06 PM »

Need to replace Fan, I see 2 grommets on the front & back of the card, there a no screw slots just black covers over the retaining holes. How would I remove them without damaging the card, and removing the fan for replacement?

Thanks in advance.

ChasR · « **Reply #1 on:** January 15, 2004, 05:19:42 PM »

There are pins in the gromets that cause the gromet to expand on the back side of the card. All you have to do is pull the pins and the spring loaded gromets come out and the fan comes off. Needle nose pliers will do the trick.

aSTAR · « **Reply #2 on:** January 15, 2004, 08:34:47 PM »

RGR, thanks, I think you suggested I pull the BACK grommets first correct?

Appreciate your follow up.

ChasR · « **Reply #3 on:** January 15, 2004, 10:14:35 PM »

No, the plastic pins are on the front of the card. It takes very little effort to pull them out. After removing the pins, the gromets will come out with a little harder tug, from the front, than it took to get the pins out.

aSTAR · « **Reply #4 on:** January 16, 2004, 03:20:34 AM »

I almost have the same setup as you on the computer with the exception of the MoBo, ASUS P4C800Pro. How come your at 1000 MHz, I believe mine is 800 MHZ?

Thanks for the reply.

ChasR · « **Reply #5 on:** January 16, 2004, 10:03:47 AM »

s-eagle, I hope not to bore you with stuff you already know, but I'm avoiding work I really don't want to do so you get the long answer.:
It's seriously overclocked. The 800MHz front side bus is really a quad piped 200MHz bus. So 200 x 4 gives you the 800MHz efective speed. Processor speed is set by a multiplier in the chip so a 3.0GHz chip has a multiplier of 15, 2.8 = 14, 2.4 = 12. The front side bus speed is set in bios. So on my computer I changed the bus speed to 250MHz in bios giving it an 1000Mhz effective speed. Because the multiplier can't be changed by means available to me, the processor has to run at 3.75GHz (250 x 15). To get the processor to work at that speed, more voltage is required. More voltage generates more heat, which requires more cooling. I could not get past 240MHz on a fan based CPU heat sink so I went to a watercooling solution from Corsair. To get the most out of overclocking you have to have fast memory so the memory and processor run @ 1:1 ratio or close thereto. Without DDR500(PC4000) memory I'd have to run @ 5:4 or 4:3 which would hamper maximum performance. It is easier to overclock A 2.8 or lower chip as the lower multiplier results in a lower processor speed @ 1000MHz FSB. Much faster speeds (almost 5GHz) are atainable with prometia or vapochill coolers and lowered memory speeds relative to the FSB. Corsair has DDR550 memory out that will run 1:1 on an 1100MHz FSB.
Your ASUS mobo is a good board for overclocking. Cooling is the key.

aSTAR · « **Reply #6 on:** January 16, 2004, 11:54:41 AM »

The cooling can be a problem, I was intending to install the Zallman VGA Heatpipe cooler with the fan.This is just to make sure the the vid card stays KOOL

Will not get involved with complicated OC'ng.

Thanks. Ed

ChasR · « **Reply #7 on:** January 16, 2004, 02:31:54 PM »

That's what I have. ZM80C-HP +OP1

aSTAR · « **Reply #8 on:** January 16, 2004, 02:52:32 PM »

I am still using ver 3.7 cat. drivers for the vid card, have you found any significant improvement using the 3.1 cat drv?

aSTAR · « **Reply #9 on:** January 16, 2004, 02:59:56 PM »

Take a look at this web site, it's me having fun with a P51D.
http://www.mts.net/~lcymbal/index.html

ChasR · « **Reply #10 on:** January 16, 2004, 06:28:42 PM »

I'm using cat 3.10. Benchmarked it against 3.9 and found no difference on a 9600 Pro. I've always believed ATI wouldn't release a driver unless it was an improvement in some way and so I've kept updating. Never used the 3.7 drivers that came with the card. I installed them and then immediately downloaded 3.9. I haven't perceived any difference in image quality (through the bifocals).
What a great experience flying the P-51 must have been. Closest I can come is driving race cars (amateur BMW Club Racing). Thrilling but tame compared to the P-51. Loved the pics.

Wilbus · « **Reply #11 on:** January 16, 2004, 07:31:21 PM »

Heya S-eagle, been asking around on the AH forum about upgrading/overclocking for a couple of days now and today I did it.

Using a Radeon 9700 non pro, installed the same Zalman heatpipe with the fan, quite easy installation, took some time but the whole set was great, extra glue if needed (not needed in my case) and lots of extra parts and really good instructions.

There was only one thing I had trouble with, it was getting the old fan/heatsink off, I succeeded in finding out about the pins, just tried some stuff and found out they could be pulled straight up and after that just push the two black "plops" from the back. My heatsink didn't come off after that though as most (some better than others I guess) are glued aswell. If it is glued, thus stuck, take a hair dryer and warm it up some then gently twitch it from side to side till it comes off.

The Fan works great, running it at normal speed (highest of the two settings, ~2800rpm). I OC:ed the memory to 301 (310 gives artifacts so the margins are quite slim). The GPU is a whole other matter though, OC:ed it to 368 Mhz (from 275 normal) withouth any artifatcs, that's as high as Powerstrip wants to go, will see if I find another program so I can raise it further for testing purpose.

Score 5100+ in 3D Mark 03 with GPU at 368 and Memory clock at 301.

Good luck and let me know if there is any trouble installing the heatpipe, did it 6 hours ago so quite fresh

aSTAR · « **Reply #12 on:** January 16, 2004, 07:55:54 PM »

GREAT stuff you mentioned, am starting to get courage to remove the vid card fan, your statements will help.
Do you think it's worth the trouble?

Thanks for repling to this topic.

Wilbus · « **Reply #13 on:** January 16, 2004, 08:02:02 PM »

It's DEFINATLY worth it!

It was the first time I ever attempted any kind of serious overclocking, most I did before was 20mhz increasement on the vid card (and it gave artifacts probarly because of the Radeon 9700 non pro being locked for overclocking). It took me maybe 2 or 3 hours to assmble the whole thing, half an hour or more was to figure out how to get the heatsink removed

As it is now I've overclocked the GPU from 275Mhz (standard 9700 non pro) to 368Mhz and the Memory clock from 270 to 301. At those settings I get no artifacts, the fan and heatpipe seem to work really really good. I found another program instead of Powerstrip, it's called Radlinker, it alows you to overclock far more than powerstrip and instead of being a new program it just adds it self in the ATI controll panell. Will take the GPU up some more tomorrow morning (3am here now

) and let you know how it works.

But like I said, wether you wanna overclock it or not, the Zalman heatpipe and fan are definatly worth it, they run silent too and make the vid card look quite brutal

Spend the money and the time on it, well worth it.

Wilbus · « **Reply #14 on:** January 16, 2004, 08:04:02 PM »

Ps, I gained almost 1000 more points in 3D Mark 03 using the 386/301 settings

Lower the immage quality some and I get 240 FPS in AH looking straight up.