Want to lower your 8800 temps? See how!

[kamikazi_tom]

Alright, this was a little risky, but I was bored and an avid OC'er, so I decided to slap some Artic Silver 5 on my brand new EVGA 8800GTS 640MB SO Edition. The temps was far higher than my old 7900GT, so I figured I had to try to get the temps down. I realize that the normal temp for a 8800GTS is around 60 to 70 idle, and even higher load, but thats too high for me! This is how I did it! I appoligize in advance for not providing pictures, but I was too excited/scared about the whole ordeal.

1. Flip your card over till the screws are screws appear, you will see large screws and little screws.

2. Unscrew the larger screws, then smaller screws. For me the warentee sticker was over two of the screws, but if you take your time it will not rip taking it off.

3. There are 2 black screws by the DVI outputs, unscrew them as well.

4. STOP! Don't take the HSF off just yet, first your must say a prayer, and for a good reason too. Unlike my old 7900GT, the memory chips are actully glued onto the HSF! This is no ordinary grease, its some type of wierd plaster. The only thing I could compare it to was when I got my feet casted for shoe inserts, it is the same hard plaster. I don't know if I was lucky or what, but I pull directly up from the PBC, and it popped off. I had to use quite some force. It does not help that NVIDIA Puts like a gallon of Grease on the GPU.

5. Alright, you will now be looking at the heart of this card, the 8800 GPU. I don't know how many people have seen this and lived to tell the tale, but you will be looking right at it. It is about 6 times bigger than my 7900GT core, its larger than my e6400! Anyways, you will notice some type of junk stock grease on the GPU (or in my case grease was overflowed into this thing, WAY too much wa son there). Now to begin taking that junk off.

6. Use a paper towel or some type of paper product to take off the grease on both the HSF and the GPU. After that take a cotton ball or Q-tip with rubbing alcohol on it and make sure the surface is very very clean, such as you do when you apply AS 5 to a CPU.

7. Now for the application: You will need alot of AS for this. It took me probibally 4/10's of the syringe. You can either slap a whole lot of the grease on at the same time, or add a little bit at a time, as i did. Use a credit card or the like to spread it. Like a CPU, make sure it is very smooth and there are no bubbles. Make this a verry THIN layer, as thin as you can without the GPU showing. Do not add any to the HSF, just the GPU.

8. Reaplly all of the screws, starting with 2 black grill fans. This will help keep everything straight. Remember to try to put the GPU on the HSF as clasley as possible, so that you don't smudge too much of the AS 5. From there put on the small screws, then large ones.

9. Wash your hands, I'm serious. Once your done with that, you MUST look all over your card to check for any grease on it. This grease is semi-conductive, and you can short out your $400 card, and cry yourself to sleep. Be Careful!

10. Put your Card back in the PCI-E slot and reconnect your PCI-E power adapter. Enjoy the massive drop in temps.

Proof: Alright, when I did this, I INSTANTLY went from 66 C to 52 C. As almsot anyone who deals with cooling knows, that is a massive drop. Below is a picture of my current temp with the card overclocked at 567 core and 850 mem. If you have a card that is overclocked, you may even get under 50C, a temperature that is unheard of for this card. Keep in mind that this drop happened, the first time I powered on my computer. Anyone that knows how Artic Silver works knows that it is not fully set until about 10 days after you put it on a CPU or GPU. I say this becuase I would not be supprised if the temperature drops even more!

There you have it folks, I wrote this tutorial myself and welcome any changes or suggestions. I take NO responsibility if you snap off a RAM chip or two on your $400 video card.

Good Luck! And let's drop those 8800 GPU Temps!!!

[chuck4456]

Do you really think that nVidia/EVGA would be selling those cards at that price if they thought that 70c was too hot? That's pretty normal for high end video cards. If you would have used the card like it was long enough, you probably would have seen that there wasn't a problem. All you did was void your warranty. The card is smart enough to know if it needs to be cooled down, and the fan will kick in accordingly. Video card mods are a waste of time and money. If your case has proper ventilation and your hardware and cable management is done well, there will never be a problem.

[kamikazi_tom]

Geez, ummm, thanks?

I was expecting more of a "Wow, great idea!", but I guess not.

Also, unless someone from EVGA comes on here to check what I've done I did not void my warentee becuase the warentee sticker was never peeled off and there is no visable damage, they're just give me a new one.

Thanks for your input tho... I guess...

[FLG]

If you were NOT overclocking, i would not see the point. Since overclocking requires low temps, it helped quite a bit. Good tip.

Generally all things which come with a HS attached use some low grade thermal compound..it does its job, but AS surely helps.

Heck i changed all the paste on my laptop to AS to lower temps (helps with longevity) and if i place it where some vents are partially blocked, it can still keep the processor cool enough so it does not downclock.

[Panama Red]

Here's a warranty story for you. I had an ATI 9800 pro that I bought used from my nephew. It was stilll under the 3 year factory warranty when, shortly after I stated running it, the cooling fan began to fail. I removed the fan, cleaned it, lubed it, cleaned off all the stock compound and applied AS5. The fan lasted a couple more days but then began growling again. I contacted ATI and told them I had a failing fan and that I had removed it and replaced the stock compound. They never flinched. Gave me an rma and furnished me a refurbed replacement. I guess I'm saying that removing the fan, sticker or no sticker, doesn't always void the warranty.

[kamikazi_tom]

Thanks for backin me up guys, I thought it was good idea too! =P

[Alfie]

It's interesting to note EVGA's return policy states the video card must have the original heatsink attached,if you've used an aftermarket cooler,it must be removed,etc.
So,I see no problem,I had a 6600gt go bad and i had used AS on it,EVGA echanged it with no problem.