Thanks for the appreciation. 😀 Next year in February I will celebrate 6 years since all this "madness" started but I can't complain as it has been quite a ride. I still have stuff to do and post. We'll see what the following years will bring. At the moment I don't intend to stop.

You can use any of my photos in the UH Project.

RISING SUN!

This FX card has been a joy to work with.

More later.

Almost 6 years! Nice.
It's like a public service you are making, you are entertaining us and you are showing how to properly restore hardware 😁

Seems like yesterday. 😀

When I'm not posting I feel that something is missing in my life, so in a way me and you, my readers, we are intertwined. 😁 I intend to keep posting as long as possible.

Sk. A stuff loading in progress ...

More later.

MIKA - Relax, Take It Easy

RISING SUN

Relax, Take It Easy, The Doc is in the house and YOU will be made great again. Better than new! Where does it hurt?

This is how the restoring procedure underwent in regard to this emblematic graphic card. Looking at my "small" collection, this card stands out, like a superb blonde, just the kind I like. Fire engine RED, some gold sparkle and a little bit of silver glitter. Fireworks Inc. all the way.

Even if in the end, this blonde turned out not to be a natural one, let me tell you, in my book, real or not I'm still digging THIS blonde! 😁

Now that we got this out of the way let's find out how I got this drop dead gorgeous babe of a card.

There is no secret that these last years, most of my heavy hitters came from the flea market of my home town, my eternal hunting ground. In the past, the national OLX site has also helped me to get a few unicorns of which I can proudly enumerate: Socket 4 motherboards and CPUs, Slot A motherboards and CPUs, Slot 1 CPUs, Socket A motherboards, 3dfx cards, etc. Lately, the OLX site hasn't been great for me as many more people like myself keep an eye out for vintage HW and to make matters worse, the sellers have started asking stupid money for parts that have an uncertain condition not to mention value. Also I can't forget to mention my retro HW suppliers. They aren't too many but they are what you need if you are in the field or collecting PC HW.

To my surprise, on a day from the month of June, this year, on a morning, I decided to open the OLX app on my phone and make a quick search. Immediately I was greeted by a RED card that had a huge GOLDEN cooler.

The hell is this? WOW! I NEED IT NOW!

I quickly wrote to the seller and starting from the asking price, that was for a bunch of stuff besides this card, I made an offer he couldn't refuse. My offer was quickly accepted and I anxiously waited for the card to arrive.

From the pictures presented in the add I saw that at least two ceramic caps were missing and also a couple of ICs near the DVI/VGA looked a little strange.

I didn't ask if the card worked or has been tested I just put my paws on it and that was it. My gut was saying to me: This is THE ONE!

The card was presented to be an MSI nVIDIA Geforce FX 5900 Ultra. As to that date my collection didn't have an ULTRA card I was very happy with my decision to buy it.

After I shook hands with the seller, I started looking at pictures and I gathered more information regarding this card. The more I searched the more confused I got and I wasn't sure if it really was an ULTRA or not. Anyway I must underline the fact that no matter the model it would turn out to be I wasn't going to give up on it. The sticker that was supposed to be on the back of card and could've cleared the mystery, was missing.

At the end of this story you will see that I got something that I didn't bargain for. An OLETRA (Arnold Schwarzenegger accent) alright.

I like to think that I found this card on the OLX site just by pure luck, even if I know that she found me as a result of algorithms running in the background of an app, which based on my previous searches, have dumped this beauty into my welcoming arms. So, fate made it that I found my blonde and the rest is history! 😁

Meet the MSI FX5900-VTD128 MS-8929 VER:100 / nVIDIA Geforce FX 5900 AGP 8x 128MB / GPU @400MHz, MEM @425MHz.

Looking at the pictures, some of you might have already seen that this card doesn't seem to be an ULTRA as it has a lower GPU frequency 400MHz vs 450MHz and it has just 128MB instead of the more common 256MB, a fact pointed by the missing memory chips on the back. There are some FX 5900 Ultra cards with 128MB but this card being an MS-8929 VER:100 doesn't fit the bill that qualifies it to be an ULTRA.

Why did the seller advertise this card as an illusive ULTRA? Maybe it was from the way it looked or maybe he knew something that I didn't know at that point in time? Food for thought ...

Well, regardless of what I was thinking at the time, one fact was certain. This card was nothing like I remembered from the reviews I read back in the day. FIRE ENGINE RED, shining and making me lust for it.

So this was were I stepped in.

First things always come first. Elementary my dear readers. The repairs are always a priority. Never power up any part that has missing components.

A small IC, probably an inductor, as on PCB it has designated near him the letter "L", was missing a tiny black plastic cover. A second one lost the piece as soon as I touched it. From the pictures I didn't know if these inductors are still in one piece or they were missing just these tiny covers and I bought the card hoping for the best. After I got the card I was relieved that the damage was just cosmetic. Phew I dodged a bullet there!

Of course that I already had a fix for this predicament. One missing cover was taken from a damaged Quadro FX 1000 card, (it takes an FX to repair another FX, 😁) and the other was glued back.

To keep in place these tiny pieces of plastic I used tiny amounts of transparent POXIPOL. All in all a very fiddly affair.

I soldered the two missing ceramic caps.

After I performed the repairs I looked at the card and I asked myself: Should I power you up now or should I wait for The Grand Finale?

Hmmm ... ? NO BRAINER! TAKE ME FOR A SPIN NOW! She whispered to me.

I looked into my stash and I had nothing that was ready to go on a moment's notice and that was also capable of letting this card stretch its legs, so I had to use my trusty workhorse, the PIII 800MHz Slot 1 AGP 2x PC just to see if the card was still alive and kicking.

I know, not an ideal setup and something miles away from what the card wanted. A power up that came after who knows how much time and just from a life support kind of system.

This was as good as it was going to get, so I took a deep breath and I pressed the power button.

3 ... 2 ... 1 ... We Have Lift Off!

Even from the first POST I was greeted by a clear image and in Windows I received news that made me jump for joy. I'm not going to spill the beans just yet. You must wait a little longer.

The most important fact was that the card was @100!

Drunken with success, and not to mention so early in the game, I rolled up my sleeves and I got to work.

This card will be a stunner by the time I'm done with it! ALL OR NOTHING!

The card was in great shape, with minimal blemishes, and I was quick to assess its potential. I already saw the finished "product" but at the same time I knew what it would take to get there. The restoration of THE GOLDEN COOLER la piece de resistance of this card will be a challenge. Une casse tete probleme!

I was expecting thermal pads on the video memory. Surprise! Just regular thermal paste. Hmm ... if it gets the job done ...

Pfffft, good thing that I have a solution for this predicament.

As soon as I removed the heatsink I was amazed to find that it was kind of light. You might've been led to believe that it was made entirely from copper but I'm pretty sure that it is just aluminium plated with copper. It is way to light to be copper. Besides you can see areas where the plating has gone south. So my blonde isn't a natural blonde at all but I don't care as I'm still head over heels in love with it! 😁

I wasn't put off by this small shortcoming and I was already looking for solutions for the problems of the heatsink. Without this cooler the card wasn't complete no matter what. This cooler is the heart and soul of the card. Something must be done to restore it!

The heatsink from the GPU has some scratches on the back. I don't know who made them but they are superficial.

The cooling fans were also kind of meh. They were full of scratches and dust build up. Being transparent doesn't help one bit. The only upside was that they were still silent and complete. No cracks, missing bits or other problems.

The cooler from the back of the card is attached with a thick soft thermal pad that was cleaned and reused.

Also it was in a better shape than the one from the front of the card but it still was in need of some TLC.

Any disassembly procedure must be done in an orderly fashion. All the components must be accounted for and stored accordingly. I know from experience how it is not to know what goes where or what are the steps of putting back something that has been turned into bits. Some restoring procedures can have stages that can take place days, weeks or even months apart. Also take as many pictures as you think are necessary. In more cases than not you will need them. Nothing is unimportant. Details are always relevant. Even if you are 100% sure that when you remove a screw you will remember where to put it back you might forget or get confused by other type of screws and you will be forced to backtrack.

What's the story with this tiny spring?

This spring has nothing to do with this episode.

In the Slot 1 "trash" fresh from the gutter episode, I was telling you that I lost this spring from a Delta AFB0512 MA fan and I couldn't find it no matter how hard I searched. 😁

Most probably that it got stuck to something and it came back when I cleaned this card.

Now you see why you must be organized?

Besides being organized you also have to be calm. If you are sometimes working like a hurricane, (as I sometimes am) in more cases than not you will register some MIA components. 😁

All is well that ends well. Got my spring back. No loose ends here!

Let me take a moment to remove from the stage the little spring that photobombed my GF FX pics and get back to the task at hand.

No matter the angle, both of you look like $hit! And this is no compliment!

HEAR YE, HEAR YE! NO ULTRA IN HERE! No matter, I still have hope! 😁 I know something that you don't!

On your marks! Get Set! GO!

Based on my previous experience I was sure that I would have to polish both of the heatsinks but I also knew that their shape will give me headaches that no painkiller can keep in check.

A small scale test gave me hope. This is what I am looking for!

As I really didn't want to hand polish the damned heatsinks I searched for alternatives. I knew what I was in for and I simply refused to do it.

In the past I used vinegar to restore some copper heatsinks and I got decent results but what I wanted to do with these heatsinks couldn't be achieved just with vinegar.

I searched the internet for solutions and I found this recipe: Boil a cup of vinegar, a tablespoon of salt, and three cups of water in a large pot and add the copper item. Let it boil until the tarnish begins to come off, then remove the item, let it cool, polish, rinse, and dry. In the "recipe" it is stated that you must boil the object until the tarnish comes off but as I knew that the heatsinks are aluminium plated with copper I decided to keep them in the boiled solution and not boil them to kingdom come. I judged by eye the quantity of water, vinegar and salt.

Said and done. I kept the heatsinks in the solution for one hour but I think that 30 de minutes would've been enough.

Looking good. This is way to easy. Something is not right!

The results were a clear improvement but I still wasn't satisfied.

As the "recipe" stated that after "boiling" I must cover the parts with some kind of wax to preserve the new look, I did as suggested.

I used a Carnauba Wax solution designed for cars as I didn't have anything better at the time.

The lets say final results were kind of ok.

I still wasn't satisfied with the results so I did another polishing test ... The elephant in the room said to me: He, He, you ain't out of the polishing woods yet!

There's no replacement for displacement, ops ... wrong forum, 😁 . When you want something be ready to do whatever it is necessary, so, in the end I had to polish by hand every millimeter of the heatsinks. A tall order let me tell you. There is no magic solution other than electroplating the heatsink and that's not possible at the moment.

As I was out of the metal polishing paste I usually use and I couldn't find the same brand, I bought some polishing paste used for car paints that I deemed it was up for the task and that was it.

Upward and onward! Don't look back!

The water, vinegar and salt solution helped to remove much of the black tarnish that was present on the heatsink and I wasn't sure that another try would yield better results.

To polish all the nooks and crannies of the heatsink I used all kinds of tools: credit cards wrapped in rags, cotton sticks, bamboo sticks, tooth brushes. A messy job.

When it became obvious that I was in the diminishing returns territory I put an end to the polishing and I called it a day. This is as good as it will ever going to get.

Let's see what I got in the end.

Not too shabby, if I may say so myself. THIS IS HOW I remember this card!

The bracket was also polished by hand.

I washed the card with IPA 99% and I let it dry. Man I like this RED!

After the work put in with the heatsinks I had another mountain to climb until I would get the maximum in regard to the cooling system of this card.

The cooling fans. Another piece of the puzzle.

Their transparence doesn't help one bit. Scratches are visible from a mile away and the dust make them look awful.

Because they were still silent I didn't want to take them apart but things didn't go according to plan. So, I had another thing on my already full plate, to deal with.

No biggie. When the going gets tough you toughen the F..K UP!

After so much polishing of the heatsinks when I looked at the cooling fans and I saw all the blemishes one thing popped in my head. What if I polish the plastics too? I knew that there are some super fine polishing pastes for plastics but I wasn't going to search for something like this in various shops or pay some ridiculous price for them. I mean who is polishing plastic on a regular basis?

After I conducted tests with two car paint polishing pastes, I decided that I already had what I needed, so I got to work.

I hand polished just the frame of the front fan and the cover of the back fan. The propeller and the body of the fans have been cleaned with hot water and dish soap or IPA 99%.

Uncharted territory. I didn't know if this operation will make things worse or better but I was ready to give it a go. What have I got to lose? Nothing! Instead I have everything to gain.

Let's go go go!

The first stage of fine polishing. I was gentle when I polished the plastic and I was careful not to apply too much pressure. Also I didn't insist too much on one area. In a way this operation was like a superficial mechanical peeling.

I used microfiber cloths and cotton sticks. After polishing, the excess paste was removed with a soft cloth. This operation has been repeated as much as necessary.

I WANT MORE!

As expected, I was aware that I couldn't remove all of the deep scratches and at the same time I was aware that I will induce more fine scratches via the polishing stage.

These surfaces will never be like new but I was sure that I can make things better. When you believe in something, just do it, don't ask for permission!

Totally worth it!

Fresh light grease and a drop of oil. New 0.2 mm double sided tape for the sticker and MY JOB IS COMPLETED!!!

Without bragging I'm a friggin' WIZARD!!! 😁

I also polished the cover of the back fan. Again, I got good results.

I couldn't take apart the fan from the back without damaging it so I was forced to perform a "a peephole" cleaning with IPA 99% and cotton sticks. This was an easy task as the fan is small and has blades that have a simple design.

The screws that keep in place the cover were a little rusty so I hand polished them too. Man! This job has involved a lot of touching. 😁

Told you I'm a friggin' wizard! 😁

After so much work I finally was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel and restoring this gem didn't seem just a pipe dream anymore.

The push pins are an exotic model. The spring is already compressed and it stretches only when it is inserted into the tiny black tube that has an inside collar onto which the spring rests. Better not to loose these bespoke babies!

Shazzam! Just the way I remember it!

I conducted an inspection of the PCB and I wanted to finish cleaning it.

The PCB was looking well but a trained eye can spot all kinds of spots and shadows. These were very hard to remove and sometimes impossible as there are many small components that get in the way and you simply can't get between them.

You know what came next. Good Ol' hot water and Fairy dish soap.

More IPA 99% and hanged to dry.

Final results after more fine detailing with cotton sticks and IPA 99%.

Warriors of the night, ASSEMBLE! ... ahem wrong game! 😁

Some assemblies required.

As the thermal pad from the back of the card, had deep indentations and I feared that at some point the big ceramic caps might make contact with the heatsink I decided to add a layer of 0.5 mm Arctic thermal pad just for peace of mind.

The added thickness of 0.5 mm is negligible and I had zero difficulties attaching the push pins.

The original thermal pad was placed into the same exact position it came.

I applied a thin layer of Arctic MX-4. The good stuff!

After I cleaned to perfection the PCB, applying thermal paste on the memory chips seemed like sacrilege.

For a short time I wanted to make some custom thermal pads by thinning the 0.5 mm Arctic thermal pad but soon I dismissed the idea as the probability of them to affect the contact of the heatsink with the GPU was too great.

If the card came from factory with thermal paste that is what I also used.

I had no idea if the amount of thermal paste I applied on the memory chips was enough and I didn't want to do a trial run. This would've been quite a messy proposition. I did my best and hoped for success.

The card was @ 99.99%. Why 99.99%? The card was still missing something. A tiny plastic clip to keep in place the wires of the two cooling fans.

The solution presented itself in the form of a repurposed push pin.

After I finished restoring the card and I put it in a box I had an unexpected surprise.

I managed to recover my old PC with an Athlon XP 2800+ CPU and an Abit NF7-S V2.0 motherboard. Now I had the machine to really test this card. This PC will be presented in another episode.

The stars were aligned and I felt a great satisfaction. It took a while to get here but it was worth it!

I kept my composure and I removed the Segotep junk and I fitted some ENERMAX power inside. I really didn't want to fry something. I'm amazed that my PC ran for 7 years with that firecracker.

Some preliminary glamour shots. I judged correctly the amount of TIM that was needed on the memory chips and I registered no spillage. Lucky me!

In the PC you go and let's find out what's all the hubbub with the ULTRA naming scheme.

A tight fit! In more ways than one. Memory slots, motherboard capacitors and other neighbouring components. LIKE A GLOVE!

RISING SUN!

Camera! Lights! Action!

Now you will find out why this card is an illusive ULTRA.

Back in the day it was common to overclock FX 5900 cards to FX 5900 ULTRA levels because the difference between was minimal. The video memory size aside, 128MB vs 256MB, as there are FX 5900 ULTRA cards with 128MB or 256MB, which ran at 425MHz, the only difference was that of the frequency at which the GPU ran. A 50MHz difference, 400MHz vs 450MHz. 50 MHz might seem insignificant but at that time these were cutting edge components and squeezing out more from them wasn't so easy. In practice though these 50MHz weren't something unattainable.

The video memory chips are HY5DU28322 AF-22, rated for 450MHz. This card was begging to be OC'ed. https://datasheetspdf.com/pdf-file/909306/Hyn … HY5DU283222BF/1

Taking into account the fact presented above you can assess the impact this screenshot had on me when the card was identified as a GEFORCE FX 5950 ULTRA running at 475MHz GPU and 475MHz MEM. That is quite a speed increase. And all of this using the stock cooling! Whoever had this card knew what he was doing. I say RESPECT for him!

EPIC STUFF!!!

Initially I thought that there is a problem with the drivers but no matter what I tried I still got FX 5950 ULTRA.

I started digging deeper into the Internet and I found out about modified BIOS files that can turn FX 5900 cards into FX 5950 ULTRA cards. This wasn't something recommended to everybody and not many cards could sustain the speed increase.

So, this card is in a way some kind of a unicorn. I wonder if I can clock it higher? 😁

From FX 5900 ULTRA to FX 5900 and then to FX 5950 ULTRA. Who would've thought..

A GPU-Z screen shoot means nothing without a thorough test.

Said and done.

Now you understand why I like blondes. They sure have more fun! 😁

A maximum GPU temperature of 58C and a maximum PCB temperature of 41C at a room temperature of around 20C, with a healthy overclock, stock cooling, even if we are talking of a test with an open case, it is something out of the ordinary. Maximum fan speed of 27%? My work is done! (Drops the mic and walks away.)

The card is very silent. WIN all around!

Feeling Christmassy.

Awesome card is awesome.

The story of the RISING SUN is the story of how I got my first ULTRA card. Sure, some might not agree with my opinion, given the memory size difference and the fact that this card isn't a pure ULTRA but I don't care. If it looks like an ULTRA, runs like an ULTRA therefore it must be an ULTRA. 😁

I consider this card an OLETRA through and through. 😁 If you pause and think about the fact that there aren't so many FX cards still running in the wild not to mention the fact that it runs way above specs, you should be able to appreciate the value of this card. If not, then we agree to disagree.

Looking back at the moment when this retro HW adventure has started, back in February 2015 and looking at what I was able to save and restore, without any hint of bragging , I can say that I feel a great satisfaction. Also I am aware from where I have started, where I am and where I want to go. For now I enjoy the present.

I must mention that my satisfaction would not have been the same if I would not have been able to tell you about my adventures.

Thank You Vogons and Thank You readers of this forum regardless if you are registered users or just guests. 😀

I wish you Happy Holidays and I hope that I'll be able to post another episode before or close after The New Year.

The RISING SUN bombshell will be hard to topple though. Regardless, what will always remain constant are the attention to detail and the passion taken to the extreme.

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/Znf2H9S

Ahmet KILIC - Deephouse (summer mix 2)

More later.

Wow, the end result is awesome as usual! Nice trick with the heatsink there. I'll have to try that out next time I come across a darkened cooler like that.

I try to do my best! 😀 I'm quite sure that these parts find their way to me and I just tell their story. Something like going from rags to riches stuff. 😁

That card is pretty and so shiny. I'm currently working on a SuperMicro P54VL-PCI board that has issues and suffered from abuse.

My initial plan is to remove all of the ICs that are socketed and find a better way to rid of the corrosion and rust on the socket pins and getting some Evaporust and 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol from Amazon (both are 32oz containers) so I can remove the rust from the bottom of the board that has solder points on it so I can remove the old solder on those components, remove them, inspect them, order replacements, prep the areas, and solder on new parts, including sockets for the ICs and those that are soldered directly to the board so parts can be replaced on the fly.

I gave it a distilled white vinegar bath and rinsed it off with the rest of my 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol, but needs another bath. Would it be alright if I use soapy water to wash the board to get rid of the rest of the dirt and grime or not really?

I see no harm in washing the motherboard with soapy water. Heck, I had to hose a motherboard recently as it was disgusting.

For peace of mind after you wash it with mild hot tap water and dish soap, rinse it well and then give it a wash with some IPA 99% pulverized from an empty window cleaner container or something similar.

I've washed quite a few parts and never had problems. This doesn't mean that it is not possible it's just that the chances are small.

Don't forget to dry it well.

You have quite a project on your hands. I wish you luck! 😀

L.E. - I saw the pics of your board. Before you start using the Evaporust or whatever rust remover solution you buy do a test on the rusted pins on the back. Some rust remover solutions can be quite aggressive and can damage the board.

Some parts can't be restored to be as new but you can make them look pretty well. If you want to desolder parts from it, you'll have quite a project on your hands. If you are experienced then there is no problem, otherwise take small steps, like first clean each pin on the back with the rust remover solution, then see if the rust under the socket's / slots it is bad or it is just cosmetic. In the past some chemicals damaged the plastic jacket of some caps and I was quite pissed that I didn't do a test before I used those substances. Don't forget to wear some protection gloves and goggles. You never know what might happen.

Some types of dirt and grime can only be removed easily with water. In many instances they weren't fazed by IPA 99% but they went away with water and dish soap.

I've always been scared of using water and soap on any kind of PC component that has electronic components on it, but it does seem a lot faster than cleaning all the nooks and crannies with q-tips.

How long do you usually let them dry?

Usually 24 hours. I also had reservations using tap water but sometimes there is no solution other than water + dish soap and IPA 99% afterwards.

Sometimes I use an air compressor to flush out all the water.

I reckon that about 25-30% of my parts have been washed with tap water and dish soap.

That FX5900 looks brand new! Great stuff!

Robert B wrote on 2020-12-28, 23:18:

Usually 24 hours. I also had reservations using tap water but sometimes there is no solution other than water + dish soap and IPA 99% afterwards.

Sometimes I use an air compressor to flush out all the water.

I reckon that about 25-30% of my parts have been washed with tap water and dish soap.

when I wash with water I always use distilled water since tap water can contain minerals, a few or a lot, depending on where you are in the world. And yes, after wash, I always soak and clean with IPA to disperse water, especially water that is stuck under sockets etc. Then dry, at least 24 hours, usually way more.

Thanks silvercr. I would've been quite pissed if the card would've turned out otherwise than I remember it! 😁 RED, SHINING and TWISTING MY MIND!

Valid point pano69. You never know how the water supply is in every part of the world. Even in my city between areas there is a difference in the content of minerals in tap water. I can clearly see it when I wash my car.

I'm aware that tap water contains minerals but given the added costs of distilled water(even if it isn't too expensive) and I almost never have it at hand 😁 and based on the fact that I've washed anything from 470 GTX cards to 386 mobos and nothing happened I feel very confident using tap water followed by an IPA 99% wash. As they say YMMV. 😀

Of course we all know what it is recommended and I've been a strong advocate against using water of any kind to clean electronics but as I said earlier, sometimes if you want the absolute, like me, you have to be prepared to bite the bullet. 😁

At some point I'm going to conduct some experiments using just IPA 99% and immerse a part for a few days and see if I get the same results like using water from the tap or distilled.

SNAP! - Colour of Love

ATI 9700! Life in the FAST LANE!

It seems that the time to tackle the cards from the red camp has finally arrived. As you know by now, I'm a complete nVIDIOT but that doesn't mean that I'm also an a$$ and I can't appreciate the value of legendary cards that have other color than green. Green with envy should summize my reaction when I saw the reds delivering and a$$ whopping to the greens. ATI 9700 the meanest, baddest card on the block! Good Ol' 2002! https://www.anandtech.com/show/947

In case that you have forgotten, I must remind you that the only ATI card that I ever used was a mighty ATI Rage II C AGP with 4MB, back in '99. That magnificent card made not want an ATI graphic card for the next 20+ years. This is what happens when you are broke and your first 3D experience isn't quite what you were expecting!

The 366 Celeron came as a package deal with the ATI Rage II C and a 5400 rpm HDD. Yep. No money = NO FUN!

A year later I managed to buy a VANTA 8MB and boy was I impressed. No more ATI for me no matter what!

I know I was and I still am biased but at least you know my color! 😁

But I digress.

For a few years I have been telling you about the difficulties I encountered when I tried to find a functional ATI 9700/PRO or 9800/PRO card.

Failure after failure with cards bought from the flea market that time and time again proved to be dead and buried.

Eventually, a moderator from a forum from my country where all this project has started back in 2015, contacted me and said that he wanted to send me a fully functional ATI 9700!

GOOD TIMES!!!

For the cost of shipping I soon held in my hands a red card which by all means was supposed to end my bad luck with ATI cards. A 20+ year redemption!

Such unassuming looks!

Remember! Strong essences are kept in small bottles!

The ATI 9700 was in excellent condition given its age and for someone accustomed with "wrecks" from the flea market, a card that had no signs of damage and only had to be restored was a breath of fresh air. Is this all that I have to do? 🤣! Bring it ON

When you are in the trenches and you must decide who gets to live or not, you are focused on what you can see before your eyes. My visits to the flea market have become a mission to save everything that I consider it has a chance to catch another sunrise.

One more piece. One more card. One more motherboard. One more ... I know I have a problem but I treat my self with a component at a time. 😁

The ATI Radeon 9700 128MB AGP / PN 109-94200-01 / P/N 1029421902 0001 came a little dirty, with a a still silent fan, all in all it was a perfect candidate for the operation I was going to perform on it.

Be gentle she whispered to me. Have no fear, only soft pillows and silk gloves for you! 😁

As soon as I got the card only one thought came into my mind. What if this card is also dead?

There's only one thing to do! POWER IT UP!

Vital signs?

Still all out of gum and kicking A$$!!!

The PIII 800MHz with AGP 2x and Win 98 SE wasn't what she would've wanted but I got the information I needed. It was in perfect working condition. A working ATI 9700? WOW! They do exist! Who would've thought?

As you've come to expect, I was going to leave no heatsink unturned and even before I got the card I wanted to change the TIM.

After I read a lot on the internet, I was expecting to find a thick yellow thermal pad, which was supposed to need some work if I was about to remove the heatsink from the die of the graphic chip.

I was quite surprised when I laid my eyes on this.

Well. It seems I wasn't the first one to get here. Hmmm ... less work for me.

Expecting smooth sailing I wasn't prepared for the amount of work that was required to remove the nasty yellow stuff.

Acetone.

Pieces from a credit card, used with great attention.

Acetone and more acetone to remove yet another fine layer of the yellow trash.

SPA with IPA 99% for good measure.

Even so I had to use stronger tools to get what I wanted.

Bamboo stick anyone? Carefully though! Any damage sustained in this stage = THE END!

Cotton sticks? HAHAHHAAHhaHAHHAH! Pathetic!

Well, there no replacement for the right tool for the job!

Many tense minutes. Scratch, scratch, ... I can see the LIGHT!!! NOT! 😁

Almost there.

The reward was equal to the effort put it.

Just a little bit more.

More fine tuning.

Fallen soldiers.

Totally worth it!

After I removed the yellow stuff the cooling fan came next.

It was covered with dirt and dust but it still spun smoothly.

The bracket also needed some TLC. I got this in spades! Have no fear!

I tried to clean the fan without taking it apart but the results weren't up to my standards so you know what came next.

Got water? Of course! Got Fairy Lemon? YOU BET!

Because no matter how many cottons sticks dipped in IPA 99% I used, I wasn't able to get rid of the dirt from the fan, I decided to wash the whole thing with hot tap water and Fairy Lemon dish soap. YES! You read that correctly! WATER!

I was very careful when I washed the motor not to damage the wires from the winding. They are very thin and fragile. In the end I got what I was looking for.

Flawless!

Some lube. Fresh 0.2 mm double sided tape for the sticker and PRESTO! Better than new!

Before I started restoring the ATI 9700, I was informed that on the ATI 9700/PRO cards, a thicker thermal pad was used and once this pad was removed, it was possible that the heatsink will not make good contact with the die of the graphic chip and I must remove the shim around the GPU to fix this. This fact is well documented on the internet. Many enthusiasts removed the shim to get better temps or solve instabilities dues to the high temperatures registered in full load. Believe it or not, the ATI 9700 hasn't got a GPU temperature monitoring sensor and you can read the temperature using software.

I wasn't too enthused by the prospect of removing the shim but I would've done it in the blink of an eye if it would've been necessary.

In the case of the ATI 9700 I got, I didn't had to remove the shim and this fact became obvious since I removed the heatsink. The thermal paste spread was good.

Even so, for peace of mind I also conducted an experiment of my own.

I put some fresh thermal paste, a little too much, and I pressed the heatsink with my hands against the die. Then, I verified if I would get a light slit between the heatsink and the GPU.

We got light! Ship it!

Fit for the job! Less paste next time and the heat will solve the rest. MX-4! I love this stuff!

To clean the PCB I used hot tap water and Fairy Lemon dish soap.

Next came a few IPA 99% cleaning stages and a lot of patience.

The final results were exactly what I was expecting.

Metal, metal, precious metal.

Better than new

Once my work was done I got the urge to test the card one more time.

What if I f..ked up something?!

I plugged it in my Abit NF7-S / AXP 2800+ PC and I pressed the POWER button.

Tense moments have passed ...

ALL SYSTEMS NOMINAL!

This is how I got my fully working ATI 9700!

Meet the shiny beast!

Such a nice card. So understated and yet so powerful. I must say that I really love this RED card.

After I got this card, as if the skies have cleared, I also found two ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB beauties and a mighty ATI Radeon HD 5870 E6 which patiently wait form me to tell their story. I hope that all of them are still alive and kicking but no matter the outcome I must say that I love "working" with these cards. They bring back so many memories ... getting older sux BIG TIME!!!

It seems that the beginning of this year will be RED but I'm not complaining at all.

Cya soon with more awesome stuff! (Weather, ahem time, permitting)

gallery: https://postimg.cc/gallery/1Xdq8QS

More later.

Wow congrats on finding a working 9700 pro! Just like the rest of the work you do that card came out stunning. You seem to get these parts to look better than new.

Thanks! 😀 Sometimes even I am amazed by the results I get!

I hope that these puppies are still ok. They all need some repairs but nothing too serious. The 9800 PRO cards were very cheap and the 5870 impressed me so much that I had to take her home even if it looks totaled. 😁

It would be fantastic if both 9800's worked it's really a shame how ATI didn't use decent cooling and these poor cards cooked to death.

I know. They are twins as the serial numbers are off just by a few digits.

Wow that's really cool. What are the odds of that.

Slim to none. 😀