bloodem wrote on 2023-03-13, 07:58:

Oh, it certainly was a mistake! The shim on the Radeon 9700 PRO actually prevents any flat heatsink from making good contact wit […]
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TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-13, 07:37:

Thats good to know, from my own reading it seemed like the shim on the 9700pro was a design mistake on ATIs part.

Oh, it certainly was a mistake! The shim on the Radeon 9700 PRO actually prevents any flat heatsink from making good contact with the core, which is why a thicker TIM was used to fill the gap.
I'm not sure if the issue was addressed with the Radeon 9800 PRO, though (there are conflicting reports floating around). I have three of these myself (the Hercules 3D Prophet 9800 PRO - arguably the best looking version), but two are still sealed in their original packaging, and the third one (which was also sealed, but I couldn't resist and had to open it 😁 ) has only seen a few days of actual use, so there's no point in removing the heatsink (the thermal transfer is still perfect... for now).

I do know that the problem was fixed with the X8xx series, since I've personally restored quite a few of these.

IIRC they made the shim a little thinner on the 9800Pro and modified the cooler so that it had a clamping brace like modern cards do they also increased the size of the cooler. Not sure if all 9800 series cards had the clamp brace for the cooler, I know my 9800XT and 9800 XXL have it.

Looking on eBay it seems only certain models have the clamping brace and larger cooler, I wonder if it was a later revision where they made it mandatory.

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-13, 08:05:

IIRC they made the shim a little thinner on the 9800Pro and modified the cooler so that it had a clamping brace like modern cards do they also increased the size of the cooler. Not sure if all 9800 series cards had the clamp brace for the cooler, I know my 9800XT and 9800 XXL have it.

I've heard that too, but there are old topics like this one where they clearly mention that the shim continued to be an issue for 9800 PRO too. Then again, there are various revisions of the "9800" core (R350 / R360), so maybe everybody is right. 😀 If I were to guess, it's very likely that the R350 core (which was used on many older Radeon 9800 PRO cards), continued to have the shim problem, and the issue was fixed/mitigated on the R360 core (used on XT and newer PRO cards). As far as I know, the R360 also has an on-die thermal sensor, which the R350 does not have (my 9800 PRO cards are definitely part of the older/original 9800PRO generation and they lack this sensor).

bloodem wrote on 2023-03-13, 08:48:

TrashPanda wrote on 2023-03-13, 08:05:

IIRC they made the shim a little thinner on the 9800Pro and modified the cooler so that it had a clamping brace like modern cards do they also increased the size of the cooler. Not sure if all 9800 series cards had the clamp brace for the cooler, I know my 9800XT and 9800 XXL have it.

I've heard that too, but there are old topics like this one where they clearly mention that the shim continued to be an issue for 9800 PRO too. Then again, there are various revisions of the "9800" core (R350 / R360), so maybe everybody is right. 😀 If I were to guess, it's very likely that the R350 core (which was used on many older Radeon 9800 PRO cards), continued to have the shim problem, and the issue was fixed/mitigated on the R360 core (used on XT and newer PRO cards). As far as I know, the R360 also has an on-die thermal sensor, which the R350 does not have (my 9800 PRO cards are definitely the older/original generation and they lack this sensor).

Yeah looking at the cards on eBay the later higher end 9800Pros have the modified cooler setup in varying configs but they all have the extra clamping at the rear of the card, its the 9800XT and XXL where you get the full sized cooler that covers the Vram. The sensor is also part of the fix where it can throttle the card if it gets too hot.

There is a very nice looking 3D Prophet 9800Pro that is in working condition, I kinda want it for the hoard and to make sure it has a good home.

bloodem wrote on 2023-03-13, 08:48:

the R360 also has an on-die thermal sensor, which the R350 does not have

I'm not sure.
This is just a diode, the temperature (voltage drop) on which is measured by an external LM63.
The old design 9800 Pro (RV350) cards have space for some kind of rotation speed control circuit on the op amp.

https://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overcloc … ing/vidcard/109

don't reball , use hot iron first , won't ruin anything it's under 200C ,on cotton settings for 12-15min.