VOGONS


First post, by aaronkatrini

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Hi all,
I recently got this APG X800 XT (PE?) from a local trade with a good friend. It was in good overall condition, however it was missing the heatsink. It seems that the cards original heatsink and cooler were replaced by what looks it was once was a Zalman custom cooler. I can tell from the small blue violet heatsinks glued over the Ram chips. This was a very popular choice back in the day, at least here in Italy. Anyway, the cooler is no longer there. I asked my friend why it was removed, and he told me that custom cooler was used on another card that then he later sold. Leaving this X800 XT without a cooler at all. I was told the card was working fine 10 years ago, but never used since.
I inspected the card and it looks in a good condition, no missing components or anything else wrong visually. I really wanted to test it, but was afraid I could damage it. And so I went into a bin with old coolers I keep just in case, and found this small heatsink that came from a broken Asus Fx5600 that the push-pins were the same distance as the holes in the card. I also put a little thermal paste, just in case. Note that the cooler is not connected because it has only 2-pins where the connector on the card has a 3-pin hole.
Now, I know that the X800 was a power hungry card, and came with big and heavy Copper heatsink to keep the temperatures down, but before I go hunt in the web for a Zalman or another compatible cooler, just to make sure the cards works OK, can I use this small heatsink to run a 10 minute benchmark or game?

I already tried just for a moment the card like this, it booted into the Desktop without any artifacts 😀

Some photos: https://imgur.com/a/RSyPP5k

Any thoughts are well received. Thanks in advance!

Reply 1 of 10, by imi

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I'd say that heatsink is a bit undersized for a X800, I wouldn't run it for too long at all with that.

maybe look for a fitting ati silencer model... "4" should be the one?

also I don't believe that heatsink is from a FX5600? looks more like TNT2 or so

Reply 2 of 10, by cyclone3d

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Don't run that card with that tiny "heatsink". That tiny heatsink is pretty much just a flat piece of aluminum with a fan blowing across it. That card will soak that heatsink in no time flat and you will probably fry the card.

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Reply 3 of 10, by luckybob

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I'm in agreement with cyclone3d on this one. That heatsink is good enough for a post/no-post test. past that, its WAY undersized.

Look for a zalman VF-900CU or Artic silencer (or similar)

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

Reply 4 of 10, by imi

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the heatsink is from a geforce4 mx 440 btw... a card that uses a mere 10W or so... X800 is 60W+

Reply 5 of 10, by RaverX

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If you can place a big fan (12 or 14 mm) under the card to blow air on the entire card I think you will be ok for 10 minutes of benchmark, be sure to use a powerful fan, set on a high RPM, not silent.

Reply 6 of 10, by aaronkatrini

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Hi all,
I'm updating what I managed to do 😀

Yeah, the heatsink from the FX5600 (google asus fx5600) was too small to risk it.
So I found another one, it is this big aluminium heatsink I took from an MSI Nvidia 8400. It fits in perfectly, the distance from the screws is identical to the holes on the pcb.
Also it has four spacers that don't interfere with the GPU chip, but are far enough to reach outside the chip and keep the right distance between the heatsink and the silicone chip. Also the heatsink is a bit risen on the sides, not interfering with the small heatsinks on the Ram chips. It is kind of ugly looking though, no personality at all 😜

Anyway, I took my chances, being that the heatsink isn't actively cooled. And the drivers installed just fine, rebooted and violà...it works. And it is a PE variant of the card as it says on the GPu-Z! I'm super happy!

Unfortunately this heatsink, even though it is a big chunk of metal, cannot keep the temperatures down, and from the log of Gpu-Z while running 3Dmark2000 it hit the limit (I guess?) of 75°C, resulting in a low score on the benchmark (It could also be that I'm running a Celeron 566 on this machine I use for testing). So, now the quest begins looking for Zalman or Arctic cooler for a reasonable price. Thanks everybody!!

Here are some photos in case anyone is interested: https://imgur.com/a/3Mi3bHW

Reply 7 of 10, by texterted

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I didn't realise Ati used that bloody die shim on the x800 series of cards. Have you put a straight edge across to see if it stands taller than the core?

I've removed the bloody things from all my 9x cards that had one.

Have a look on the 'bay for those Chineasium "Coral" coolers, they are inexpensive but work really well.

Cheers

Ted

98se/W2K :- Asus A8v Dlx. A-64 3500+, 512 mb ddr, Radeon 9800 Pro, SB Live.
XP Pro:- Asus P5 Q SE Plus, C2D E8400, 4 Gig DDR2, Radeon HD4870, SB Audigy 2ZS.

Reply 8 of 10, by aaronkatrini

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I didn't notice if the metal shim was taller than the gpu core, but I guess it wasn't. If you look in one of the photos on the second Imgur album, you can see, I put a small blob of thermal paste, and after putting and removing the heatsink I noticed that the thermal paste was spread in a good way, indicating that the heatsink is making proper connection with the Gpu core.

Thank you for your suggestion. I also though about those chinese coolers, yes they're inexpensive, but my brief experience with isn't so good. The fan doesn't spin very fast and it produces very little air dissipation. Making them very inefficient... Plus I don't feel like putting a cheap and boring cooler on a Platinum Edition 😀
Will be waiting some time and probably get a deal on one of those Zalman or Arctic coolers. Cheers!

Reply 9 of 10, by imi

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aaronkatrini wrote on 2020-04-03, 10:32:

Yeah, the heatsink from the FX5600 (google asus fx5600) was too small to risk it.

huh yeah, you're right, sorry ^^
I actually found one by chance today and thought about your thread... they indeed also used that puny little heatsink on a FX5600
it is beyond me though why they did... isn't that like a 30W chip?

Reply 10 of 10, by aaronkatrini

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Yeah, strange putting such a small fan on a 30W+ card. I've seen Fx5200 cards with bigger coolers.
I never had a working Fx5600, I guess they don't run very hot since it was Asus (a well respected company) putting that heatsink, or maybe they tweaked the voltages and clocks lower to archive it. Who knows...