Hiya everyone,

I had the vintage hardware bug bit me once again, and I have gotten hold of yet another card: an AGP X850XT reference card.

As many of you might know, this is the definition of an old and loud bastard. This is a card that gets really hot with the stock fan curve and its blower cooler doesn't do wonders at high speeds either.

After some considerations, I decided to go with a NOS ATI Silencer 5 rev.2, which I will probably pair with some Artic MX7 + 1.5mm thermal pads or thermal putty for the RAM , at least as a preventive measure given that the stock pads are probably over 19 years old.

Although it's known to be a somewhat expensive solution, PTM7950 is known to perform wonderfully on heat constrained hardware such as notebooks with dedicated GPUs. This, given the temperamental of the X850 series, has irked my curiousity... Do any of you have some experience applying it on old cards known for their insufficient stock cooling and or tendency to fail? Or am I simply as well served just by using a good thermal paste?

I really feel the temptation to try, but I'd rather hear y'all before I send my money straight to the wastebasket.