# How I dropped my GTX 260 load temps by 25 Degrees. - UPDATE



## Shane1244

We'll, I bought a GTX 260, and found the it was getting really hot. I then had an idea of removing the fan shroud and putting on a 80mm fan.

I got to work and found that the 80mm fan fit PERFECTLY on the cooler, Used a few cable ties and it was nice and snug.










Put it all back together, and added some AS5.










*note, I used Furmark stability test to load it.
*BEFORE*
Idle: 63
Load: 89

*AFTER MOD*
Idle: 42
Load: 64

This mod is amazing, That's all I can say. I thought it would bring a moderate decrease in temps, but I was so surprised.

The fan I used was a crappy 80mm CoolerMaster fan that's like 25CFM, I'm planning on getting two 50+ CFM 80mm fans and putting them on.

*How To:*

Power down, shut off and remove video card.
Flip the card on a flat, no conductive surface, with the fan facing down.
Remove the 8 screws from the back of the card, after they are off, remove the heatspreader.
Remove the two silver screws on the PCB, under the memory heatspreader.
Remove 2 black screws on the rear of the card near the DVI ports and the vent.
Remove the heatsink off the card. *Note, The thermal paste may have air bubble in it, which will keep the two sucked together, if this happends, just wiggle the card from left to right, until the suction is lifted.
Flip the heatsink over, and remove 5 silver screws.
Lift the plastic shroud off the heatsink, and repeat 1 to 6 backwards to put the card back together.
Lastly, just find a fan, and attatch it to the heatsink with zip ties, or some other fastener.










I suggest this to all!


----------



## ChIck3n

Good idea! Does the fan cover your bottom PCIe slot though? May not work for those with SLI.


----------



## D3TH.GRUNT

*facepalms himself* for buying a $70 cooler that is maybe 10C cooler than that, but this mod is done free. wow, thumbs up to you man, everyone with a stock gtx card should do this.


----------



## PhillyOverclocker

Great little mod. Simple, cheap, and very effective. Since you know it will work well, you should invest in some hardware to secure it properly. It looks like you could simply put some screws straight through the fan and into the fins. Just get the right diameter to fit snug without warping the fins too much.

Good luck!


----------



## KG363

wow. Nice


----------



## Chunky_Chimp

Makes it a 3-slot cooler, but that's pretty impressive nonetheless.


----------



## Arakasi

holy cow im doing that right now.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ChIck3n* 
Good idea! Does the fan cover your bottom PCIe slot though? May not work for those with SLI.

It takes up three slots, but SLI will still work fine in my 750i FTW

Quote:


Originally Posted by *D3TH.GRUNT* 
*facepalms himself* for buying a $70 cooler that is maybe 10C cooler than that, but this mod is done free. wow, thumbs up to you man, everyone with a stock gtx card should do this.

I know, I was eye balling the Thermalright ones, then I thought I'd learn my way around the card doing this. What are your load temps?

Quote:


Originally Posted by *PhillyOverclocker* 
Nice little mod. Since you know it will work well, you should invest in some hardware to secure it properly. It looks like you could simply put some screws straight through the fan and into the fins. Just get the right diameter to fit snug without warping the fins too much.

Good luck!

Yeah, I was thinking about those rubber fan connectors, then I can just wedge them in the heatsink.

The heatsink that's on the GTX 260 is actually quite nice, it's got 4 heat pipes and the copper base is pretty flat.


----------



## D3TH.GRUNT

my load temps are 51C with like 50% fanspeed.


----------



## tehmaggot

I thought about doing this with my 3870x2, but not so much for my 4890. Maybe it's time to start "thinking" again


----------



## Kiggold

I have the EVGA GTX260 Core 216 and I have never had temps that high before. Im getting your after mod temps with the stock cooling.


----------



## esocid

Hm, might try to find a slim fan. Does this void manufacturer warranty? Never actually done any GPU modding.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kiggold* 
I have the EVGA GTX260 Core 216 and I have never had temps that high before. Im getting your after mod temps with the stock cooling.

Not sure, Both my GTX 280 and GTX 260 ran this hot.

It's with 40% fan.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *esocid* 
Hm, might try to find a slim fan. Does this void manufacturer warranty? Never actually done any GPU modding.

Not quite sure.


----------



## esocid

Quote:


Originally Posted by *esocid* 
Hm, might try to find a slim fan. Does this void manufacturer warranty? Never actually done any GPU modding.

Looked at Evga warranty.
Short answer, no it doesn't void warranty.
Long answer, you're allowed to apply "aftermarket cooling", which would include removing the fan shroud and heatsink.


----------



## 21276

Quote:


Originally Posted by *esocid* 
Looked at Evga warranty.
Short answer, no it doesn't void warranty.
Long answer, you're allowed to apply "aftermarket cooling", which would include removing the fan shroud and heatsink.


but when you RMA it, you have to include the original heatsink/fan. so a modded stock heatsink/fan may or may not count...thats a tough one.


----------



## boredgunner

Nice, + rep for you. I'm trying this, I have a vacant slot under my GTX 260. Not that I need it, since the max temps are 81 degrees (OCCT), 73 degrees (Furmark), and 67 degrees (ATItool). But lower temps don't hurt, and I do have some 80mm fans sitting around!

☢


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Flatliner* 
but when you RMA it, you have to include the original heatsink/fan. so a modded stock heatsink/fan may or may not count...thats a tough one.

The fan just sit's on the the factory heatsink, So it's easy top put back together.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *boredgunner* 
Nice, + rep for you. I'm trying this, I have a vacant slot under my GTX 260. Not that I need it, since the max temps are 81 degrees (OCCT), 73 degrees (Furmark), and 67 degrees (ATItool). But lower temps don't hurt, and I do have some 80mm fans sitting around!

☢

Nice! Post your results!

Also, The Stock fan on the GTX 260 makes for an AMAZING chipest cooler ^_^ for my 750iftw.

I'm buying two Antec TRi-Cool 80's.


----------



## Rhystic

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kiggold* 
I have the EVGA GTX260 Core 216 and I have never had temps that high before. Im getting your after mod temps with the stock cooling.

Same except mine is an XFX. The after temps are my temps with the stock fan.


----------



## tweakboy

That is sick,, rep + . Wow just totally awesome. That's sick temp drops.. Nice mod my friend..gl,


----------



## savagebunny

Damn, that is ghetto and effective


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *savagebunny* 
Damn, that is ghetto and effective

I'm going to clean it up a bit, Get some nice LED fans, and hopefully some nice fasteners.


----------



## Shane1244

Just order Two 80mm Antec Tri-Cools, Got the multi-colour ones









Also just measured the heatsink, and it;s like 80mm * 178mm, so they are going to fit beautifully.


----------



## JonnyMark

Letting people know for a general fact, on some brands of videos card this will void your warranty, you got EVGA so it wont for EVGA.

I got the same result just running my fan at 100%, I can't hear it with my headset but other people might.


----------



## Kratthew D. Kraids

****, and to think I was going to buy a 60 dollar to do the job of a free 80mm. To me this is worth giving you epic rep, +rep my good man.

Edit: do you think 120's would be just as effective?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kratthew D. Kraids* 
****, and to think I was going to buy a 60 dollar to do the job of a free 80mm. To me this is worth giving you epic rep, +rep my good man.

Edit: do you think 120's would be just as effective?

Yes, but I think you would only be able to fit one.

I chose 80mm's because they sit perfectly on the heatsink.


----------



## richardbb85

nice lil mod, lol


----------



## I_dalder_I

Good mod and all but this is old news people have been doing this for a long time


----------



## Kratthew D. Kraids

I thought my old Titan Pci cooler would work, but no. running furmark it got to 80c in half the time it took with stock cooling shroud. But I have pictures, it looks good at least lol


----------



## Shane1244

Add two Antec Tri-Cool fans, It keeps it a few degrees cooler, but the speed at which it can drop it's temperature has gone down, It goes from load to idel temp in a few seconds.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Kratthew D. Kraids* 
I thought my old Titan Pci cooler would work, but no. running furmark it got to 80c in half the time it took with stock cooling shroud. But I have pictures, it looks good at least lol

It didn't work well for you? I think your fans are too small.


----------



## Maddog7771

Cool mod but seeing that you haver an a NFORCE mobo I bet you could drop those temps even more. You see how the NB cooler is set up it blows hot air on to the back of the card which makes for higher temps. What I did is take the only 80mm fan I had left from the FedEx violation and used that to cool my NB and the PCB of the video card and I got about a 10c drop for both.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Maddog7771* 
Cool mod but seeing that you haver an a NFORCE mobo I bet you could drop those temps even more. You see how the NB cooler is set up it blows hot air on to the back of the card which makes for higher temps. What I did is take the only 80mm fan I had left from the FedEx violation and used that to cool my NB and the PCB of the video card and I got about a 10c drop for both.

I will have to try that, What size fans fits best on it?

The one it comes with is loud anyways :S


----------



## Maddog7771

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
I will have to try that, What size fans fits best on it?

The one it comes with is loud anyways :S

60mm usally but I have an 80mm prop up on my video card it is a 75cfm one tought overkill FTW. But ither a spare 80mm and below fan prefably a 60mm one or the antec spot cool works well. Everyone with the NFORCE 700 series mobos say the stock fan is loud but mis is wisper quite humm anyways my NB is at 39c and my video card wile folding is at 50c for a 511 WU whitch is pretty good temp.


----------



## Kratthew D. Kraids

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
It didn't work well for you? I think your fans are too small.

yeah they are pretty tiny, now I have two UV green CCFLU 80's on it. It looks awesome now with the green glow coming from my GTX260


----------



## Koaka

with my 55nm 260 216 I am getting idle temps of 35c and load temps ( crysis 1920x1080 8xaa/af ) of 53c.

Ambient temp 23c. stock cooler/paste.


----------



## almighty15

Did this ages ago to my 260, used 3x 90mm fans

Worked a treat but was an ugly bodge job


----------



## Swiftes

Nice work, but 63c idle temps? Wow thats high, what fan speed was your gpu at?

When I had my GTX260 55nm it idled at 40c and loaded in the mid 60's stock fan speed with a little MX-2 to help things.


----------



## Abrajam

wow i am going to try it how did u remove the cover with out removing the cooler completely?


----------



## kromar

did this today with my 9800GTX and my load temps also droped from about 80Â° to 65Â°C (after 10min furmark). i put 2x80mm fans on it but only had one slot on the MB left so i hve to find a nice solution to add the second fan. any suggestions?


----------



## Rewindlabs

I don't understand how you people with nice cases etc manage to have such bad temps....iv got a single fan in my sig rig's and all of them are at your modded temps or under...stock cooling low fan speeds etc


----------



## kromar

edit: ok seems the gpu run in underclock mode, the temps in oc mode got a lot worse. gona revert this trash mod again....


----------



## Kavourdoukos

I had tried the shroud mod and it worked before some weeks.Maybe i go ahead and try the fan mod too.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Rewindlabs*


I don't understand how you people with nice cases etc manage to have such bad temps....iv got a single fan in my sig rig's and all of them are at your modded temps or under...stock cooling low fan speeds etc


Mine is running at 710/1528/1200 @ 1300mv

Also, I haven't had my AC on, and it's quite hot.


----------



## Angmaar

Thats what I was thinking of doing but I don't have a small enough screwdriver to open the shroud of my 9600gt.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Angmaar*


Thats what I was thinking of doing but I don't have a small enough screwdriver to open the shroud of my 9600gt.


Yeah, I used a small jewelers screwdriver, and then stuck it in the chuck a drill


----------



## mtbiker033

With the shroud off and the 80mm fans on does your card still exhaust hot air out of the back of the case?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mtbiker033*


With the shroud off and the 80mm fans on does your card still exhaust hot air out of the back of the case?


Most of the air still seeps out the back. All the temps in my computer have dropped, GPU, CPU, HDD, NB..


----------



## Biddlyboobaa

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


It takes up three slots, but SLI will still work fine in my 750i FTW


lol I have a 780a =)


----------



## ChickenInferno

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


Mine is running at 710/1528/1200 @ 1300mv

Also, I haven't had my AC on, and it's quite hot.


Did you test the stability on it?!!!! I tried for a month trying to get 1512shaders on it and just couldn't.

Congrats...wow. I ran 729/1458/1053 (I don't oc memory) forever and couldn't get it higher.


----------



## Deviance

Fantastic. I just did this. Are pushing or pulling fans more efficient at cooling?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Deviance*


Fantastic. I just did this. Are pushing or pulling fans more efficient at cooling?


Never tried, I just assumed push.

I'm going to fabricate a small metal shroud, it will make use of the stock blower, and hopefully blow ALL the air out of the case ;]


----------



## Shrimpykins

The temps in the OP... Are the stock cooling temps with the stock fan at 100%? I don't break the 50's and usually not even 45's (under a load) with my overclocked 285, even with the stock cooling.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shrimpykins* 
The temps in the OP... Are the stock cooling temps with the stock fan at 100%? I don't break the 50's and usually not even 45's (under a load) with my overclocked 285, even with the stock cooling.

It was on Auto.

Anything above 55% is too loud. Also, the 285 is 55nm, Isn't it? You also don't have a crappy case like I do


----------



## Shrimpykins

I had 2 285's in a cm 690 for a while there. My hot card only reached 53C.


----------



## [Teh Root]

I got a cramped SLI board. I'd love to do this but it's not possible in my board.


----------



## Shrimpykins

Seems like the only real benefit to this mod would be to get low temps with reduced sound. Also, I am thinking that if you mod the actual case for the card and make it so you can use not only the stock fan but the two 80mm's as well that you could turn it even lower and get just as much airflow.


----------



## Cepheus

Isn't that the only benefit of all ghetto fan mods?

and all aftermarket graphics card coolers?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shrimpykins*


Seems like the only real benefit to this mod would be to get low temps with reduced sound. Also, I am thinking that if you mod the actual case for the card and make it so you can use not only the stock fan but the two 80mm's as well that you could turn it even lower and get just as much airflow.


I'm planing on making a small shroud. I'm just waiting for some black plastic to be tossed in my recycling bin









Imagine the red line as a 2cm tall wall, with a little roof.


----------



## Shrimpykins

I would just mod the original cover, that would void all RMA chances though.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cepheus*


Isn't that the only benefit of all ghetto fan mods?

and all aftermarket graphics card coolers?



No, most aftermarket coolers are designed for lower temps. You can get the same temps with a stock cooler as if you do the mod, only that the stock cooler will be louder.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shrimpykins* 
I would just mod the original cover, that would void all RMA chances though.

No, most aftermarket coolers are designed for lower temps. You can get the same temps with a stock cooler as if you do the mod, only that the stock cooler will be louder.

Yeah, I'll need the stock cooler as I plan on going SLI later on.


----------



## paulerxx

I cant do this because my PCI sound card.


----------



## Borongo

man, soon as i can order some new fans, im in like flyn....this is gonna rock, tired of my gpu fan at 100% just to be in the 49-51 range for idle


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Borongo* 
man, soon as i can order some new fans, im in like flyn....this is gonna rock, tired of my gpu fan at 100% just to be in the 49-51 range for idle

Yeah, Mine get's so hot in the summer =[ My parents like the heat, so we only turn the AC on once and a while :l


----------



## Shrimpykins

Something else that can help lower your temps is a re-application of TIM. Maybe not on the newer cards but on my 9800 GTX+, they used some crappy baseline TIM. I took apart the card, gave everything an extremely thorough cleaning (I used cotton balls and q-tips with 91% isopropyl alcohol to clean the old TIM and a can of air to get all the dust from the fins), re-applied some OCZ Freeze to the GPU heatsink, as well as took the ram thermal pads from the ram sinks and scraped the pad clean, then re-applied some ocz freeze to either side of the pad. I dropped my temps 3-4C just from a re-application.


----------



## Cepheus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shrimpykins* 
No, most aftermarket coolers are designed for lower temps. You can get the same temps with a stock cooler as if you do the mod, only that the stock cooler will be louder.

Aren't Zalman coolers meant for silence?

The VF900 was one example I remember from a few years back that was meant to be no better than stock, but made no noise.


----------



## Shrimpykins

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Cepheus* 
Aren't Zalman coolers meant for silence?

The VF900 was one example I remember from a few years back that was meant to be no better than stock, but made no noise.

No, *most* aftermarket coolers are designed for lower temps. You can get the same temps with a stock cooler as if you do the mod, only that the stock cooler will be louder.

^See words in bold^


----------



## Shane1244

Yeah, I can't hear mine at all, and really, it's totally up to the user what fan they put on.


----------



## wonton1017

Do i have to remove the heatsink to remove the shroud?


----------



## ElementQKA

tryed with my 8800, still the same temp







(57 degree)


----------



## richardbb85

gona try it with my 250


----------



## Deviance

Saved me about ten degrees, and the fans are on "low".


----------



## runcmd3

wow. i wish i knew about this before my last newegg order... now i have to pay shipping again.. what is the best 80mm fan?


----------



## ikillerzi

WOOT Just purchased 2 fans for this =-) 6$ shipped for 2 80mm fans with newegg savers shipping (1 extra day)


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *wonton1017*


Do i have to remove the heatsink to remove the shroud?


Yes sir.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Deviance*


Saved me about ten degrees, and the fans are on "low".


Awesome!

Quote:



Originally Posted by *runcmd3*


wow. i wish i knew about this before my last newegg order... now i have to pay shipping again.. what is the best 80mm fan?


These seem to be pretty good. 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835214006

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ikillerzi*


WOOT Just purchased 2 fans for this =-) 6$ shipped for 2 80mm fans with newegg savers shipping (1 extra day)


Nice, what fans did you get?


----------



## Zippy476

Ha ha ha I needed a cooling solution for when I do 260 sli are you sure it works in sli on the 750i FTW?


----------



## Deathbyalfonzo

Thats very nice dude.

Real drop in temperature there, amazing what simple fixes can do


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Zippy476*


Ha ha ha I needed a cooling solution for when I do 260 sli are you sure it works in sli on the 750i FTW?


For SLI on the 750i FTW, you would need 80x80x20mm fans like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835119042

I've got 25mm fans on it now, and it's so close to letting another card fit. 20mm would definitely work.


----------



## I_dalder_I

Should i do this on my 280gtx?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *I_dalder_I* 
Should i do this on my 280gtx?

If your temps are high, Yus!

I took apart my GTX 280 before, it's built the exact same.


----------



## ikillerzi

shane - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835150007

dalder - it's GTX280 not 280gtx


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *ikillerzi* 
shane - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835150007

dalder - it's GTX280 not 280gtx









Yeah, that fan isn't bad.


----------



## Eliphion

I'm thinking I should try this mod. My 280 is OC'ed as high as it will go on stock cooling and pushes 85C at 100% fan speed in furmark. Idles in the mid-high 50s. Ambient here is high, some days it pushes 30C in my room.


----------



## heathmcabee

I did the same thing to my 8800GT, but strapped a 120mm fan on it a month or so back. It's a great idea though and really works!


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Eliphion* 
I'm thinking I should try this mod. My 280 is OC'ed as high as it will go on stock cooling and pushes 85C at 100% fan speed in furmark. Idles in the mid-high 50s. Ambient here is high, some days it pushes 30C in my room.










Yeah, That is pretty much what I was getting too.


----------



## runcmd3

how did you guys get the cover off? do i have to take the entire cooler off first?


----------



## 1ceTr0n

A cool idea but for me it won't work cause:

A: My Audigy 2 blocks any attempt to put fans on the heatsinks

B: I'd rather adjust the blower fan speed via Rivatuner


----------



## Cryptedvick

AWESOME!
this thread helped and gave me a good idea.
+1


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *runcmd3* 
how did you guys get the cover off? do i have to take the entire cooler off first?

Take of the back 8 screws, Lift off the cover, there will be two more screws on the back of the PCB, and another two on the back of the card where the vent/dvi ports are.

After removing all of those, you should be able to take the cooler off the card, be careful because of the fan wire. If it won't pull straight off, just twist it a bit to loosen the thermal paste.

After that, you will see about 5 or 6 silver screws on the cooler, remove them and the shroud should pop off. Save the screws.

Then you just put the card back together.


----------



## doat

would this work with a gtx 285?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *doat* 
would this work with a gtx 285?

Yep, I believe they all have the same heat sinks.


----------



## doat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


Yep, I believe they all have the same heat sinks.


sweet i might give this a try and put some IC7 paste.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *doat*


sweet i might give this a try and put some IC7 paste.


Nice!

Yeah, the paste they use is crap, and they put TONS on.


----------



## doat

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


Nice!

Yeah, the paste they use is crap, and they put TONS on.


problem is last time i tried to take apart my card i couldn't get the casing off even though i took out all of the screws. i didn't want to use a lot of force because i thought that would break it.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *doat* 
problem is last time i tried to take apart my card i couldn't get the casing off even though i took out all of the screws. i didn't want to use a lot of force because i thought that would break it.


After you get the heat sink off the GPU, There should be about 5-6 silver screws.

If you can't get the heat sink off the GPU, Wiggle it side to side, What's keeping it on us air bubbles in the thermal paste, which are trapped betweem the GPU and Heat sink.


----------



## doat

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
After you get the heat sink off the GPU, There should be about 5-6 silver screws.

If you can't get the heat sink off the GPU, Wiggle it side to side, What's keeping it on us air bubbles in the thermal paste, which are trapped betweem the GPU and Heat sink.

Well first how do i remove the casing? i got stuck at that part lol


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *doat* 
Well first how do i remove the casing? i got stuck at that part lol


Take of the back 8 screws, Lift off the cover, there will be two more screws on the back of the PCB, and another two on the back of the card where the vent/dvi ports are.

After removing all of those, you should be able to take the cooler off the card, be careful because of the fan wire. If it won't pull straight off, just twist it a bit to loosen the thermal paste.

After that, you will see about 5 or 6 silver screws on the heat sink, remove them and the shroud should pop off. Save the screws.

Then you just put the card back together without the plastic shroud.


----------



## runcmd3

k heres mine. will post back my results. sorry for ugly cell pic


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *runcmd3* 
k heres mine. will post back my results. sorry for ugly cell pic

Sweet! Looks just like mine!

What are your before Temps?


----------



## el gappo

it baffels me why nvidia didnt use central coolers in the first place, they work so much better. and 3 fans just looks friging awesome to. gona have to do this with my next card


----------



## Pyroball

Ok, so I've got a pretty cramped case (shown below) not because its small, but because ive crammed it full of all kinds of junk. Due to this i wont be able to fit both 80mm fans onto the GPU. Theres a small internal USB hub occupying the space that the second fan would need. I designed an alternative mount and shroud that would hopefully give a little more direction to the airflow from the 80mm. Basically ill give a little lift t the side of the 80mm closest to the outside of the case so that the air goes more in that direction. I can do both 8mm's on the bottom GTX 260, but the top one will need this specialized mod.


----------



## c00lkatz

Very nice idea. I was going to go to Microcenter and get some cheap fans to give it a shot, until I realized I have a PCI sound card right between the two of mine


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *c00lkatz* 
Very nice idea. I was going to go to Microcenter and get some cheap fans to give it a shot, until I realized I have a PCI sound card right between the two of mine










depending on the size of the card and the placement. you might be able to do what i thought up on previous post


----------



## runcmd3

lol i love this site. makes me feel good that there are people crazier than me. anyways.. mine is a 260 that i have in my girlfriends computer. the before temps when oced to 734core 1512shader and 1152mem are 63c max load.. never did a furmark on it.. lets see if this thing performs better than the accelero i have on my gtx 285. maybe wasted 70 dollars on looks.


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
Ok, so I've got a pretty cramped case (shown below) not because its small, but because ive crammed it full of all kinds of junk. Due to this i wont be able to fit both 80mm fans onto the GPU. Theres a small internal USB hub occupying the space that the second fan would need. I designed an alternative mount and shroud that would hopefully give a little more direction to the airflow from the 80mm. Basically ill give a little lift t the side of the 80mm closest to the outside of the case so that the air goes more in that direction. I can do both 8mm's on the bottom GTX 260, but the top one will need this specialized mod.


















as an alternative to this variaton I'm designing a low profile setup using 40-60mm fans for those people who use dedicated audio cards. I'll get a schematic up soon.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
Ok, so I've got a pretty cramped case (shown below) not because its small, but because ive crammed it full of all kinds of junk. Due to this i wont be able to fit both 80mm fans onto the GPU. Theres a small internal USB hub occupying the space that the second fan would need. I designed an alternative mount and shroud that would hopefully give a little more direction to the airflow from the 80mm. Basically ill give a little lift t the side of the 80mm closest to the outside of the case so that the air goes more in that direction. I can do both 8mm's on the bottom GTX 260, but the top one will need this specialized mod.











I wanted to do something like that. What would it's net look like?

+REP


----------



## Pyroball

OK, my scale is a little off onthis, but if i can find my spares i think i can get this together. Either use 8x 40mm fans in a grid across the heatsink or 6x 60mm fans in a grid. This will allow just enough room for most PCI audio cards to have a spot.


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
I wanted to do something like that. What would it's net look like?

+REP

I was planning on using some acrylic i have laying about and bend it into the proper shape, and then glue the other bits in with JB weld or something similar, then have some hex mesh across the hole for the fan if there was enough room. The acrylic id be using has enough thickness that i could probably drill and mount some nuts for the screws into it.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
I was planning on using some acrylic i have laying about and bend it into the proper shape, and then glue the other bits in with JB weld or something similar, then have some hex mesh across the hole for the fan if there was enough room. The acrylic id be using has enough thickness that i could probably drill and mount some nuts for the screws into it.

That would be awesome!

I want to implement the existing stock fan to blow the hot air out.

If you have any spare acrylic that you wouldn't mind tossing my way, that would be killer.


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
That would be awesome!

I want to implement the existing stock fan to blow the hot air out.

If you have any spare acrylic that you wouldn't mind tossing my way, that would be killer.

Its the cheapest thing in the world, but i actually have like 5 sheets of it that i used for a previous mod. You know how to bend it to your will? Also, the placement of that 40mm fan on that other schematic isnt really practical unless you get a 40x10mm and have it sit competely vertical. in that case though it would just get in the way of the stock fan's airflow. Better just to use the 40's or 60's in the grid on top.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
Its the cheapest thing in the world, but i actually have like 5 sheets of it that i used for a previous mod. You know how to bend it to your will? Also, the placement of that 40mm fan on that other schematic isnt really practical unless you get a 40x10mm and have it sit competely vertical. in that case though it would just get in the way of the stock fan's airflow. Better just to use the 40's or 60's in the grid on top.


I don't know where to get around me









Instead of bending, I'd choose to cut it to my liking, and then super glue it together (It makes REALLY strong joints). But, I would bend a inch tall strip of it around a can or something, to form a shroud for the stock fan.

With a nice, tight acrylic shroud, combined with the dual 80mm fans, it would be a cooling machine


----------



## runcmd3

temps shot up to 70c over time from 64. idle temps were lower which leads me to believe that the hot air is not being exhausted properly out the back. no air is coming out of the back at all actually. maybe i can shroud the original fan to get some results.


----------



## Shane1244

What kind of fan are you using?

Picture?


----------



## runcmd3

there are two rosewill led fans. they push a fair amount of air. if i feel the side of the card that is where all the air is being pushed because that is the only part that is open now


----------



## Prismatex

Another idea is to strap a fan to the back of your card's PCB as well to cool the GPU itself. It can drop your temps by 5+ degrees.


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
I don't know where to get around me









Instead of bending, I'd choose to cut it to my liking, and then super glue it together (It makes REALLY strong joints). But, I would bend a inch tall strip of it around a can or something, to form a shroud for the stock fan.

With a nice, tight acrylic shroud, combined with the dual 80mm fans, it would be a cooling machine









well I'm only planning on bending the top section of the shroud and the semicircle on the back end. Pretty much it will consist of two pieces, one with both sides and wrapped around the back, the other a rectangular bit with holes cut for both fans and curved around on one end to match the other piece. then JB Weld to give it that nice strong bond. I was thinking i might make a beveled inner lining to the shroud if i can fit it to give it some extra strength and aerodynamics. I'll get some schematics up when i get access to another scanner


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
well I'm only planning on bending the top section of the shroud and the semicircle on the back end. Pretty much it will consist of two pieces, one with both sides and wrapped around the back, the other a rectangular bit with holes cut for both fans and curved around on one end to match the other piece. then JB Weld to give it that nice strong bond. I was thinking i might make a beveled inner lining to the shroud if i can fit it to give it some extra strength and aerodynamics. I'll get some schematics up when i get access to another scanner









Alright, When I get time to take my card out again, I'll draw something up too.


----------



## Lieutenant_Dan

*Maybe a dumb question*
im only amusing, but this would void your warranty right?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *crc614* 
*Maybe a dumb question*
im only amusing, but this would void your warranty right?

I don't think so, I believe EVGA has a modder friendly warranty, which allows aftermarket heat sinks.

I can put it all back together and it will look like new.


----------



## lordikon

Very cool. I remember doing this with my old Radeon 9800se. The fan was pathetic, so I took a CPU fan from an old athlon and screwed it right into the heat sink, worked like a charm.

This mod is pretty sweet as long as you don't need the slots. I wish I could do it to my SLI'd cards, but my mobo puts the PCI-e 16x's so close there is only a couple of millimeters between my cards.


----------



## runcmd3

so i was thinking about doing a push pull config with a pci fan like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835129025

ill join the party.. here are my paint drawings =p ...


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *runcmd3* 
so i was thinking about doing a push pull config with a pci fan like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835129025

ill join the party.. here are my paint drawings =p ...










Hmm, that might just work.


----------



## runcmd3

does your stock fan blow hot air out of the side?


----------



## runcmd3

made another drawing for sli this time.. if you can cut the stock shroud or make a new one you could force more air into the card... from the bottom and the side


----------



## Pyroball

For that mod to work you'll need a motherboard setup like the 780i, 780i, and 790i where its got full 16x slots with two completely free slots in the middle. That and I would recommend extending where you plan on putting the shroud to cover all the way to the PCI slot fan. You'll most likely want to build a retention bracket to keep that 120mm nice and snug against the butt-end of the shroud too


----------



## grahamcrackuh

Doing it right now.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
For that mod to work you'll need a motherboard setup like the 780i, 780i, and 790i where its got full 16x slots with two completely free slots in the middle. That and I would recommend extending where you plan on putting the shroud to cover all the way to the PCI slot fan. You'll most likely want to build a retention bracket to keep that 120mm nice and snug against the butt-end of the shroud too


iT WIL WORK ON UD3P OR UD3R AS WELL.


----------



## runcmd3

Quote:


Originally Posted by *grahamcrackuh* 
Doing it right now.

iT WIL WORK ON UD3P OR UD3R AS WELL.

what are you doing?.. and ud3p doesnt support sli... it supports crossfire i think tho..


----------



## grahamcrackuh

Quote:


Originally Posted by *runcmd3* 
what are you doing?.. and ud3p doesnt support sli... it supports crossfire i think tho..

Haha, new crazy ass bios update nonsense going around that allows SLI on most p45, x48, x38 boards.

Sorry for making your day:

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Recen...s-118583.shtml


----------



## Deagle50ae

Sub'd because I have a ton of extra plexiglass laying around I need to use up.


----------



## Shane1244

I need to find something to build mine out of. I've looked all around my workshop, but I found nothing suitable. I'm not sure where I can get Plexiglas either. =[


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
well I'm only planning on bending the top section of the shroud and the semicircle on the back end. Pretty much it will consist of two pieces, one with both sides and wrapped around the back, the other a rectangular bit with holes cut for both fans and curved around on one end to match the other piece. then JB Weld to give it that nice strong bond. I was thinking i might make a beveled inner lining to the shroud if i can fit it to give it some extra strength and aerodynamics. I'll get some schematics up when i get access to another scanner









Heres a to-scale schematic of the pieces im going to cut, the vertical lines are the fold points, and circles are the holes for the fans.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Pyroball* 
Heres a to-scale schematic of the pieces im going to cut, the vertical lines are the fold points, and circles are the holes for the fans.











That is EXACTLY what I want to build. Except I'm going to try and accommodate two fans.


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
I need to find something to build mine out of. I've looked all around my workshop, but I found nothing suitable. I'm not sure where I can get Plexiglas either. =[

if you have a home depot near you they have it in the window section


----------



## Pyroball

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
That is EXACTLY what I want to build. Except I'm going to try and accommodate two fans.

Even with the shroud i think it will work better if you tip the fans justa few millimeters up in the direction of the exhaust port. it should help avoid the issue Runcmd3 was having


----------



## Shane1244

I'm going to dismantle my video card right now, and make a paper tempplate, then I'll have to have a look at Home Depot or Rona.


----------



## Ocnewb

Will this method work on the GTX 275? By the way, i think the push and pull setup like Runcmd3 drew work better than 2 push right?


----------



## Deagle50ae

PM me guys if you need some cheap plexi.
I've got various sizes I can send in large mailer envelopes for irt cheap.

I'll get some pix tonight.
I think it's 1/4"


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Deagle50ae* 
PM me guys if you need some cheap plexi.
I've got various sizes I can send in large mailer envelopes for irt cheap.

I'll get some pix tonight.
I think it's 1/4"

PM'ed.


----------



## justadude

Hi all, very interested in the dirt cheap ghetto fabulous cooling solution. As you can see, I have a single card config. Would there be any merit to strapping a 120mm on it, then doing some sort of ghetto shroud to put another 120mm right on the front of the card to push air out the back of the case? Or perhaps just using a 120mm shrouded on the front to push air out of the back?

(my case is in a comp desk, so I'm always fighting temps. this thing makes so much heat, my wife makes me quit folding during the day)


----------



## Shane1244

Well, I'd suggest dual 80mm fans on the stock 275 heatsink, they fit perfectly.


----------



## runcmd3

just ordered my pci slot cooler off newegg. hopefully it works out.
also.. has anyone thought of just cutting the old shroud. or do you not want to void the warranty?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *runcmd3* 
just ordered my pci slot cooler off newegg. hopefully it works out.
also.. has anyone thought of just cutting the old shroud. or do you not want to void the warranty?

I kept mine because I didn't want to void the warranty, and I'll be going SLI soon, and I don't think it will fit.


----------



## Lord Xeb

Sounds good man.


----------



## justadude

yea, voiding the warranty on a $200+ less than 3 month old card doesn't sit well with me.

wrt the 80mm vs 120mm, I have extra 120's and I don't really want to spend money cuz it makes the wife angry


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *justadude* 
yea, voiding the warranty on a $200+ less than 3 month old card doesn't sit well with me.

wrt the 80mm vs 120mm, I have extra 120's and I don't really want to spend money cuz it makes the wife angry

The 120mm will definitely work, it will just hang off a bit, and it might be slightly harder to mount.


----------



## runcmd3

how do you think using a 92 mm fan and cutting out the fins would work as a shroud?


----------



## Deagle50ae

Well.
my fan stopped working AGAIN on my GTX260.
so I slapped on an 80mm Tornado.









All I can say is, THANK GOD for fan controllers. This thing spins at 4,650RPM and sounds like a mini tornado. lol

Temps aren't much better.


----------



## Altec2456

Wow, That was great! I should try this


----------



## Deagle50ae

couple more


----------



## Shane1244

Does it work?


----------



## Deagle50ae

yep.
45C idle @ 2900RPM
60C COD4 load @ 3100RPM
55C COD4 @ 4,650RPM

I run overvolted from the stock 1125mv to 1188mv so mine will run a little warmer anyways.

I took the dremel to the casing to open the hole up to match the 80mm fan and used thin weather stripping to seal it and tape to cover the end cap so air is forced through the fins.


----------



## Shane1244

Haha, that's sweet. Gotta be loud though.

Also, First time we have had the AC on in a while, my card is idling at 37.


----------



## runcmd3

k. results... i made the fans push pull and put a pci slot exhaust fan in and it lowered another 7c.. now its at 63c max load


----------



## Deagle50ae

I'm loving the super loud fan! lol
Running 35C idle, 60C full load at 2,100RPM
33C idle 51C loaded at 4,600RPM

both at 1.2v (stock is 1.125) and I am ATI tool stable at 780/1560/1255
More tinkering to be done.
Now I want to water cool this thing!


----------



## TheShaman

Hey guys! I read this thread 3 days ago however I have a 3850 OC edition, it came with a dual slot cooler and this what it is now. The mod is simple yet super effective. Thanks


----------



## B4Shock

+REP for thread starter. Not only is this method the most effective bar water cooling, but it also costs next to nothing, in some cases free if you have spare fans. Im definitely buying 2x 120mm fans and putting them on my gtx 275 tomorrow, 95C full load [email protected] is scandlous

EDIT: 120mm/80mm, i need to take off the reference cooler to check if i can fit 120mm fan, if not ill stick with 2x 80mm


----------



## Deagle50ae

Quote:


Originally Posted by *B4Shock* 
+REP for thread starter. Not only is this method the most effective bar water cooling, but it also costs next to nothing, in some cases free if you have spare fans. Im definitely buying 2x 120mm fans and putting them on my gtx 275 tomorrow, 95C full load [email protected] is scandlous

EDIT: 120mm/80mm, i need to take off the reference cooler to check if i can fit 120mm fan, if not ill stick with 2x 80mm


80mm is almost a perfect fit.
120mm will have quite a lot of hang-off.


----------



## Jodiuh

From that 1st pic, it looks like the fins are open and not closed towards the top. Is this true? If so, that would explain such low temps and I'll be popping my cover off and kickin up the volts too!


----------



## Deagle50ae

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jodiuh* 
From that 1st pic, it looks like the fins are open and not closed towards the top. Is this true? If so, that would explain such low temps and I'll be popping my cover off and kickin up the volts too!

Correct, fins are open on top and bottom


----------



## Jodiuh

That's awesome. I had someone pick me up a 120mm blue thermaltake smartfan (95cfm) for my cpu today and it turned out to be a 92mm. Guess where it's going?


----------



## Deagle50ae

ERK!
I lied. Fine are not open on top. There's a metal plate there.

Anyways.
I just swapped over to a pair of 92mm Delta's that I snagged for $1.99/ea at my local Microcenter. They're MUCH quieter than the tornado.

They're running push-pull. Push at the back, pull in the front.
I used some plastic packaging to rig up some direction flow so I'm not sucking in hot air.
I also added a dome to the rear to cool the back side of the board.

Overall, MUCH quieter than stock and runs 38C idle 60C OCCT w/ 1.2V at about 60% fan speed
cooler yet cranked up. About 56C in OCCT.









































(bokeh got a little out of control on that last one, lol)


----------



## Jodiuh

I ended up taking off the Blue 92mm for a quieter and better looking IMO white 80mm.


----------



## Deagle50ae

Thank you Nvidia for giving us a great heatsink to play with!


----------



## squall325

are the fans blowing on the card or blowing away from the card?


----------



## Deagle50ae

Quote:


Originally Posted by *squall325* 
are the fans blowing on the card or blowing away from the card?

On my setup, the rear fan blows in, the front fan blow out. I have shrouds to direct air accordingly.

$4 in fans got my 35C idle, 50C (cod4) load w/ 1.2V OC'd to 756/1512/1255

Well worth it IMHO.


----------



## ele1122

I'm getting a Radeon HD4890. Would 2 of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835200027 be good for cooling? I think I can mount the controllers on the front of my case.


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Deagle50ae*


$4 in fans got my 35C idle, 50C (cod4) load w/ 1.2V OC'd to 756/1512/1255


What kind of CFM on those fans? What's your room temp? What's your case setup like?

Also, how did you get 1.2v on there? I just flashed to the SSC bios and I think it will get 1.16v now. W/ the 80mm 40cfm fan you see above it will hit almost 70c w/ blower on auto in furmark on extra burn mode w/ 8x AA in 25c room temp.


----------



## Deagle50ae

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jodiuh* 
What kind of CFM on those fans? What's your room temp? What's your case setup like?

Also, how did you get 1.2v on there? I just flashed to the SSC bios and I think it will get 1.16v now. W/ the 80mm 40cfm fan you see above it will hit almost 70c w/ blower on auto in furmark on extra burn mode w/ 8x AA in 25c room temp.

Unsure of CFM on these fans. They spin at 1900PM turned up to max. I typically run them about 75% for silent performance. Microcenter didnt have any specs listed. Room temp sits at 72F. Running push/pull got me about 5C over twin pushing, and the shrouds got me another 2C.

The case is an open chassis I built.

I get 1200mv because I use EVGA VOltage Tuner which allows me to change my voltage in the OS (think it only works on 65nm cards)

I can run some furmark tonight and see where it puts me.

I was playing COD4 yesterday and I never exceeded 48C


----------



## Jodiuh

Thanks, that makes sense. I noticed flashing to the SSC bios on my 55nm SC jumped the frequencies to levels that definitely weren't stable before.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Deagle50ae* 
ERK!
I lied. Fine are not open on top. There's a metal plate there.

Anyways.
I just swapped over to a pair of 92mm Delta's that I snagged for $1.99/ea at my local Microcenter. They're MUCH quieter than the tornado.

They're running push-pull. Push at the back, pull in the front.
I used some plastic packaging to rig up some direction flow so I'm not sucking in hot air.
I also added a dome to the rear to cool the back side of the board.

Overall, MUCH quieter than stock and runs 38C idle 60C OCCT w/ 1.2V at about 60% fan speed
cooler yet cranked up. About 56C in OCCT.










(bokeh got a little out of control on that last one, lol)


Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jodiuh* 
I ended up taking off the Blue 92mm for a quieter and better looking IMO white 80mm.












Very nice guys!

I"m glad you're happy with the results!

I still need to get around to building a shroud


----------



## Deagle50ae

Wow. furmark is toasty!

OC'd
@ 1.200V 756/1512/1255 it got hit and held 68C

Stock Volts
@ 1.125V 720/1485/1240 it holds at 59C


----------



## Jodiuh

Haha, I know, right?! It killed a normally stable orthos run. GRID for an hour can't match furries toasty mode for 5 minutes. Ill hit 68c too with that bad boy. Kicking up my blower from 40% to 100% only knocks it back to 66c, so I think its more a limitation of the metal than the airflow.


----------



## ikillerzi

please help. One of my screws is stripped (must have been factory error) and obviously it came stripped. I take off the 8 / 10 / whatever on the back fine, then the 2 on the pcb, but the 2 nexct to the dvi ports are stripped to the point where it looks like a circle, not the usual x for a phillips driver. not even the perfect screwdriver can get any bit of traction, and I don't know what to do since the screw is so small. Suggestions?


----------



## Jodiuh

Drill that sucker out.


----------



## ikillerzi

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jodiuh* 
Drill that sucker out.

excuse me, but how with a screw so small? any guides or anything? lol


----------



## I_dalder_I

http://www.amazon.com/BOA-BO17001-Gr.../dp/B0011EACZ2

Now, go forth and pwn screws!


----------



## ikillerzi

25$? no way in hell would i pay that to get a screw


----------



## Jodiuh

Well, some of us aren't that good looking and do what we can on a budget.


----------



## ikillerzi

OMG +REP FOR THAT!!! BTW: you have a terribly sick mind... lol for some reason the word "remover" didn't show up =-p


----------



## JJJS

This is great! I found this thread when my EVGA 260's fan broke after 9 months. I have a couple few questions:

1) Can I plug an 80mm fan into the card's onboard fan controller, so it ramps up automatically as temps increase? If so, does it need to be a PWM fan? Could two be run from this?

2) Should I get fans with a high static pressure (as opposed to just looking at CFM's) so the air actually get pushed between the fins? I don't know what is supposed to happen otherwise...maybe just a lot of backpressure...?

I'm very intrigued by the push/pull with PCI cooler setup. I think I'm going to try this, but not until my new case arrives (I think I know which one I'm going to order







) I'll keep y'all posted.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *JJJS*


This is great! I found this thread when my EVGA 260's fan broke after 9 months. I have a couple few questions:

1) Can I plug an 80mm fan into the card's onboard fan controller, so it ramps up automatically as temps increase? If so, does it need to be a PWM fan? Could two be run from this?

2) Should I get fans with a high static pressure (as opposed to just looking at CFM's) so the air actually get pushed between the fins? I don't know what is supposed to happen otherwise...maybe just a lot of backpressure...?

I'm very intrigued by the push/pull with PCI cooler setup. I think I'm going to try this, but not until my new case arrives (I think I know which one I'm going to order







) I'll keep y'all posted.



1) You would have the modify the plug. Like cut the wires that are on the stock fan, and solder them to the fan.

2) Uhh, I don't think static pressure is needed on the heat sinks, The fins have a fair gap of separation between them, and it's also not very deep.


----------



## JJJS

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


1) You would have the modify the plug. Like cut the wires that are on the stock fan, and solder them to the fan.

2) Uhh, I don't think static pressure is needed on the heat sinks, The fins have a fair gap of separation between them, and it's also not very deep.


1)OK, so I looked at some pics of fans and one I have, and I see the difference. I found reference specs, and I bet they just changed the shape of the plug:
http://www.formfactors.org/developer...1_2_Public.pdf

Part of me wants to try it, but then putting them on an aftermarket fan controller is sooooooo much easier...also I don't want to void my warranty by cutting up the fan.

2) Cool, so the way I'm understanding it now is that static pressure only really matters on tall cpu coolers and such with lots of fins crammed much closer together than the GTX 2** HS fins.

3) Thanks for starting this thread, and the replies.


----------



## jabadala

Shoot, forgot to record my stock cooling temperatures before doing this. I stuck 2 Delta 92mm fans I got from Microcenter.

Anyway, I have EVGA's GTX 260 896-P3-1257-AR at their stock speeds. GPU-Z is giving me 2 readings of the idling GPU temperature: 41 and 34 celsius. Is that good?


----------



## walker450

Won't this just make the inside of your case really hot? I would think you would need really good case airflow to make sure everything else doesn't get hot...


----------



## Jodiuh

I think external airflow's pretty overrated. If you have enough holes in the backs of your case, the air will go out. That said, I use 2 120mm Arctic Fan's that are both quiet and move tons of air.


----------



## nofxguy26

i did the mod even tho i was getting 38 c @ idle which was good anyways.
now i idle @ 35-36 with a max temp @ 50c when oc'd


----------



## mothow

Just removing the top and put a fan blowing towards it should work also.Mayb not quite as good but it should help


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nofxguy26*


i did the mod even tho i was getting 38 c @ idle which was good anyways.
now i idle @ 35-36 with a max temp @ 50c when oc'd










35 idle?! Do you live in the ice fortress?


----------



## Abrajam

guys i love u for making this idea work so good thank you my loads where at 90c now 70c thanks!!!!


----------



## Jodiuh

Chicago? What the heck man, it's like 60 there right now! I do miss Lakeshore and Navy Pier.







Friggin' desert...


----------



## Deagle50ae

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Jodiuh* 
35 idle?! Do you live in the ice fortress?









Lol.
I run 35C idle when it's 70F
Right now I'm sitting at 38C with fans at 50%

and that's with increased voltage.


----------



## Crooksy

1 idles at 38c and one idles at 40 so no need for the mod really. Can't really do the mod on my second one as there isn't enough room.


----------



## Jodiuh

70, huh? I'm lucky to get below 80 in the summer time.


----------



## snow cakes

u gave me an idea for my xfx4890's, +1rep


----------



## Shane1244

Sweet, takes some pictures on how it turns out!


----------



## nofxguy26

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jodiuh*


35 idle?! Do you live in the ice fortress?










yes i do muhahahahah,, i keep the ac at 70-71,, the power bill is high but i like the cold


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nofxguy26* 
yes i do muhahahahah,, i keep the ac at 70-71,, the power bill is high but i like the cold









That's what my house stays at too. I thought it was normal?

When it's at 75, I'm sweating buckets, and my PC heats my room up.


----------



## daanielin

Dude that stuff is dope! +Rep for you, wish I could do this with my card..


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *daanielin*


Dude that stuff is dope! +Rep for you, wish I could do this with my card..


Thanks ;]

You might be able to, It's got the same kind of heat sink I believe.

On boring day, Take it apart and check!


----------



## mfb412

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jodiuh*


70, huh? I'm lucky to get below 80 in the summer time.










i get 51 load in summer time with 31C ambients


----------



## Jodiuh

You don't even have the same card.


----------



## mfb412

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jodiuh*


You don't even have the same card.










i know, just serving as a comparison


----------



## Jodiuh

Between totally different cards w/ aftermarket vs stock cooling setups? Get that Radeon outta this thread!







And take your wacky loud Kaze w/ ya.


----------



## mfb412

she aint so loud with my kaze master


----------



## Cryptedvick

this mod basically makes the stock heatsink an Accelero XTREME for just a few bucks 
AWESOME!

I might try something like: 
cut a hole on the side of my case right where the push fan would be and put a 92mm fan for intake, use the push pull configuration with the two 80mm's and use that antec pci slot fan to take the hot air out ... si basically it gets cold ai from the side, goes through the heatsink and gets out the back







sounds good to me! I have to try this.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Cryptedvick*


this mod basically makes the stock heatsink an Accelero XTREME for just a few bucks 
AWESOME!

I might try something like: 
cut a hole on the side of my case right where the push fan would be and put a 92mm fan for intake, use the push pull configuration with the two 80mm's and use that antec pci slot fan to take the hot air out ... si basically it gets cold ai from the side, goes through the heatsink and gets out the back







sounds good to me! I have to try this.


That might just work, It's worth a shot for sure!


----------



## Jodiuh

Well, my 80's just a bit small I think. I have a spare 120mm Scythe SFLEX E and a Thermaltake 100CFM Blue Monster I'm debating about slapping on there. Thing is, the TT looks better on my CPU cooler, but doesn't really do any good there as I've only got a dual core and the one SFLEX spinning @ 1200RPM's good enough. Hmmm...


----------



## mfb412

thing with all this is, isn't all the air gonna be recycled back into the case? unless you have negative pressure...


----------



## sodaholic134

Here's some pics of what I did with my 8800 gt stock heatsink and Kingston HyperX RAM cooler. I have a thread about it, but this was probably a better spot to put it. Technically not the same card, but the same idea.




























I've tried both a push and a pull set up. Didn't affect temps at all. It is quieter than just the stock fan. I have the stock blower fan running at 40%. Any tips/ideas would be helpful.

EDIT: Actually, I was wondering if I could use my Dremel cutter to open the fins on the heatsink, so the air could penetrate it easier.


----------



## Volcom13

Great job man! I'd still go Water Cooling.


----------



## Jodiuh

Decided it didn't look ghetto enough so I added blue zip ties and a black fan.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Jodiuh*


Decided it didn't look ghetto enough so I added blue zip ties and a black fan.











HAha Nice!

What size are those fans?


----------



## YouWin

I did this mod and moved over my 2nd gtx 260 since I have a 3 way sli board. It fits perfectly. My temps are 43 and 42 for both gpu's are these acceptable temps? Should they be lower?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *YouWin* 
I did this mod and moved over my 2nd gtx 260 since I have a 3 way sli board. It fits perfectly. My temps are 43 and 42 for both gpu's are these acceptable temps? Should they be lower?

If those are load temps, Those are AMAZING!

If they are Idle temps, they are still good!


----------



## YouWin

They are idle







lol At full load they never go over 60C which is good.


----------



## Jodiuh

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
HAha Nice!

What size are those fans?

80's and they're low rpm so everything's quiet. Well, the white LED can spin faster, but I keep it lower in my BIOS. I let it rip @ lans so I can keep OC stable.


----------



## stewarttr

I recently tore a GTX 285 stock cooler apart so I could cut it up and make a custom memory/NVIO2 heatsink to work with an Accelero Extreme 280. Well let me tell you there is a whole lot more heat pipes in that stock cooler than the three that are visible.


----------



## chatch15117

the MSI gtx 260 i got has a fan already on the front of the card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127426


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *chatch15117* 
the MSI gtx 260 i got has a fan already on the front of the card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127426

Yeah, I'd just keep the fan that is already installed.


----------



## Ecchi-BANZAII!!!

I liked the first one more... the one WITHOUT LED's...
But you'd get better temps from a Accelero or a ThermalRight cooler.


----------



## Barry

So...after removing the HS does it have a thermal pad or TIM? Ive been wanting to do this for while.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Barry* 
So...after removing the HS does it have a thermal pad or TIM? Ive been wanting to do this for while.

TIM, Some white crappy stuff.


----------



## the_geek

d00d! amazing! Saw this thread about 2 months ago, but didn't really think much of it until Borderlands froze up my GPU running a 765/1530/1300 OC, with max temps around 71C.

I completely tore my GPU apart, applied some leftover AS5 I had from using on my E8500, put the HS back on, installed an antec tri-cool 120mm fan I had kicking around, and viola'! 
Dropped my MAX load temps to 56C with full OC (previously stated), idle [normal fanspeeds] around 39C, but I can get it all the way down to 35C!

+REP! 
Thanks for sharing,
the_geek

ps, I can post pics if you would like; mine antec1200 is sexy....


----------



## allenkane

Do you have remove those tiny, tiny screws on the back of the heatpipes in order to get shroud off?


----------



## the_geek

Found THIS very helpful, even though there are a few screws it doesn't mention.

@ allenkane, I don't remember taking any tinny screws out of my heatpipes... pics?
Should look like THIS when everything's off.


----------



## ACM

Wonder what it would do to a 8800GTX, can anyone say 120mm Yate Loon haha.


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *the_geek* 
@ allenkane, I don't remember taking any tinny screws out of my heatpipes... pics?
Should look like THIS when everything's off.

My camera won't focus correctly so I can't do much right now.

When I take the screws off the back of the card, I basically end up with 2 pieces; the card itself and the copper heatpipes *WITH the plastic cover attached.* I don't see any way to remove the plastic cover without using a tiny tiny tiny screwdriver. Is there something I'm missing?

I have a BFG GTX 260 -- hope that helps?


----------



## the_geek

back @ allenkane,

Here's a pic i took during my mod, is this what yours looks like now?


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *the_geek* 
back @ allenkane,

Here's a pic i took during my mod, is this what yours looks like now?

Thanks. Yours looks a little different than mine so the screws are probably not in the same location?










The only way I see to get the plastic front off is those little tiny screws around that area. I went to the hardware store and couldn't even find a screwdriver or drill bit that small.

Is there another way to remove the front plastic cover that I'm not seeing?


----------



## Trav1s

Wonder if this would work for a 4870 haha, the heatsinks don't seem so different.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


Do you have remove those tiny, tiny screws on the back of the heatpipes in order to get shroud off?



Yep! there are about 5? of them?

They are the screws that hold the plastic shroud to the heat sink. Remove them, take off the shroud, and re-assemble!


----------



## wierdo124

Hmm, might hafta try this


----------



## the_geek

@ allenkane
I've got the same card as you, BFG GTX260, except mine is OC2 version, shouldn't be any different though.

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
Yep! there are about 5? of them?

They are the screws that hold the plastic shroud to the heat sink. Remove them, take off the shroud, and re-assemble!

yup, about 5. Shouldn't be that small, just about anything smaller than a standard P1 should work. One of them did give me a bit of trouble though; I ended up totally massacring it...


----------



## the_geek

Quote:


Originally Posted by *wierdo124* 
Hmm, might hafta try this

might??? dude! this is a no-brainer! Definitely the best thing I've ever done to my computer. besides OC'ing it of course


----------



## allenkane

Thanks the_geek. I'll try to find something at a different hardware store. The one I went to yesterday didn't have anything that worked.

Also, did you guys leave the stock fan plugged in or not? I can't quite tell right now with the shroud attached but it doesn't look like it would cool anything without the shroud on?

I only have a 120mm fan handy but it's like 70CFM so I'm assuming it'll be ok.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
Thanks the_geek. I'll try to find something at a different hardware store. The one I went to yesterday didn't have anything that worked.

Also, did you guys leave the stock fan plugged in or not? I can't quite tell right now with the shroud attached but it doesn't look like it would cool anything without the shroud on?

I only have a 120mm fan handy but it's like 70CFM so I'm assuming it'll be ok.


I left it on, It is actually perfectly placed that it will cool the NB on my 750i FTW! ;]


----------



## the_geek

Ya, I plugged mine back in too, but it doesn't do much, maybe a 1C temp drop on 100% speed which is really loud. The only thing it really blows on is my SATA connections.....








I'll probably unplug it later today.


----------



## Shane1244

I'm going to read the voltages of it, and see if I can do something with it!


----------



## allenkane

So I went to the hardware store today and one of the guys there pretty much tried anything to get the screws out, lol. Tried any drill bit he could, every screw driver, no dice. Guess I'll just mount an 80 or 120 on top of the existing fan.


----------



## Capwn

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


So I went to the hardware store today and one of the guys there pretty much tried anything to get the screws out, lol. Tried any drill bit he could, every screw driver, no dice. Guess I'll just mount an 80 or 120 on top of the existing fan.


Wait , wut? you let a random guy at the hardware store drill on your card???? plzzzz tell me I read that wrong.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


So I went to the hardware store today and one of the guys there pretty much tried anything to get the screws out, lol. Tried any drill bit he could, every screw driver, no dice. Guess I'll just mount an 80 or 120 on top of the existing fan.


What screws?


----------



## the_geek

The ones that hold the heatsink onto the plastic fan shroud. I'm surprised he's having so much trouble with them though.... I only had issues with one, but i was finally able to get it out with a small pair of wire snips.


----------



## Shane1244

Weird, those were the easier for me.


----------



## headcase9

Okay so I'd love to try this one, but I've never really done any sort of modding and I'm a bit nervous about poking around inside my card. I gotta find a small screwdriver first for a couple of screws, but is there anything really vulnerable inside the shroud that I need to watch out for, or is it just the heatsink?

I've got my 80mm fan ready


----------



## the_geek

@ headcase9 
The actual chip is the most important, but the little RAM nodes all over are sensitive to static, so wear an anti-static band or something. and try not to touch the actual copper contact point on the heatsink, at least not the part that sits on the chip. And handle the heatsink leaves carefully, I slightly dislocated one of mine...









It's not really that hard. This is my first mod and I was really worried, but it's not all that complicated. There are a few sites around that have step-by-step instructions, mostly for after-market 'cooling' setups, but they have useful diagrams and pics. Like THIS


----------



## SPEEDemon

How about using two of these fans(see first link posted below) or maybe two of these(see 2nd link). Once the fan in the 3rd link comes back, I would definitely go for 2 of those as they move a decent amount of air. If you want quite I would go for the fans in either the 1st or 2nd link, and if you want better cooling over noise I would go with the 3rd link. It's 12mm high instead of the average 25mm high, so it will allow more clearance for sli setups. The fans themselves don't push a lot of air compared to some normal size 80mm/92mm fans, but I feel it would even out in the end because it wouldn't be so close to another card and pull heat off of it. Plus it's the same fan used in this heatsink(see 4th link), so if it works for that heatsink, it shouldn't be a problem with this application.

Link 1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-071-_-Product

Link 2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-073-_-Product

Link 3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

Link 4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-081-_-Product


----------



## SPEEDemon

Both of my GTX 260's(both highly overclocked) idle at 35C and I've never seen them get past 45C while playing demanding games, and my room in my apartment is right above the water heater for my complex, so it's always pretty toasty in my room, so I am very pleased iwth those temps. Although, I am tempted to get some of those slim fans as I am a fan junky, but I'm not sure if it will affect my temps any because they seem to be pretty good as is.


----------



## the_geek

Wow, those are some crazy good temps! What are your cards clocked at?
Also, what thermal compound did you use?
I used some leftover AS5, but I'm thinking it might not have been enough....


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *SPEEDemon*


How about using two of these fans(see first link posted below) or maybe two of these(see 2nd link). Once the fan in the 3rd link comes back, I would definitely go for 2 of those as they move a decent amount of air. If you want quite I would go for the fans in either the 1st or 2nd link, and if you want better cooling over noise I would go with the 3rd link. It's 12mm high instead of the average 25mm high, so it will allow more clearance for sli setups. The fans themselves don't push a lot of air compared to some normal size 80mm/92mm fans, but I feel it would even out in the end because it wouldn't be so close to another card and pull heat off of it. Plus it's the same fan used in this heatsink(see 4th link), so if it works for that heatsink, it shouldn't be a problem with this application.

Link 1: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-071-_-Product

Link 2: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-073-_-Product

Link 3: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-072-_-Product

Link 4: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-081-_-Product


Honestly, 80mm Fans are the best, They sit on the heatsink PERFECTLY, so they assure that all the air is going into the heatsink, and none of of it escaping out the sides.


----------



## allenkane

It does seem odd that those screws are in so tight that even a drill doesn't want to take them out. Is there another way I might be able to take those little buggers out? I'd really like to do this mod rather than buy an aftermarket cooler.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
It does seem odd that those screws are in so tight that even a drill doesn't want to take them out. Is there another way I might be able to take those little buggers out? I'd really like to do this mod rather than buy an aftermarket cooler.

Uhh, you could drill the screws out with a drill bit.


----------



## Z Naught

will this work on a GTX 285?


----------



## myresolution_72

Ok so all I need to do to my G92 8800GTS is remove the back screws from the PCB and the Plastic Covering should come off with a tug?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Z Naught* 
will this work on a GTX 285?

Yep!


----------



## baverdi

did this on an xfx 9800gt but no decrease so make sure that the design is going to work. But the 9800gt hs is more like corrugated cardboard not the same type of finns. needs air laterally not vertically. bought an akasa hsf decreased temps 20c


----------



## Shane1244

A few people have asked, "How do I remove the cover?".

How To:

Power down, shut off and remove video card.
Flip the card on a flat, no conductive surface, with the fan facing down.
Remove the 8 screws from the back of the card, after they are off, remove the heatspreader.
Remove the two silver screws on the PCB, under the memory heatspreader.
Remove 2 black screws on the rear of the card near the DVI ports and the vent.
Remove the heatsink off the card. *Note, The thermal paste may have air bubble in it, which will keep the two sucked together, if this happends, just wiggle the card from left to right, until the suction is lifted.
Flip the heatsink over, and remove 5 silver screws.
Lift the plastic shroud off the heatsink, and repeat 1 to 6 backwards to put the card back together.
Lastly, just find a fan, and attatch it to the heatsink with zip ties, or some other fastener.


----------



## goldknight

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
A few people have asked, "How do I remove the cover?".

How To:

Power down, shut off and remove video card.
Flip the card on a flat, no conductive surface, with the fan facing down.
Remove the 8 screws from the back of the card, after they are off, remove the heatspreader.
Remove the two silver screws on the PCB, under the memory heatspreader.
Remove 2 black screws on the rear of the card near the DVI ports and the vent.
Remove the heatsink off the card. *Note, The thermal paste may have air bubble in it, which will keep the two sucked together, if this happends, just wiggle the card from left to right, until the suction is lifted.
Flip the heatsink over, and remove 5 silver screws.
Lift the plastic shroud off the heatsink, and repeat 1 to 6 backwards to put the card back together.
Lastly, just find a fan, and attatch it to the heatsink with zip ties, or some other fastener.

There is also a really nice video that can be seen here on how to take the fan shroud off of a GTX 285.


YouTube- EN - Tutorial: How to install a waterblock on the GTX 285 graphics card





I did this to my gtx 285 oc from BFG. Pre mod I was running about 47/97 idle and load temps. I saw that and was thinking, damn that's hot. After the mod my temps about 10 degrees C. I still feel like that's really hot. Anyone else had this issue?

edit: Oh yeah. My ambient temps are about 21C.


----------



## headcase9

Wow, for a half hour of work I just dropped my GPU idle temps from 51C to 42C. Great mod! Thanks a ton Shane!


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *headcase9* 
Wow, for a half hour of work I just dropped my GPU idle temps from 51C to 42C. Great mod! Thanks a ton Shane!

Not a problem! I'm happy to be of help, and to see such great results!


----------



## YouWin

I applied some MX-2 Thermal Grease and dropped my idle temps to 32C


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *YouWin*


I applied some MX-2 Thermal Grease and dropped my idle temps to 32C


Woah, You must have really low ambient temps!


----------



## Z Naught

Quote:


Originally Posted by *goldknight* 
There is also a really nice video that can be seen here on how to take the fan shroud off of a GTX 285. YouTube- EN - Tutorial: How to install a waterblock on the GTX 285 graphics card

I did this to my gtx 285 oc from BFG. Pre mod I was running about 47/97 idle and load temps. I saw that and was thinking, damn that's hot. After the mod my temps about 10 degrees C. I still feel like that's really hot. Anyone else had this issue?

edit: Oh yeah. My ambient temps are about 21C.

that is very hot. Do you have any airflow going into your case at your GPU? My ambient temps are about 22C and Currently (before the mod) my idle temps are about 41C with my GPU averaging at 80C under load, with 100% fan I can keep my load temps to only 60C. Try using 100% fan with EVGA precision, as those temps would be very worry some.


----------



## Makou107

Hey Shane, great post. Was linked to it recently and I'm about to give it a try. Right now I've been going through endless pages of 80mm fans and I just can't find some that I like. You said you were switching to 50CFM fans and you list you got those Antec Tricool fans but they don't rate at 50CFM.

Anyone have any recommendations for some 80mm fans? I'm looking for something that I can either adjust myself or adjust depending on temp.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Makou107* 
Hey Shane, great post. Was linked to it recently and I'm about to give it a try. Right now I've been going through endless pages of 80mm fans and I just can't find some that I like. You said you were switching to 50CFM fans and you list you got those Antec Tricool fans but they don't rate at 50CFM.

Anyone have any recommendations for some 80mm fans? I'm looking for something that I can either adjust myself or adjust depending on temp.

Yeah, I actually mis-read the fan specs, Just get something that is nice and quite, but still has some decent airflow. I noticed, by adding more CFM, it doesn't lower my temperatures by much, if at all.


----------



## agent__551

so should i keep the stock fan running, or will it disturb airflow?

great mod btw
i wanted something like this long ago


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *agent__551* 
so should i keep the stock fan running, or will it disturb airflow?

great mod btw
i wanted something like this long ago

Uhh, Doesn't seem to matter. For me, I keep it on, because it directly above my SB so it cools it.


----------



## allenkane

I decided to just strip the screw heads so I could get the plastic shroud off. The screws were lock-tighted in so that was really the only option.

Shroud came off real easy after that







Still waiting on my mobo replacement so hopefully when I get everything installed my temps on the card will be real nice


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


I decided to just strip the screw heads so I could get the plastic shroud off. The screws were lock-tighted in so that was really the only option.

Shroud came off real easy after that







Still waiting on my mobo replacement so hopefully when I get everything installed my temps on the card will be real nice










Sweet! What were your before mod temps?


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


Sweet! What were your before mod temps?


85-90C load 
45-50C idle

pretty bad :\\

I was getting some stability issues whenever I got around 90+


----------



## Z Naught

Im not sure if these are good results or not, but I was getting about 75C in furmark before with 100% fan, and now with this I maxed at 91C. Would you say these are ok results or should I revert back? Also, oddly enough having my GPU fan on 100% dropped that temp by 1 degree with this mod


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Z Naught*


Im not sure if these are good results or not, but I was getting about 75C in furmark before with 100% fan, and now with this I maxed at 91C. Would you say these are ok results or should I revert back? Also, oddly enough having my GPU fan on 100% dropped that temp by 1 degree with this mod










Your temps went up 16C? That's not good D:


----------



## Z Naught

an 80mm 35 CFM fan.


----------



## iamwardicus

I would reseat the whole heatsink - and double check the application of TIM.

Otherwise this is awesome for me, as soon as my 285 comes I'll have to do this.

Side Note: How much thermal paste would one need for a reapplication - same amount as a CPU?


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *iamwardicus*


I would reseat the whole heatsink - and double check the application of TIM.

Otherwise this is awesome for me, as soon as my 285 comes I'll have to do this.

Side Note: How much thermal paste would one need for a reapplication - same amount as a CPU?


http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/3928...mal-paste.html

You need enough for vram and the gpu

I reused the thermal pads on the ram chips because I didn't have enough thermal paste left for the GPU, CPU, and ram chips. I think it should work fine but worst comes to worst I go to Radio Shack and buy some.


----------



## Z Naught

I already reseated the heatsink in this process with MX-3. I also reused the thermal pads as that is what I was told to do in another thread.


----------



## iamwardicus

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/3928...mal-paste.html

You need enough for vram and the gpu

I reused the thermal pads on the ram chips because I didn't have enough thermal paste left for the GPU, CPU, and ram chips. I think it should work fine but worst comes to worst I go to Radio Shack and buy some.

Eh, I'm going to try to replace the thermal pads (everyone says to not use thermal paste on the RAM as there's a larger gap from ram -> heatsink vs core -> heatsink.
Does anyone know how thick those thermal pads are? I don't want order any that are too thick because that would take away from the pressure the heatsink puts onto the main core. Also, I decided to use Shin Etsu G751 paste as most places recommend it as being one of the best (and it was cheap for me to get).


----------



## neurolysis

On my XFX GTX260 216SP, I'm unable to find any heatsink. I assume it must be there, is it under the casing or something?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *neurolysis* 
On my XFX GTX260 216SP, I'm unable to find any heatsink. I assume it must be there, is it under the casing or something?

Yeah, It's under the plastic shroud.

Is your card vanilla?


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


Is your card vanilla?


Chocolate.









The card hasn't been modded since coming out of the case.

I'll do some comparisons a little later on temps and post them up.


----------



## neurolysis

Question for you, how are the fans secured on the 2nd last pic with the two fans?

Also, you say you used AS5, I'm confused, where are you putting it onto?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *neurolysis*


Question for you, how are the fans secured on the 2nd last pic with the two fans?

Also, you say you used AS5, I'm confused, where are you putting it onto?


I used thin metal wire.

In between the GPU and the Heatsink.


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


In between the GPU and the Heatsink.


Yeah, but how are you applying it like that? Is there a flat surface on the HS somewhere?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *neurolysis*


Yeah, but how are you applying it like that? Is there a flat surface on the HS somewhere?


You unscrew the heatsink from the PCB. Then you clean the GPU, and just put fresh stuff on it. Then just screw it back together.

Here's a picture of the bottom of the heatsink. (The part that makes contact with the GPU)


----------



## Z Naught

So what can I do?


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Z Naught* 
So what can I do?

Best thing would be to remove it entirely until you've worked out what the problem is. Strange, though.


----------



## Shane1244

Maybe the fan is backwards?


----------



## Z Naught

No I made sure that it wasn't blowing off of the card. When I put it in the case I put my hand under it, felt no blowing.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Z Naught*


No I made sure that it wasn't blowing off of the card. When I put it in the case I put my hand under it, felt no blowing.


Weird.. Some pictures would help.

You said you replaced the thermal paste?


----------



## W4LNUT5

Hmm, this thread is interesting. Might decide to try this. My current temps are 40-42C idle, and 68C with Furmark w/ fan at 82%.

My case has two very large fans bringing air right on top of the video card, so I bet I could get a pretty decent decrease in temps with this, and the addition of some AS5 thermal paste.


----------



## weedeater

Very nice mod man. I installed it alongside a makeshift case fan to push air in the case my temps dropped a cool 10C. I plan on putting another fan alongside on the GPU and once my Zalman 9500 comes in I hope to reach those mid 30 temps all around.

+1 rep thanks bud


----------



## epitek

Quote:


Originally Posted by *W4LNUT5* 
Hmm, this thread is interesting. Might decide to try this. My current temps are 40-42C idle, and 68C with Furmark w/ fan at 82%.

My case has two very large fans bringing air right on top of the video card, so I bet I could get a pretty decent decrease in temps with this, and the addition of some AS5 thermal paste.

I'm in the same position with my 260 so hopefully I can get this project here going I might try using an old 939 socket heatsync and fan


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *W4LNUT5* 
Hmm, this thread is interesting. Might decide to try this. My current temps are 40-42C idle, and 68C with Furmark w/ fan at 82%.

My case has two very large fans bringing air right on top of the video card, so I bet I could get a pretty decent decrease in temps with this, and the addition of some AS5 thermal paste.


That would be amazing if you got idle temps in the 30's!


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


That would be amazing if you got idle temps in the 30's!


That's what I'm going to shoot for. I figure some decent fans, some AS5, and maybe some new thermal pads should get me there. Now I just have to find the time to do this. I have a week off for thanksgiving break coming up, but I want to leave the card to fold for that entire week (24/7) with no interruptions. So I think it will have to be after that.


----------



## Sakumo

Sorry if this has been posted, but 40 pages to look through...








Is the 80mm fan set to blow onto or suck air from card?


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Sakumo*


Sorry if this has been posted, but 40 pages to look through...








Is the 80mm fan set to blow onto or suck air from card?


Blow.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *neurolysis* 
Blow.









Correct.


----------



## Z Naught

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
Weird.. Some pictures would help.

You said you replaced the thermal paste?

It looks the same as your original mod with one fan, not anything different. I just applied a grain of rice sized ammount of MX-3 to the GPU.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Z Naught* 
It looks the same as your original mod with one fan, not anything different. I just applied a grain of rice sized ammount of MX-3 to the GPU.


That could be why, you probably need more. YOu only apply a small amount of thermal paste if both the GPU and heatsink are completely flat.

Take off the heatsink again, and apply a thin, even coat of thermal paste over the whole GPU.


----------



## neurolysis

Going to try this after my tea (in about half an hour), dunno where the hell my camera is, so no pics, unfortunately.

But yes, thanks again for this guide, and I'll let you know how it goes.


----------



## neurolysis

After 2 hours of attempting to get it apart, I have one conclusion:

This can't be done with XFX 260s.

It simply does not come apart. Some of the screw placements are different, but I pretty much took out every screw in sight and the board still wouldn't come off of the plastic casing.


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:



Originally Posted by *neurolysis*


After 2 hours of attempting to get it apart, I have one conclusion:

This can't be done with XFX 260s.

It simply does not come apart. Some of the screw placements are different, but I pretty much took out every screw in sight and the board still wouldn't come off of the plastic casing.


Hmmm. I myself planned on doing this sometime this week. And you have the same XFX card I do. I'll let you know if I find anything out when I decide to do it.


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:



Originally Posted by *W4LNUT5*


Hmmm. I myself planned on doing this sometime this week. And you have the same XFX card I do. I'll let you know if I find anything out when I decide to do it.


A word of warning, the 10 larger screws on the top have springs under them, I assume so that they can see if you have voided your warranty. I was unable to get the springs back under the screws once done. Unless anyone knows of another reason for the screws to have springs on, I can only suggest it is to show warranty voiding.


----------



## Z Naught

Quote:


Originally Posted by *neurolysis* 
A word of warning, the 10 larger screws on the top have springs under them, I assume so that they can see if you have voided your warranty. I was unable to get the springs back under the screws once done. Unless anyone knows of another reason for the screws to have springs on, I can only suggest it is to show warranty voiding.

No, that would not be the reason. As EVGA GPUs also have them and they have no problem with using aftermarket coolers. Im assuming it would be to add extra tension to the Heatsink as to conduct better.


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


85-90C load (gaming)
45-50C idle

pretty bad :\\

And I was getting to 100c+ in Furmark when my machine froze up


Just got my motherboard replacement today and got everything setup.

My 260 is idling around 36c and loads in Furmark at 65C steady for 1 hour. *35C drop in load temps* (at least in Furmark, I haven't had a chance to play a game for long). Major props to you Shane. AS5 takes a while to set so those temps might even go a little lower.

BTW, I'm using a fairly quiet 69CFM 120mm R4 fan from Cooler Master. Way quieter than the stock fan.

Edit:

I had a good gaming sessions and my temps never went beyond 50C, 35-40C drop







.

And in case anyone is interested, my VRAM temps went down considerably as well using the stock pads. I don't have precise data of the previous temps but I know they're much lower now.


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Z Naught*


No, that would not be the reason. As EVGA GPUs also have them and they have no problem with using aftermarket coolers. Im assuming it would be to add extra tension to the Heatsink as to conduct better.


Ah, yes, that would make sense.

Either way, I can't get it apart no matter what I try or what screws I remove. Removed every one in sight and everything was still held together very firmly, gave it a good go too. :\\


----------



## tweaker123

would this work on a gtx 285? also would it void the warranty ? (evga brand)


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tweaker123*


would this work on a gtx 285? also would it void the warranty ? (evga brand)


No, it wouldn't void an EVGA warranty. Just remember if you RMA the card you have to put the stock cooler back on.

And I'm pretty sure I saw someone say it works on a GTX 285.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *neurolysis* 
After 2 hours of attempting to get it apart, I have one conclusion:

This can't be done with XFX 260s.

It simply does not come apart. Some of the screw placements are different, but I pretty much took out every screw in sight and the board still wouldn't come off of the plastic casing.


What screws have you taken out? the ones on the back of the PCB?

If you are trying to take the heatsink off the PCB, wiggle it side to side and that will release any air bubbles in the thermal paste and it will come off.


----------



## kyleax1

I assume this wouldn't work so well on a Evga gtx 295 sandwich would it?


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
What screws have you taken out? the ones on the back of the PCB?

Yeah, I took all of them out, and that didn't work, so I took all the rest I could find out too, but it still didn't come off despite a lot of wiggling and a lot of pulling.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *kyleax1* 
I assume this wouldn't work so well on a Evga gtx 295 sandwich would it?


From looking at it, Probably not, although, I bet there is something that you could do.


----------



## Z Naught

Quote:



Originally Posted by *tweaker123*


would this work on a gtx 285? also would it void the warranty ? (evga brand)


I have done it to mine, but I got an increase in temps







(atleast over 100% fan speed)

So this weekend I may try adding another 80mm fan. If that fails, I will just put the old fan shroud back on and cry...


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


Just got my motherboard replacement today and got everything setup.

My 260 is idling around 36c and loads in Furmark at 65C steady for 1 hour. *35C drop in load temps* (at least in Furmark, I haven't had a chance to play a game for long). Major props to you Shane. AS5 takes a while to set so those temps might even go a little lower.

BTW, I'm using a fairly quiet 69CFM 120mm R4 fan from Cooler Master. Way quieter than the stock fan.

Edit:

I had a good gaming sessions and my temps never went beyond 50C, 35-40C drop







.

And in case anyone is interested, my VRAM temps went down considerably as well using the stock pads. I don't have precise data of the previous temps but I know they're much lower now.


 Awesome!









Glad I could help ;]


----------



## UnlimitedPower

Why don't just put an hdd cooler on it?


----------



## neurolysis

Quote:



Originally Posted by *UnlimitedPower*


Why don't just put an hdd cooler on it?


Because this is a good deal cheaper, and because the HDD cooler would likely be too wide.


----------



## Z Naught

I added another low CFM (like 16) fan and reseated the HSF again, and it maxed out at 83C in furmark. I call that a win.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *neurolysis*


Because this is a good deal cheaper, and because the HDD cooler would likely be too wide.



Most of the time, this mod is essintally free as most people have fans lying around.


----------



## oicw

So has anyone tried this on an ATI card yet? I see it mentioned a couple times, but no results were ever posted.

Some Radeons, like the 4890, seem to run pretty damn hot. The new 5970 seems especially troublesome, especially the VRMs due to sitting right beneath the stock fan. Some downward blowing fans should definitely help to cure that.


----------



## Makou107

Allenkane, what all did you do to get those temps?


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Makou107*


Allenkane, what all did you do to get those temps?


Removed the stock fan/shroud, put some Arctic Silver 5 on the GPU, and added a high CFM Cooler Master R4 fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-060-_-Product

The fan is really quiet too.


----------



## Moparman

Im going tomod one of my 9800GTX+ cards and see how this does. get a pic in a few.


----------



## Makou107

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


Removed the stock fan/shroud, put some Arctic Silver 5 on the GPU, and added a high CFM Cooler Master R4 fan.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-060-_-Product

The fan is really quiet too.


How did you fit a 120mm fan on your card? I was under the impression it was only big enough for two 80mm fans. Thanks for the reply btw.


----------



## Diogo

I need to do a mod like this on my 4850. The bloody thing just got past 105C after 10 minutes of ati tools stressing. Does anyone has any suggests on how to mod the crappy single slot on 4850's?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Diogo*


I need to do a mod like this on my 4850. The bloody thing just got past 105C after 10 minutes of ati tools stressing. Does anyone has any suggests on how to mod the crappy single slot on 4850's?


Not really, You could try putting a 80/90mm fan over the existing fan forcing air in through the hole. But other than that, I don't think there's much you can do.


----------



## corky dorkelson

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Diogo*


I need to do a mod like this on my 4850. The bloody thing just got past 105C after 10 minutes of ati tools stressing. Does anyone has any suggests on how to mod the crappy single slot on 4850's?


You can do a similar mod as the OP did in this thread. Remove the plastic housing, and attach a 80mm or 92mm fan to it.

I can't promise you will get the best results, that single slot stock cooler was one of the worst heatsinks ever designed. I ditched my stock coolers about 2 days after I got the cards.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *corky dorkelson*


You can do a similar mod as the OP did in this thread. Remove the plastic housing, and attach a 80mm or 92mm fan to it.

I can't promise you will get the best results, that single slot stock cooler was one of the worst heatsinks ever designed. I ditched my stock coolers about 2 days after I got the cards.


The 4850's don't have a open heatsink design. i don't think it will be effective.


----------



## Diogo

Guys, you won't belive this. I Just took the 4850 cooler off to clean it and see if my temps would get a bit better. I Took of the cooler's plastic cover just to discover that there was a WALL of dust blocking airflow throughout the card.

I just run ATitools for 10 minutes (just like I did yesterday) with the fan speed @ 70% Results? 78C!!

So I went from 106C+ 100% fan speed to 78C 70% fan speed. That's almost 30C taken away by just cleaning dust!

So here's a top tip to 4850 owners: clean your cards


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Diogo*


. . .
So here's a top tip to_* Graphics Card*_ owners: clean your cards










Fixed


----------



## Diogo

Quote:



Fixed


Yeah, that's better


----------



## Shane1244

Yea, dust really gets caked in there. It's pretty much impossible to get it all out with compressed air, so you really need to take them apart every once and a while.


----------



## Makou107

Does anyone know if you can even fit a 120mm fan on a 260/280?


----------



## Diogo

I jsut found a good picture to ilustrate what I was saying about the dust isue on 4850's:










In mine the dust was way more concentrated that in the one on the picture above. There was just nowhere for the air to go.


----------



## Shane1244

Yep! Exactly, That stuff is hard to get out without taking it all apart.


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Makou107* 
How did you fit a 120mm fan on your card? I was under the impression it was only big enough for two 80mm fans. Thanks for the reply btw.









Hey,

Sorry for the late response. There's 2 heatpipes coming from the heatsink for my card. I basically zip tied it onto those 2 heatpipes. The fan will be too big so make sure the excess of it is on the top not the bottom.

Play with it for a while and be creative. It'll work but it's not the easiest process in the world.


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
Hey,

Sorry for the late response. There's 2 heatpipes coming from the heatsink for my card. I basically zip tied it onto those 2 heatpipes. The fan will be too big so make sure the excess of it is on the top not the bottom.

Play with it for a while and be creative. It'll work but it's not the easiest process in the world.

We demand pics! lol jk. But if you get time, that'd be cool to see. Interesting that it should cool the backside of the card too (because it overhangs)


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *W4LNUT5* 
We demand pics! lol jk. But if you get time, that'd be cool to see. Interesting that it should cool the backside of the card too (because it overhangs)

Lol, no problem. I have a crappy digital camera from like 2002 so excuse the crappy 2nd & 3rd photos




























I would take a pic of it inside my case but my cable management sucks right now and that would be a disgrace to CM Sniper owners everywhere


----------



## Makou107

Thanks again Allen for the reply and pics. Going to give it a try tonight maybe with a spare 120 fan I got lying around then probably buy a decent one to replace later.


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Makou107*


Thanks again Allen for the reply and pics. Going to give it a try tonight maybe with a spare 120 fan I got lying around then probably buy a decent one to replace later.


No problem. It probably won't make a difference unless you plan to do some good overclocking like I did with mine. I originally put a crappy stock fan from my old case and saw a 6 degree difference between it and the R4. Still way lower temps than the stock fan either way.

I broke the stock fan wire while I was doing mine so hopefully I won't need to RMA it. lol


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
Lol, no problem. I have a crappy digital camera from like 2002 so excuse the crappy 2nd & 3rd photos




























I would take a pic of it inside my case but my cable management sucks right now and that would be a disgrace to CM Sniper owners everywhere










Ooohhh! That's sick! I might try throwing a 120 on it.







Should be a little quieter.


----------



## kakemix

wouldnt this mod be really bad because alot of dust gets trapped inside the card? just curious. otherwise its a really unique idea!


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kakemix*


wouldnt this mod be really bad because alot of dust gets trapped inside the card? just curious. otherwise its a really unique idea!


I took my card out yesterday and there was a little but nothing major. Most dust gets stuck to the fan not the heatsink. Just clean it once in while.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *kakemix*


wouldnt this mod be really bad because alot of dust gets trapped inside the card? just curious. otherwise its a really unique idea!


It's deffinitly better then the stock cooling, as it keeps ALL the dust in.

With my mod, it's very, very easy to clean out if any gets in.


----------



## mejobloggs

Do you still keep the stock fan running? Or is there no point. Just turn it down to 10% or something


----------



## ross_boss08

THANK YOU SO MUCH! +rep

just got done completing this mod and it dropped my temps by 12C, genius, yet so easy

Before
Idle 48C
Gaming 60C

After
Idle 39C
Gaming50C


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *mejobloggs*


Do you still keep the stuck fan running? Or is there no point. Just turn it down to 10% or something


Well for me, The GPU fan is conviently placed just above my chipset, so it cools it as well. So I jsut keep mine plugged in. But it does not provide any GPU cooling benefits.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ross_boss08*


THANK YOU SO MUCH! +rep

just got done completing this mod and it dropped my temps by 12C, genius, yet so easy

Before
Idle 48C
Gaming 60C

After
Idle 39C
Gaming50C


Awesome! glad I could be of help! ;]


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mejobloggs* 
Do you still keep the stuck fan running? Or is there no point. Just turn it down to 10% or something

You can completely unplug if you want. Just be careful because I ripped out a wire from mine.


----------



## Rebel4055

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Diogo* 
I jsut found a good picture to ilustrate what I was saying about the dust isue on 4850's:










In mine the dust was way more concentrated that in the one on the picture above. There was just nowhere for the air to go.

My 8800GT in my bro's pc does that same thing!


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
You can completely unplug if you want. Just be careful because I ripped out a wire from mine.

Yeah, best to use needle nose pliers.


----------



## Shane1244

TRying out a 120mm fan now.


----------



## Lefty67

I wonder if I can do this with my 4890 instead of buying an aftermarket cooler.

Its not the heat that im worried about, its this stock fan that sounds like it has arthritis or something.


----------



## yann3804

Does that void the warranty?


----------



## mfb412

Quote:


Originally Posted by *yann3804* 
Does that void the warranty?

well... yeah


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *yann3804* 
Does that void the warranty?

Depends on the manufacturer. EVGA, XFX, and a few other companies let you use aftermarket solutions as long you can put it back together (if you ever need to do an RMA).

Just keep all the parts and screws and you're fine. Even if the company doesn't allow you to modify it.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *allenkane* 
Depends on the manufacturer. EVGA, XFX, and a few other companies let you use aftermarket solutions as long you can put it back together (if you ever need to do an RMA).

Just keep all the parts and screws and you're fine. Even if the company doesn't allow you to modify it.

+REp

Thanks, Perfect answer!


----------



## ShortySmalls

i get those temps with no mods
 






, justa higher fan speed


----------



## Diogo

Quote:

i get those temps with no mods







, justa higher fan speed
And a lot more noise


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Diogo*


And a lot more noise










Agreed.


----------



## Conley

Quote:



Originally Posted by *neurolysis*


Yeah, I took all of them out, and that didn't work, so I took all the rest I could find out too, but it still didn't come off despite a lot of wiggling and a lot of pulling.


I can back this up; just tried to take apart my XFX GTX 275. Doesn't work...


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Conley*


I can back this up; just tried to take apart my XFX GTX 275. Doesn't work...


You took off the 2 screws on the side right?


----------



## Shane1244

The 275 definitely comes apart. You either missed two screws, or have some very tacky thermal paste.


----------



## mejobloggs

I have a 4890 with the fan in the middle

Anyone know if it's possible to pull the stock fan off without breaking it?

It's so loud...I want to zip tie a 120mm fan on.

But I also want to be able to put the stock fan back on later in case I need to RMA it.


----------



## nub228

anyone have some results with 120mm fans on this?









don't have any 80mm fans with me. if 120mm turns out to be better, I might do it since I have a spare one sitting here ^_^


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nub228*


anyone have some results with 120mm fans on this?









don't have any 80mm fans with me. if 120mm turns out to be better, I might do it since I have a spare one sitting here ^_^


Yup, done it and it works very well. PITFA to get it on though.

I actually replaced the fan in the picture with a very low CFM fan I had lying around and my temps are still pretty good -- much better than the stock and now it's inaudible.


----------



## nub228

what were your before and after temps. and fan speed %'s


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nub228*


what were your before and after temps. and fan speed %'s


The stock cooling on my card couldn't cool worth a damn, let me start off by saying that. It got to 100C and crashed just playing games. Furmark was out of the question.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*

Just got my motherboard replacement today and got everything setup.

My 260 is idling around 36c and loads in Furmark at 65C steady for 1 hour. 35C drop in load temps (at least in Furmark, I haven't had a chance to play a game for long). Major props to you Shane. AS5 takes a while to set so those temps might even go a little lower.

BTW, I'm using a fairly quiet 69CFM 120mm R4 fan from Cooler Master. Way quieter than the stock fan.

Edit:

I had a good gaming sessions and my temps never went beyond 50C, 35-40C drop .

And in case anyone is interested, my VRAM temps went down considerably as well using the stock pads. I don't have precise data of the previous temps but I know they're much lower now.


----------



## nub228

omg i hate this! the screws are so tiny and they are so hard to unscrew. Im at the step where i have to take screws out of heatsink and remove the shroud. I can't even remove the screws D:


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *nub228* 
omg i hate this! the screws are so tiny and they are so hard to unscrew. Im at the step where i have to take screws out of heatsink and remove the shroud. I can't even remove the screws D:

Try using a jeweler's screwdriver first if you can.

Mine were lock tighted in there and impossible to remove with a screwdriver or drill.
If that's the case with yours, take a drill bit and drill the screw heads in. That'll get em out.

Might lose your warranty that way though, dunno if they ever look at the heatsink/shroud when you RMA a card.


----------



## nub228

I'm using a really tiny screwdriver and it's not moving. After getting to this point, it's kinda bs where I can't do anything else except clean it.


----------



## ShortySmalls

My GTX260 Core 216's with auto fan stay below 50% fan and around 65% with no mods, get more airflow in your case man lol


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nub228*


I'm using a really tiny screwdriver and it's not moving. After getting to this point, it's kinda bs where I can't do anything else except clean it.


Like I said, it's probably lock tighted in there.

Get a drill and drill the screws out.

Quote:



Originally Posted by *ShortySmalls*


My GTX260 Core 216's with auto fan stay below 50% fan and around 65% with no mods, get more airflow in your case man lol


Part of it is noise too. Right now I'm using a silent 120mm fan and get the same or better temps than you depending on how high I turn the fan up (max is 1200RPM)


----------



## nub228

how do you *drill the screws out*? are you basically saying, destroy the screws?

edit: nvm, use a drill with a + dril bit?


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *nub228*


how do you *drill the screws out*? are you basically saying, destroy the screws?

edit: nvm, use a drill with a + dril bit?


Right. Just drill the drill bit into the head of the screw. That'll take the head of the screw off and leave the shaft.


----------



## nub228

ehh i decided not to >.> My temperatures are fine right now but at high speed. I just cleaned it up and put it back together. Risking to void my warranty isn't worth it.


----------



## tincanman

wow, that's friking awesome, and also a money saver
for like 5 bucks, you can achieve the cooling performance of a $100 aftermarket heatsink
totally gonna go and try this, and also rep+


----------



## to_the_zenith

Well I had a crack at this little mod earlier this week, but took a slightly different approach... seeing as I'm not too concerned about the whole warranty thing, I wasn't limited by hacking at the housing.









I had a spare 70mm CPU fan lying around, and a (smaller) fan shroud which I hacksawed on an angle to direct the airflow a little better.

Also, while I was pulling this thing apart I thought may as well give the heatsink some lapping (what a pain) and get some decent AS5 onto it.

Results:
Geforce GTX260OC 216 55nm
Ambient temp 32C

stock 630/1350/999 :- 
idle ~55C ,stress test load ~90C w/ fan @100%, 3D games ~80C w/ fan 75%

after lapping, AS5 and adding the 2nd fan, plus some oc'Ã*ng
666/1453/1188 :-
idle ~48C, stress test load ~80C w/ fan 85%, 3D games ~60C w/ fan 70%


----------



## allenkane

Quote:


Originally Posted by *to_the_zenith* 
Well I had a crack at this little mod earlier this week, but took a slightly different approach... seeing as I'm not too concerned about the whole warranty thing, I wasn't limited by hacking at the housing.









I had a spare 70mm CPU fan lying around, and a (smaller) fan shroud which I hacksawed on an angle to direct the airflow a little better.

Also, while I was pulling this thing apart I thought may as well give the heatsink some lapping (what a pain) and get some decent AS5 onto it.

Results:
Geforce GTX260OC 216 55nm
Ambient temp 32C

stock 630/1350/999 :-
idle ~55C ,stress test load ~90C w/ fan @100%, 3D games ~80C w/ fan 75%

after lapping, AS5 and adding the 2nd fan, plus some oc'Ã*ng
666/1453/1188 :-
idle ~48C, stress test load ~80C w/ fan 85%, 3D games ~60C w/ fan 70%

Interesting method


----------



## iamwardicus

dang... those are nice temp drops after the lap+AS5 - especially after the added OC.

I wonder what made more difference - the AS5 or the lap....


----------



## W4LNUT5

Hmmm, I start at 40C idle, and never crest 65C under full load (70C furmark). And I have yet to hack up my card yet. Is my card normal? I haven't modded it yet. lol


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *W4LNUT5*


Hmmm, I start at 40C idle, and never crest 65C under full load (70C furmark). And I have yet to hack up my card yet. Is my card normal? I haven't modded it yet. lol


Seems normal, Im guessing you probably have the 55nm version though, which runs cool.er


----------



## wumpus

anyone know if this would work on a 9800GTX+?
it looks like it has the same cooler but im not sure...

I really need some better cooling as I have a vmod on stock cooling.


----------



## Shane1244

Should work, Although the heatsink inside will definitely be smaller, but it will work.


----------



## allenkane

Bump


----------



## Shane1244

I just got some clear acrylic, I'm going to build a shroud hopefully tomorrow, If not on the weekend!


----------



## SeanG

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


We'll, I bought a GTX 260, and found the it was getting really hot. I then had an idea of removing the fan shroud and putting on a 80mm fan.

I got to work and found that the 80mm fan fit PERFECTLY on the cooler, Used a few cable ties and it was nice and snug.









Put it all back together, and added some AS5.









*note, I used Furmark stability test to load it. 
*BEFORE*
Idle: 63
Load: 89

*AFTER MOD*
Idle: 42 
Load: 64

This mod is amazing, That's all I can say. I thought it would bring a moderate decrease in temps, but I was so surprised.

The fan I used was a crappy 80mm CoolerMaster fan that's like 25CFM, I'm planning on getting two 50+ CFM 80mm fans and putting them on.

*How To:*
Power down, shut off and remove video card.
Flip the card on a flat, no conductive surface, with the fan facing down.
Remove the 8 screws from the back of the card, after they are off, remove the heatspreader.
Remove the two silver screws on the PCB, under the memory heatspreader.
Remove 2 black screws on the rear of the card near the DVI ports and the vent.
Remove the heatsink off the card. *Note, The thermal paste may have air bubble in it, which will keep the two sucked together, if this happends, just wiggle the card from left to right, until the suction is lifted.
Flip the heatsink over, and remove 5 silver screws.
Lift the plastic shroud off the heatsink, and repeat 1 to 6 backwards to put the card back together.
Lastly, just find a fan, and attatch it to the heatsink with zip ties, or some other fastener.









I suggest this to all!




















I dont know what was wrong with your 260 before your mod but I get the same temps with the stock cooler as you do after your mod.Mine idles at 40c and really never gets over 60c gaming.


----------



## champyg

Not sure how sketchy this would be, but just for kicks, would it hurt to power the fans off any of the 12V lines running to the video card?


----------



## allenkane

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Shane1244*


I just got some clear acrylic, I'm going to build a shroud hopefully tomorrow, If not on the weekend!










Pics or it didn't happen


----------



## Photograph

I just happen to be working on something very similar for my noisy GTX260, here's what I have so far:


----------



## Smoked Tails

I just did this and stuffed two 80s on there. I was in allen's boat. Furmark was out of the question and my temps just playing wow were tickling 90. Now furmark tops out at 80 and wow barely scratches 65.

Photograph, that looks pretty slick. Is that one going in Macbane?


----------



## Photograph

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Smoked Tails*


I just did this and stuffed two 80s on there. I was in allen's boat. Furmark was out of the question and my temps just playing wow were tickling 90. Now furmark tops out at 80 and wow barely scratches 65.

Photograph, that looks pretty slick. Is that one going in Macbane?


I am afraid not as MacBane has a 9" video card size limit due to it's layout, I was planning on grabbing two much cooler Radeon 5770's and running them in crossfire. The GTX260 is in my workstation, I use it for folding and A/V encoding.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:



Originally Posted by *allenkane*


Pics or it didn't happen


It didn't happen. I don't know how to work with acrylic enough..


----------



## Zippit

You could drop your temps more with a BIOS flash tbh.









Going from 1.18v to 1.03v helps a lot.


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Photograph* 
I just happen to be working on something very similar for my noisy GTX260, here's what I have so far:










Holy crap! ever get around to making it?


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
Holy crap! ever get around to making it?

I second this. I'd like to see what such a beast could do


----------



## Photograph

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
Holy crap! ever get around to making it?


Quote:


Originally Posted by *W4LNUT5* 
I second this. I'd like to see what such a beast could do

Actually guys, you are in for a show. I am building two shrouded coolers over the next few weeks that will be put to task in my new dedicated folding machine.

I will have to make the coolers a little thinner than the initial design as there are two GTX260's in close proximity to each other:










I have revised the Sketchup model a bit too for this change of plans (initially planned for just one GTX260 and a lot of empty board space), I will post that once i am happy with it


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Photograph* 
Actually guys, you are in for a show. I am building two shrouded coolers over the next few weeks that will be put to task in my new dedicated folding machine.

I will have to make the coolers a little thinner than the initial design as there are two GTX260's in close proximity to each other:










I have revised the Sketchup model a bit too for this change of plans (initially planned for just one GTX260 and a lot of empty board space), I will post that once i am happy with it









I saw your thread about that build. Nice


----------



## edisleado

so which way should the fans be blowing in? Which directions have yielded the best results for you guys? Both blowing in? Blowing out? Or one blowing in and the other out?


----------



## W4LNUT5

Quote:


Originally Posted by *edisleado* 
so which way should the fans be blowing in? Which directions have yielded the best results for you guys? Both blowing in? Blowing out? Or one blowing in and the other out?

I believe blowing towards the card was the consensus.

But you could try it both ways and see for yourself. It will likely depend on airflow within your case as to which one produces the best results.


----------



## Photograph

If anyone is still curious, I have started building the custom cooler for my 65nm GTX260. Pics to follow shortly


----------



## ACM

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Photograph* 
If anyone is still curious, I have started building the custom cooler for my 65nm GTX260. Pics to follow shortly









Sweet cannot wait to see.


----------



## smartasien

if ur running sli would there be clearance issues fitting a fan in and would the middle fan just be sucking up the other cards hot air???


----------



## Photograph

Quote:


Originally Posted by *smartasien* 
if ur running sli would there be clearance issues fitting a fan in and would the middle fan just be sucking up the other cards hot air???

That's why I made some adjustments to the cooler design, the outside card will look something like the Sketchup model, and I have something different planned for the inside card that addresses this issue head on.


----------



## JKDC

How thin would the fan need to be to fit in adjacent slots? I believe this can be done on the 470 also, but I have only a few mm clearance between the cards. lol Is there a fan less than 12mm thick?

hmmm...here is a 70x10mm
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/61...6c15s674#blank


----------



## bushwickbill

So i am Wanting to do this mod. I picked up the spare fan. Now, Why do i have to remove the heat sink from the from the PCB? Can't I just pull off the fan shroud and strap the new fan directly to the heat sink as shown in the op pics?
Or am i missing a vital concept here. I just don't have any extra thermal paste at the moment and am wanting to do this mod right now. So without the thermal paste I can't take heat sink off?
Advice or help please?


----------



## Shane1244

Quote:


Originally Posted by *bushwickbill* 
So i am Wanting to do this mod. I picked up the spare fan. Now, Why do i have to remove the heat sink from the from the PCB? Can't I just pull off the fan shroud and strap the new fan directly to the heat sink as shown in the op pics?
Or am i missing a vital concept here. I just don't have any extra thermal paste at the moment and am wanting to do this mod right now. So without the thermal paste I can't take heat sink off?
Advice or help please?

In order to take the shroud off, you need to take the heatsink off.

You could take the heatsink off without extra thermal paste, But just replacing the thermal paste with good stuff with drop your temperatures somewhat significantly.


----------



## taintedmind

Nice!


----------



## Shane1244

bump


----------



## Loke

Ok. Man, you've inspired me on this. So thank you!








It's my variant of stock cooler remake.








(sorry for crappy pictures quality







)


----------



## Loke

I've removed the stock turbine because it's useless after cover removing and added another one 80mm fan instead for additional cooling of the GFX VRM.
Didn't worked though







. Temps are the same, 53-54 at idle and above 80 at load. I've tried with 2 fans and stock turbine and had the same results. Had the same with stock cooler (not changed) from the start. Don't know, maybe there is something wrong with my GFX and maybe the stock cooler is defected from the start (heat pipes or foot defect)...
But maybe this will work for someone







. You can try and post your results.
Cheers!


----------



## lawrencendlw

I thought that the whole idea behind the shroud was to blow the heat out the back of the case (where you connect your cables to the card) and by doing this doesn't it just blow the hot air into your case? It looks like a great idea but I figured I would give you some food for thought. I'm running a GTX 480 (which I don't need to tell you that its a SUPER HOT card (temp and just in general) and if I was to do that I would be affraid of basically blowing the hot air from my card to the intake of my CPU cooler. But please correct me if I'm wrong on this. I might actually do this (or something similar because it wouldn't work exactly the same way since the cards are different) to my MSI GTX 260 Twin Frozr because I have a couple of extra fans laying around. But I only want to do it if in fact it doesn't just blow the hot air from the GPU into my case.


----------



## lawrencendlw

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Loke* 
Ok. Man, you've inspired me on this. So thank you!








It's my variant of stock cooler remake.








(sorry for crappy pictures quality







)

That looks like it might actually work. Now if only you could rig up some sort of shroud to funnel the hot air out the back then it would be perfect and would prove my last post wrong.


----------



## LiNERROR

why not just replace the stock blower with a fan that doesn't suck... also, positive case pressure is a must with these coolers...


----------



## Photograph

I dropped the temps on mine even further than most have, I first replaced the crappy stock thermal pads and TIM materials with something better:










I also cut out the exhaust grill for better airflow:



















Then I put it all back together with the cooler:










And then I made it work better by bonding a copper cored Athlon OEM cooler to the exposed heatpipe using AC Thermal adhesive increasing the amount of cooling surface area and bumping the thermal envelope up a few notches.










And then I strapped three 80mm Coolermaster fans on there and I am ready for years of productive folding action







.










Now when folding even overclocked it only hits 60Â°-65Â° now, before the mod it was getting into the mid 80Â°'s at stock speeds with the fan at 65%.


----------



## action3500

I tried the mod original poster used (remove shroud and attach fan to heatsink). 8800 gets really hot and all the air was collecting inside the case. Even though I have decent airflow (4 120mm case fans), temps inside the case were steadily rising.

I saw few suggestions half-way through this thread on modifying the stock shroud and decided to do it. The card is 3 years old and I don't plan to RMA it.

Here is the result. All the hot air is exhausted out of the case and temps stay very cool. My idle temps dropped around 5C, load temps dropped 10C maybe. I used 92mm fan and it fits perfectly. All the components were super-glued.

With this mod the stock VGA fan also has some purpose, as opposed to just removing shroud and rendering it useless.


----------



## W4LNUT5

Nice


----------



## lawrencendlw

What did you use to make your bracket and where did you get the materials for it? I have been looking to get some stuff to make some mounts and brackets for various components in my case but haven't been able to find anything anywhere to do it with (In my defense, I do live in the middle of a forest in the middle of Washington state lol)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *action3500* 
I tried the mod original poster used (remove shroud and attach fan to heatsink). 8800 gets really hot and all the air was collecting inside the case. Even though I have decent airflow (4 120mm case fans), temps inside the case were steadily rising.

I saw few suggestions half-way through this thread on modifying the stock shroud and decided to do it. The card is 3 years old and I don't plan to RMA it.

Here is the result. All the hot air is exhausted out of the case and temps stay very cool. My idle temps dropped around 5C, load temps dropped 10C maybe. I used 92mm fan and it fits perfectly. All the components were super-glued.

With this mod the stock VGA fan also has some purpose, as opposed to just removing shroud and rendering it useless.


----------



## PROBN4LYFE

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shane1244* 
We'll, I bought a GTX 260, and found the it was getting really hot. I then had an idea of removing the fan shroud and putting on a 80mm fan.

I got to work and found that the 80mm fan fit PERFECTLY on the cooler, Used a few cable ties and it was nice and snug.










Put it all back together, and added some AS5.










*note, I used Furmark stability test to load it.
*BEFORE*
Idle: 63
Load: 89

*AFTER MOD*
Idle: 42
Load: 64

This mod is amazing, That's all I can say. I thought it would bring a moderate decrease in temps, but I was so surprised.

The fan I used was a crappy 80mm CoolerMaster fan that's like 25CFM, I'm planning on getting two 50+ CFM 80mm fans and putting them on.

*How To:*

Power down, shut off and remove video card.
Flip the card on a flat, no conductive surface, with the fan facing down.
Remove the 8 screws from the back of the card, after they are off, remove the heatspreader.
Remove the two silver screws on the PCB, under the memory heatspreader.
Remove 2 black screws on the rear of the card near the DVI ports and the vent.
Remove the heatsink off the card. *Note, The thermal paste may have air bubble in it, which will keep the two sucked together, if this happends, just wiggle the card from left to right, until the suction is lifted.
Flip the heatsink over, and remove 5 silver screws.
Lift the plastic shroud off the heatsink, and repeat 1 to 6 backwards to put the card back together.
Lastly, just find a fan, and attatch it to the heatsink with zip ties, or some other fastener.










I suggest this to all!




















That looks good!!! Glad the mod worked out,we need more of these







.


----------



## action3500

Quote:


Originally Posted by *lawrencendlw* 
What did you use to make your bracket and where did you get the materials for it? I have been looking to get some stuff to make some mounts and brackets for various components in my case but haven't been able to find anything anywhere to do it with (In my defense, I do live in the middle of a forest in the middle of Washington state lol)


I believe it's called foamboard. I just walked into hobby store I had on local mall and picked it up. I had a lot of trouble with material as well, at first I wanted to use plastic, but it proved too hard to work with.

Foamboard is easy to work with, thick enough to have enough surface area to glue it to stock case and it's light.


----------



## lawrencendlw

Is it just like a thicker Styrofoam? If so then I think I will get some 1/8" or 1/16" clear (or smoked) Plexiglas and mold it with a heat gun to have it do what I want and then I can dill pilot holes and screw it to where I want, that way it will be a stronger surface and will let the LED's from the Yate loons I plan on using really shine through. Rep+ for the advice and Idea =D

Quote:


Originally Posted by *action3500* 
I believe it's called foamboard. I just walked into hobby store I had on local mall and picked it up. I had a lot of trouble with material as well, at first I wanted to use plastic, but it proved too hard to work with.

Foamboard is easy to work with, thick enough to have enough surface area to glue it to stock case and it's light.


----------



## lawrencendlw

If you blow air into the card then it will (if there is a shroud still) force the air out the back of the case and keep the inside of your case not so hot =D

Quote:


Originally Posted by *edisleado* 
so which way should the fans be blowing in? Which directions have yielded the best results for you guys? Both blowing in? Blowing out? Or one blowing in and the other out?


----------



## Shane1244

I forgot about this thread!


----------



## marketpantry

lol wow i am so trying this with my 6950!

******* engineering- computer edition.


----------



## Tori

is there a way to do it so when you remove the cover you don't have to take off the heatsink or w/e


----------



## Shane1244

Nope, unfortunately, There is not.


----------



## ZealotKi11er

Quote:


> Originally Posted by *marketpantry;14324614*
> lol wow i am so trying this with my 6950!
> 
> ******* engineering- computer edition.


You cant do that as the fins are closed and u cant mount a fan like in that GTX260.


----------



## CASEMODS

I put 2 80mm fans and my idle temp is 37c

but I would still rather have a legit 2-3 fan cooler that looks a lot better.


----------



## Wekker

This is -10 celsius on my GTX 260 ( GV-N26SO-896I )


----------

