Thought I'd Share My Adventure Today

[byalexandr]

So I was looking at different cooling solutions for my 290, since the reference cooler sucks. I decided to follow this gem of a guide that I found, except I would use a Seidon 120V for the cooler instead of a 120M, which was the main reason I didn't succeed (at least today, so far everything is fine still).

 

This is part two but there are two parts, so watch it through both for this to make any sense:

 

 

So I got home and shut off my PC, took apart everything, and replaced my i3's Seidon 120V with the stock cooler, so I could use it for the 290. Then came the 'no turning back point' where I removed the warranty void stickers on the screw and took apart the card. Very cool, this was my first time actually taking apart a GPU at this tier of performance.

 

I cleaned off the thermal paste, moved the thermal pads back to the PCB and took off the fan and plastic-y parts so I could bake the heatsink. I tossed it in the oven on broil for like 15 minutes, and the heatsink and copper plate came right off. Also pretty cool, my dad thought so as well.

 

So after that I cut out the hole where the block and pump sit, and cleaned up the remaining aluminum plate, and put the card back together. Now I had a 290 that was basically everything except the heatsink and the mounting posts for it. So far so good.

 

After getting back to my room, I prepared the cooler... With zip ties. That was a big mistake, as I found out today that despite what others have done, zip ties are a TERRIBLE way to mount a cooler. That coupled with the fact that I put WAY too much thermal paste lead to the card not being cooled properly once I put it in my system. The zip ties DO NOT have enough mounting tension and was a stupid idea anyways, since tightening them wouldn't even fit the cooler better, it actually made it sit farther from the die.

 

I turned on my PC, not knowing this yet, and booted up Windows. Slowly the fan ramped up, and then HIT THE HYPERDRIVE AND SCREAMED AT ME, then the screen shut off. I thought this was because of the excessive thermal paste, but it was because the cooler wasn't even cooling the GPU die. I ripped it out of my system and promised myself I would never use zip ties to mount a cooler ever again.

 

So you may be asking, is the GPU dead? Of course not (at least I hope it's not). I just need to mount the cooler better. In fact, I will swap it out with my dad's cooler tomorrow and see if that block mounts better, since it is a different type of block. Right now the card is sitting on my desk with the shroud screwed back on until tomorrow, just so I don't lose anything. And I bought this card secondhand and it was a few years old already, so any warranty I voided didn't exist anymore, just so you people don't get mad at me (although it is inevitable).

 

So that was my miraculous journey today, and I still haven't done my homework. Dammit.

[byalexandr]

Oh, I would love to post pictures, as I did take some, but my Windows Phone is being slightly retarded today.

[thekeemo]

if you cut a hole you may need a new heatsink 

[byalexandr]

if you cut a hole you may need a new heatsink 

I can pick up another reference one on eBay, those are easy to find. I still plan on using this one, just mounting the cooler better so it actually works this time.

[thekeemo]

I can pick up another reference one on eBay, those are easy to find. I still plan on using this one, just mounting the cooler better so it actually works this time.

ic it doesn't I may or may not be selling one...

[Notree]

Gpu's shutdown when they reach thermal limit. Time to find some good mounting Hardware I guess eh.,

[The_Stig]

 

 

After getting back to my room, I prepared the cooler... With zip ties. That was a big mistake, as I found out today that despite what others have done, zip ties are a TERRIBLE way to mount a cooler. That coupled with the fact that I put WAY too much thermal paste lead to the card not being cooled properly once I put it in my system. The zip ties DO NOT have enough mounting tension and was a stupid idea anyways, since tightening them wouldn't even fit the cooler better, it actually made it sit farther from the die.

 

Using zip-ties to mount a cooling solution on a piece of expensive computer hardware. I feel like I've seen that before.

Linus would be proud

[byalexandr]

ic it doesn't I may or may not be selling one...

Lol well if I may or may not need one I'll message you

 

 

Gpu's shutdown when they reach thermal limit. Time to find some good mounting Hardware I guess eh.,

Yep, mine started screaming like a bat from hell (as it usually does when the fan reaches 100%) and the screen shut off. I didn't think of what was going on as I was too busy trying to shut the PC off, but I later figured it was because of the thermal limits.

 

 

Using zip-ties to mount a cooling solution on a piece of expensive computer hardware. I feel like I've seen that before.

Linus would be proud

I want to slap Linus right now for 'teaching' me this. Although it was at my own risk and it was quite fun... But I did have a terrible feeling putting a GPU cooler in the oven and cutting it with a Dremel... My heart sank as well when the card started doing odd things like it did.