Easy Homebrew 8800GT Cooling for Less Than $10 (or Free!)
Testing Results
Temperature testing was conducted in a my computer system that I use on a daily basis, IE not caseless in the open air on a desk. The system consists of an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3GHz seated on an Asus P5B Deluxe motherboard, 2GB of Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500 memory, two Western Digital 74GB Raptor hard drives... all in an Antec P182 case with an Antec NeoHE 550w power supply. The case was fitted with stock cooling, with all Antec Tricool fans set to low.
Temperature measurements were monitored using RivaTuner's hardware monitor tool. Simulated load was produced using ATITool's artifact checker. I'm using this to simulate load as I found that it would cause temperatures to rise the most, higher than any game I'm tested with. So in effect, the recorded testing results should be a worst-case scenario in terms of real world usage.
It should come as no surprise that the stock cooler with the fan running in auto mode (temperature variable) was the hottest, peaking at 93 degrees celcius load. It should be noted that on automatic, fan speed was running at approximately 30% when the video card was loaded. Noise wise, the fan on auto could not be heard over system noise at any point.
Upon setting the stock fan to run at 100% speed, temperatures dropped drastically to 51 degrees celcius idle and 73 degrees celcius on load, a whopping 9 and 20 degrees celcius drop respectively. Subjectively speaking, fan noise was loud at this point, being the loudest solution by far. As a user, I would only set the fan to 100% for testing purposes, as it's too loud and high pitch for daily usage.
Removing the shroud on the stock cooler actually resulted in higher temperatures, which confirms my hypothesis that the shroud is an important part in the cooler's operational design.
Changing the GPU's thermal compound to Tuniq TX-2 and adding the compound to the memory chips didn't really change temperatures much, with the idle reading staying the same and the load temperature dropping by just 1 degree celcius. It should be noted however that by adding thermal compound to all of the memory chips, contact between the heatsink and the chips greatly improved (remember that one chip wasn't even making any contact with the thermal pad). This in effect would increase the heat load on the heatsink. While temperature readings remained the same with the application of thermal compound, we can safely imply that by adding thermal compound, heat transfer to the heatsink improved. This should help extend the lifetime of the video card. For overclockers, reducing heat of the memory chips should help with memory overclocking.
In changing fans and using our homemade cardboard shroud, temperatures improved all around. When using the inaudible (over system noise) 34CFM fan, temperatures were just a few degrees over that of the stock cooler running at 100%. With the 45CFM fan, temperatures were cooler than the stock cooler at 100%. With the slower fan, we gained most of the thermal benefits of the stock cooler at 100%, but with no audible difference in overall system noise. With the higher output fan, system noise was increased slightly, but the thermal benefits were the best.
Conclusion
For owners of the 8800GT who are concerned about heat and noise and want an inexpensive fix, I recommend doing what I did: swapping fans and making a shroud. Most enthusiasts should have atleast one 80mm fan lying around, whether it's in an old case or power supply, and if you don't, they should cost less than $10 each at your local computer shop. Couple this with some thermal paste to improve the subpar thermal pad placement, and you'll have a cooler card that will live a longer life.
What's also nice about this simple mod is that it can be reverted back to factory stock state quickly, and doesn't require any permanant modifications to your hardware.
If you apply this mod to your 8800GT, or other video card for that matter, post a comment on your results. If you have any suggestions on other easy mods, let me know too!
Submitted by Gumby (not verified) on August 21, 2010 - 8:09pm. i attached a 80mm fan ontop
i attached a 80mm fan ontop on my shrowd and only got a 8 degree drop in idle
Submitted by samir (not verified) on July 25, 2010 - 7:18pm. nice post
nice post
Submitted by WW_Dagger (not verified) on May 24, 2010 - 2:03pm. Thanks for this article, I
Thanks for this article, I found this and did it after my stock fan died (except I cut out the original shroud instead of using cardboard with a dremel)It runs cooler than it did brand new!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on April 21, 2010 - 11:27am. I took off the shroud and
I took off the shroud and placed the stock cpu fan that came with my Q6600 blowing directly on the heatsink itself;
With OC 680core 1700 shader 975mem i idle at 54C with ambient 42C load is 65C (rivatuner values)
Submitted by arpi (not verified) on February 24, 2010 - 2:49pm. I've changed it like you
I've changed it like you described it and it works great. on load I get 70-72'C!! instead of 85-88'C
thanks!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 28, 2008 - 5:28pm. I found a similar solution,
I found a similar solution, without actually modifying the card at all. I just taped a 92mm case fan to the backside of the card blowing down on it. Dropped my load temps by 10deg. I find it a little disturbing that cooling the backside of the PCB made that much difference.
Submitted by JohnnyBob (not verified) on December 5, 2008 - 4:24pm. You can see the pictures of
You can see the pictures of how I did here
http://i4memory.com/f22/zalman-vf1000-4789/#post101276
Submitted by JohnnyBob (not verified) on December 5, 2008 - 1:25am. Okay I did some COD4 gamin
Okay I did some COD4 gamin and I was supprised to see that the temps are what I thought relatively low GPU 0 was at 53 and GPU 1 was at 47 after about 30 minutes of gameplay, sound good to You? It does to Me I know that much
I decided to run a Lil' steel fan that I have on the cards to see what if and while gaming it came down to 49 GPU 0 and 46 GPU 1
I think the top 1 runs a lil warmer cause of the creative X-Fi card being directly under it, with a setup like mine You will lose a pci slot
I have:
Asus Extreme Striker
Q6600 GO stepping
4GB Corsiar Dominator PC2-8500 1066 MHz running at 800 MHz
2 8800 GT running SLi mode
Submitted by JohnnyBob (not verified) on December 5, 2008 - 12:29am. I have 2 8800 GT setup in
I have 2 8800 GT setup in SLi mode, My friend came across this post when we were looking for cooling aftermarket cooling solutions for Grfx cards. Well to make along story short I spun off this Dudes idea but added a lil sumtin to it, I used to 80 mm fans, I took pictures for reference. I got home from Wholesale Computer supply at approx. 5:30 PM and I have just now completed the procedure to where it works flawlessly. I did however do something else a lil different with the fan setup. Like I said I used 2 80 mm fans but went a lil further and decided that I would leave the stock fan inside because when I got to looking at the way the blades were setup they are just designed to push the air strait trough the heat sink fins so I figured that I would set the fan over top of it pushing air onto it and the other fan directing heat out or if You would rather use the term exaust well do. My temps are phenominal and there is a huge difference, My buddy was thinking it might be a lil' bit of an air conflict at first but I decided to give it a try and Im glad I did but I owe My buddy alot of thanks cause He helped Me out the whole way through even though we are states apart We was using Yahoo Mssngr and Video Cam. My cards came OC'ed stock from BFG core 625 and shader 1566. My Pc was always shutting down on Me during gameplay on My COD4 server so last night I finally figured I had enough and I was gonna do something about it and tonight I did just that, I personally reccomend any1 trying this to take Your time bro and dont be stupid like Me and run drill bits through Your fingers and forget to make the holes big enough cause 1 u start cutton on the shroud it looses integrity and flexes and there were a few times I had to take the dang things back out and remove the shrouds and do some more cuttin'. I also reccomend that if You got a air compressor and a die grinder to use it instead of a dremmel, much faster ;)
Temps are 43 C at idle now I will come back and report what they are in game. Hope this helps somebody decide if they wanna do this or not
Later On Dudes!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on December 23, 2009 - 12:06pm. He removed the fan inside
He removed the fan inside the videocard to minimize the fan noise, so leaving it there and adding a fan on the outside will just make it noisier.
Submitted by i hav xfx 8800gt. how to remove the shroud? is it same? (not verified) on November 5, 2008 - 11:03am. i have XFX 8800gt alpha dog
i have XFX 8800gt alpha dog 512mb xxx edition gfx card..
i use a table fan with my case open because of various reasons:
It cools
1.motherboard (NB/SB)
2.CPU
3.RAM
4.GPU-Here is the Problem
4.:the Shroud on my XFX 8800gt doesnt let Table fan's air into the heatsink and so it renders my tabletop cooling soln. useless..
SO, HOW TO REMOVE SHROUD ON XFX 8800GT ALPHA DOG XXX?
Submitted by buy gil (not verified) on August 27, 2008 - 10:41am. Awesome guide mate. I've had
Awesome guide mate. I've had real trouble with this issue, being on a budget and all. I'll test out this one today and let you know how it works out for me.
Thanks again!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on February 4, 2008 - 7:12am. بالتأكيد That was
بالتأكيد That was great! And thankyou for your hard work, I too think that was too much thermal paste ^__^ , in the link, you'll see what we meant. http://xs224.xs.to/xs224/08061/instrct_tim426.jpg it's of a cpu but you get the idea... oh, you need to press down and twist a little on the heatsink to spread it well and move out any air.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 21, 2008 - 2:14am. Although that can cool your
Although that can cool your GT better, for about $20, my passive S1 runs 39 - 55. I also agree that too much thermal paste was used!
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 13, 2008 - 4:27pm. Your picture on page 3 shows
Your picture on page 3 shows you're using too much thermal
compound on the GPU. It should be applied much thinner,
the edge of a razor blade is a good tool for doing this.
Mark
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on January 11, 2008 - 5:13pm. You could also use a 120mm
You could also use a 120mm fan to get an even better cooling.
Submitted by Cooper (not verified) on May 3, 2009 - 1:30pm. The thing with a 120mm fan
The thing with a 120mm fan is that half of it would be blowing past the PCB of the video card because it's so large.
With that you would have to create some shroud or housing that directs the airflow, so else I dont think there would be enough flow over the heatsink.
You can do it, it's just a bit more work. It would make it quieter and probably provide a few degrees more cooling.
Submitted by Wilky (not verified) on January 10, 2008 - 5:56pm. Good article. Might be a
Good article. Might be a bit rough for some people. Although they could print a sticker out for the cardboard if they wanted! For me it is a great idea because I have a spare fan to hand and I will be giving it a go first thing. Happy to know that if it doesn't work I have lost nothing and gained the experience of taking a 8800gt heatsink off. Not bad for free.
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