Solved - Thermal pad for vrms on the 4870 stock plate

[SSChevy2001]

While taking off my HS on the 4870 I noticed that the vrm thermal pad was starting to break apart on one side. Is there anywhere to buy a replacment thermal pad?

 

[thilanliyan]

I noticed the same. I just sorta put the crumbs back and put some AS MX-2 thermal compound to full up any holes left. Not the most elegant or best solution but seems to be alright so far.

 

[SSChevy2001]

Mine a little to beat up right now to reuse, so I was kind of looking for suggestions to replace it.

If I order this thermal pad will it work?
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ekwathpadmo.html

 

[Hauk]

Originally posted by: SSChevy2001
Mine a little to beat up right now to reuse, so I was kind of looking for suggestions to replace it.

If I order this thermal pad will it work?
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/ekwathpadmo.html

Looks like a decent solution. 1mm thickness though.. wonder if it's thick enough. Doubling it up maybe?

 

[SSChevy2001]

Originally posted by: Hauk
Looks like a decent solution. 1mm thickness though.. wonder if it's thick enough. Doubling it up maybe?

Might have to do that, but even the price of this stuff is expensive. It would cost over $8 total once you add shipping.

Anyway I found sweet deal on ebay for 3 tim pads and a nice set of iandh 4870 ram and vrm HS for $20 including shipping. Guess now I have to think if I want to go the full route and buy a accelero twin turbo, or go back to the stock fan.

 

[Nafets]

A long while back, I used the iandh HD4870 cooling kit on my reference HD4870 512MB, along with an Accelero S1.

VRM cooling was highly ineffective, with that useless, thin aluminum heatsink. It's just not enough surface area to properly dissipate the heat coming off the VRMs.

Stick with the stock cooler, if you have any doubts. Or use the stock memory/VRM cooling plate along with the Accelero Twin Turbo, which is another good alternative...

 

[thilanliyan]

Make sure you have a fan pointing in the VRM area. I've read somewhere else that there's a hole in the stock baseplate right under the fan that cools some other chip(s)...maybe the VITEC one? I'm not really sure which one it is myself. I'm thinking of putting a thin piece of copper there sandwiched between the VRMs and the baseplate.

What is the baseplate made of anyway? Steel? It didn't feel like it was aluminum for sure...and I doubt they would make the whole baseplate out of copper since that would be expensive.

 

[Nafets]

The hole in the stock cooling plate is mainly for PCB height reasons.

The tall VITEC inductor and PULSE vrm modules have large surface areas, and do not require any extra cooling.

The stock cooling plate is a big slab of steel. Just what is needed for those pesky hot VRMs...

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Nafets
The hole in the stock cooling plate is mainly for PCB height reasons.

The tall VITEC inductor and PULSE vrm modules have large surface areas, and do not require any extra cooling.

Are you sure that's what the hole is for? I can't remember exactly which thread it was at XS (maybe the one showing the iandh heatsinks for the 1st time) and it was mentioned that those chips, although they don't require heatsinks on them, need airflow.

EDIT: Here's the thread:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/f...ad.php?t=194121&page=2

Here's a pic:
http://img413.imageshack.us/im.../2987/withblockga9.jpg

The Vitec ship is showing through the baseplate there. It could be because of height issues but from the thread I linked to, it apparently does need airflow.

 

[SSChevy2001]

Yeah the more I think about it the more I'm just going to stick with the stock reference fan. Would be nice to have the card a little more silent, but the VRM do run alot better with the stock cooler.

 

[thilanliyan]

Yeah I was thinking of somehow making a custom cooler for it but I figure it's doing a decent job right now. The VRMs get to about 75C-80C at 40% fan speed (with the fan partially blocked by the waterblock) while gaming and that seems good enough...although I'd rather see 50C .

 

[Nafets]

By "extra cooling", I meant you don't need to put heatsinks on them.

In all likelyhood, there will always be some moderate airflow over those large PCB components, either with the stock cooler, or if you used something like an Accelero Twin Turbo...