Hardware

Add heatsinks and a fan to the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro

By // December 13, 2006, 5:14 AM PST // billdetwiler

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  • New heatsinks and fan

    Webshots member Bridgeboy69 wanted an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to perform more like the higher-priced ATI Radeon 9800 XT. To this end, he added a larger heatsink, new memory heatsinks, and a cooling fan to his Radeon 9800 Pro.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Stock GPU Cooler Removed: View of R360 Core

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • The R360 Core with mirror finish

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Modifying the new heatsink

    Shaved area of Shim Contact with a Dremel High Speed Cutter

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Cleaning up the new heatsink

    The results of lapping the bearing area....a nice reflective finish!

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Heatsink and GPU

    The shaved area shown next to the card....the heat sink will now rest on the GPU and not on the shim.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Thermal compound and silicone adhesive

    Gold thermal compound on the memory chips and dabs of silicone on the circuit board adhere the oversized heatsinks.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Thermaltake heatsink

    The Thermaltake Volcano 10 285-gram copper heatsink fitted to the GPU

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Heatsink and wires

    In this photo, the Volcano 10 is mounted with the original black push-pins. I later switched them out with bolts, nuts, and nylon washers for more pressure.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • New memory heatsinks

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Another shot of the memory heatsinks

    Memory heatsinks on the back of the PCB

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Heatsink attached with bolts and double nuts

    Double-nuts on the back side to prevent them from vibrating loose.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Modded card installed

    The new GPU Coler completely covers up two PCI slots.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

  • Finished product

    I added an extra fan to circulate air across the back of the card and the rear memory heatsinks.

    © Webshots - Bridgeboy69

New heatsinks and fan

Webshots member Bridgeboy69 wanted an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to perform more like the higher-priced ATI Radeon 9800 XT. To this end, he added a larger heatsink, new memory heatsinks, and a cooling fan to his Radeon 9800 Pro.

© Webshots - Bridgeboy69

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By Bill Detwiler

Bill Detwiler is Editor in Chief of TechRepublic and Tech Pro Research and the host of Cracking Open, CNET and TechRepublic's popular online show. Prior to joining TechRepublic in 2000, Bill was an IT manager, database administrator, and desktop supp...