Finally bought an AMD 7870

[Erick Aguilar]

I'll talk to XFX and hope for the best. In the mean time I'll try with another TIM in case this one wasn't all that good and see if there is any improvement.

As far as I remember, TIM does have a cure time to achieve it's maximum transfer rate as well, right?

 

[kbrady1979]

Some will have a fairly significant drop in temps after it has cured, and some will only drop a degree or two. I would try some mild gaming with it and keep an eye on temps.......might as well get some use out of it until you have to send it back, if it comes to that.

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Yeah, I also unplugged my second monitor to help temperatures go down a bit and later I will just randomly start less demanding games. Hopefully this tim does take its time to cure and causes a difference.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Goodluck on the new paste did you buy silver paste?

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Nah, the only paste available at my store was Cooler Master thermalfusion 400. But my current one was a no name paste. So I'll be sure to check if that has a big difference.

I just spoke to XFX and at first the agent was reluctant to let me open up the card since I was in Mexico, but then said ''you know what, go ahead and change the paste and resit the fan and heatsink, if it doesn't work we will issue an RMA for you''

So I guess it's good news..?

 

[Erick Aguilar]

I spoke once again with XFX to get details for the RMA process. I was told that since it can take a while for the whole process due being in another country that they would ship me a new shroud as the agent said that when it comes to overheating problems, the issue is down to bad cooling, either the fan, or the heatsink itself.

However, he DID say he would try sending a double dissipation chassis, but my card is the one fan core edition, I let him know this and he said it was a good question if you could put a DD shroud into a Core card. Does anybody happen to know if you can?

 

[Faladu]

Technically your card isn't even broken, you are going by temps ONLY?

You did clean the old thermal paste off the GPU AND the heatsink before applying the new stuff?

You should get good paste, no name is probably not a good idea, but I think you needed to adjust the fan(s) speed before even getting to that, first.

You were told temps in the 80s is OK, and you had hit max of 89 with high end games with high+ settings, of course the temp goes near it's MAX!

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Yeah, it's only temps. Performance is beautiful, but I cannot game with the stress of my card reaching the 90's and I rather not break the card if it's something simple. You never know when you will stop paying attention to temperature and suddenly get a black screen.

I bought the CM thermalfusion 400 paste and i'm getting it tomorrow night hopefully. Though I don't think it will bring my card from 100 back to 80's...

XFX sent the new cooler already, so hopefully all goes well.

 

[Dude]

Good luck, I hope it works out for you.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Good job can't wait for your results

 

[Faladu]

Erick, you got good airflow in that case/plenty of fans, and all working?

I recently had to replace one.... the one in the back was start/stop/start/stop...

That will help jack temps in a hurry....

I dont think jumping to near max on a couple games is a broken card, if the next one does same.....

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Erick, you got good airflow in that case/plenty of fans, and all working?

I recently had to replace one.... the one in the back was start/stop/start/stop...

That will help jack temps in a hurry....

I dont think jumping to near max on a couple games is a broken card, if the next one does same.....

I have the side panel removed and my room temperature is 20C.
But they are not sending a new card, just the heatsink because the tech believes the card can't be faulty just for temps. Then again when I replaced the tim the temperatures got wild. The tech does't know about that, he didn't blame me for a bad heatsink installation, but it could have been that the TIM I used isn't all that good.

Not to mention that when I remove the heatsink to try another application.. it seems that the paste is not pressed equally on the GPU. There seems to be more paste towards one corner of the GPU than the other. I guess that's why the first time I removed the heatsink there was a heck of a load of TIM from the fabric.

 

[Dude]

Erick,
You have went through a lot for your new card, if your not happy with what they send you then consider ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III VGA Cooler

 

[Solarstarshines]

Erick,
You have went through a lot for your new card, if your not happy with what they send you then consider ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III VGA Cooler

I need to order two for reference visiontek 7970's but there hella expensive 79.00 a piece and I read a review where one guy changed his and card was DOA

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Thank you guys.

In all honesty I don't know where I would be able to get that cooler for a cheap enough price. I will probably cost half of a7870 here in mexico.

Besides, I don't believe I should trade off a possible defective card for a VGA cooler. I mean. This card is supposed to run cool with it's heatsink.

 

[Faladu]

I would just get high end thermal paste and go that route first, sounds like you just didn't have its heatsink/fan back on perfectly, as suspected. If you didn't use the recommended cleaning fare for the paste either, that would be an additional factor.

 

[Erick Aguilar]

I would just get high end thermal paste and go that route first, sounds like you just didn't have its heatsink/fan back on perfectly, as suspected. If you didn't use the recommended cleaning fare for the paste either, that would be an additional factor.

I followed the same process I do for my CPU, and that is effective.

Anywho, I will go pick up the new paste today and give it another try.

 

[Faladu]

Trouble is that the heatsink/fan on video card is a lot more susceptible to poor tightness, you did think it was kind of odd that it had springs with the screws, right?

 

[Erick Aguilar]

Trouble is that the heatsink/fan on video card is a lot more susceptible to poor tightness, you did think it was kind of odd that it had springs with the screws, right?

No, I didn't think it was kind of odd. I appreciate your help.. but it certainly isn't the first time I open up a GPU. The screws won't turn any more, and I know the next push will make a distinctive and painful sound.

 

[Faladu]

*cheers!* Just checking!!

Other people read these things.... I really don't advise messing with the heatsinks/fans on cards today, UNLESS you have an issue.

You were paranoid a little from too much knowledge from what I gather.

But I do wish they wouldn't cut corners on thermal paste, ARGH! $2 more on a $400 card (what I paid for mine, at the time) although I didn't take this bad boy apart, yet, so not confirmed in this case, but this one has two fans and heavy duty feel, I am not going there, unless I have to (fingers crossed), temps have been very normal, but I do not OC, but have run plenty of games that push cards.

V-Sync (fullscreen gaming) is your video card's buddy, use wisely.