Modification of a Radeon HD 4350 graphics card

[Lava King]

Hello all,

I made a video of modifying a graphics card where I removed the noisy fan and replaced it with a huge heat sink.

Critique is welcomed, what could I have shown or left out, what needs further explanation, etc.




Thanks!

 

[Stephanie]

Lava King That was wonderful ! the video is so clear and what a great mod, I found myself smiling as watching you have a very nice clear voice

 

[vrosa]

Hello all,

I made a video of modifying a graphics card where I removed the noisy fan and replaced it with a huge heat sink.

Critique is welcomed, what could I have shown or left out, what needs further explanation, etc.




Thanks!

Nice mod !

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Haha, Looks good. Although that heatsink seems a bit gargantuan. I approve this mods. I always approve.

Some feedback:

when you start making holes in the heat sink, it's better if you first give the tips about lubricant and whatnot and then drill once and skip to next step.

Also, I would have looked into using thick double-coated tape instead of screws, or heck, even insulated metal wire wrapped around the heatsink and card with and rubber "feet" on the heatsink to keep it from crushing the GPU die (like you did with this project too).
Consider that not everyone has all that equipment (or even the skill to use it), and that you can buy fanless GPU coolers already for relatively cheap, like this. (although it's not guaranteed to work on every single card of its compatibility list)

And maybe running a few numbers for your device's TDP (or power draw in case of a GPU) before finding and installing the sink might help finding one that works but isn't so gargantuan (especially useful for people with a smaller case).
But I have to admit that while I could do that, I find it too annoying, this calculator and this can be of assistance.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Excellent Lava King good job on the install and video

 

[A Guy]

Wow, you went all out. I just cheated and added an Accelero S1

A Guy

 

[Lava King]

Lava King That was wonderful ! the video is so clear and what a great mod, I found myself smiling as watching you have a very nice clear voice

Thank you very much! I may be blushing...

Nice mod !

Thank you!

Haha, Looks good. Although that heatsink seems a bit gargantuan. I approve this mods. I always approve.

Some feedback:

when you start making holes in the heat sink, it's better if you first give the tips about lubricant and whatnot and then drill once and skip to next step.

...snip...

Bigger is *always* better!

You're right about showing the tips and tricks first and then doing the procedure only once, you'll notice that's what I did when it came to the tapping. However, I just didn't think about it when I was drilling until I got to the last hole.

The other points you make are all valid, but the main thing about my video was that I used what I had on hand. The only thing that I had to buy was the #43 drill bit (less than $5).

Excellent Lava King good job on the install and video

Thank you!

 

[Dude]

Great vid Lava King, thanks for sharing.

 

[Lava King]

Wow, you went all out. I just cheated and added an Accelero S1

A Guy

That's a good looking install with lots of nice pictures. I like!

As I mentioned in the video, I could have gotten a passively cooled Radeon HD 6450 for $40US or an HD 5450 for $30US so it really wasn't a money thing...just didn't see a reason to replace a card that suited my needs.

Several years ago when I bought the HD 4350, my HTPC was based on an Athlon 64 3500+ with an Nvidia 6200 TC that struggled to play Blu-Ray discs. After installation of the HD 4350 there wasn't any video that the system couldn't play. Unfortunately, the motherboard succumbed to the dreaded capacitor bloat so it was replaced with the Pentium Dual Core E6500 that you see in the video.

I don't know why, but I have a fondness for that ol' Socket 939 board. Maybe I'll replace the capacitors and make a video...

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Bwhahah, you can make a socket 939 with SOLID-STATE capacitors and keep using it forever. :devil:

On a more serious note, I did replace capacitors every now and then (on high-end boards) before they came up with solid-state capacitors that don't really fail that way (if at all).

 

[Indianatone]

Good mod and a very instructive, informative video. Well done. I love passive cooled video cards. I have 3 Giga-Bytes with huge heatsinks but they are totally silent. I did not mod them I bought them that way. It helps to have the gear in the garage like you do.