Secure Mounting for a VM-101
Posted: Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:09 am
Just installed a VM-101 on the 9600 Pro and also added VGA memory chipsinks. As suspected, the chipsinks have minimal effect on the performance (no change in maximum memory overclock), but those on the backside (upper in my conventional tower Sonata) make a dandy support for the VM-101 fins.
By luck these sinks from a carved up old CPU HSF are the perfect height at 12mm. They're intentionally oriented with their ribs perpendicular to the VM-101's fins for support. The heatpipes are very lightly preloaded, pressing the fins against the three sinks in contact. Result is that the seemingly precarious VM-101 now feels quite secure and much less likely to be damaged by handling.
Here's a closeup photo of the contact area:
Clearances worked out well to the 7000B and NB32J on this motherboard. VM-101 is about 1/4" from NB32J with heatpipes adjusted for maximum contact in the mounting block:
And on the heatpipe side, too. I used plenty of Aerocool's thermal goop here, and a tiny bit of AS5 on the GPU interface.
Since the 9600 Pro doesn't have a temp sensor, I used overclock performance as an indication of thermal performance. Video core went from 400 to 580 MHz - 45% increase! That OC gave a corresponding increase in 3DMark05 score. Max OC with the whinny stock HSF had been about 460 MHz. So the case fans at 5V are apparently doing a great job of dissipating heat from the VM-101:
A very pleasant surprise was that System (case) temperatures have been slightly cooler (26/32C) with this addition; no change in the reasonable CPU (35/50) and PWM (38/57) temps. Of course, the best benefit is video cooling silence!
(Apologies if these images don't appear within this post - still getting the hang of BB Code.)
By luck these sinks from a carved up old CPU HSF are the perfect height at 12mm. They're intentionally oriented with their ribs perpendicular to the VM-101's fins for support. The heatpipes are very lightly preloaded, pressing the fins against the three sinks in contact. Result is that the seemingly precarious VM-101 now feels quite secure and much less likely to be damaged by handling.
Here's a closeup photo of the contact area:
Clearances worked out well to the 7000B and NB32J on this motherboard. VM-101 is about 1/4" from NB32J with heatpipes adjusted for maximum contact in the mounting block:
And on the heatpipe side, too. I used plenty of Aerocool's thermal goop here, and a tiny bit of AS5 on the GPU interface.
Since the 9600 Pro doesn't have a temp sensor, I used overclock performance as an indication of thermal performance. Video core went from 400 to 580 MHz - 45% increase! That OC gave a corresponding increase in 3DMark05 score. Max OC with the whinny stock HSF had been about 460 MHz. So the case fans at 5V are apparently doing a great job of dissipating heat from the VM-101:
A very pleasant surprise was that System (case) temperatures have been slightly cooler (26/32C) with this addition; no change in the reasonable CPU (35/50) and PWM (38/57) temps. Of course, the best benefit is video cooling silence!
(Apologies if these images don't appear within this post - still getting the hang of BB Code.)