Hi,

I have a retail radeon 9000pro built by ATI which I've modded with a silent heatsink and it has run fine and still does, but it has a small problem playing certain formats of video. Its definately the culprit, but since its modded, I don't know if ATI will honor the warranty. The only thing I did was pry off the original HSF and attach a passive heatsink of the same size. I do plan to reattach the original HSF before sending it back so it will be just like stock, except I will use arctic silver epoxy to reattach it as I have nothing else in the form of epoxy. I was thinking maybe some other SPCR's have done this since replacing the stock heatsink should be pretty common around here and I was looking for some feedback. Any experiences, comments, or suggestions?

Thanks,

-Ken

I've done it. Just put it back on (make sure to plug the fan in) I really doubt they go through the trouble to pull the HSF off and check the grease.

are you sure that it is a hardware problem? having "problem playing certain formats of video" doesn't sound like a hardware fault to me. it is rather a driver/codec fault. are you sure you have the right codecs (divx, xvid, ogg/ogm, wmv, mov, rm) to play those videos? have you tried playing those videos on another pc?

Appreciate the concern and suggestions hadro, but I have already considered the possibility and tried many things to fix it software wise, including a full format fresh install of windows xp. I've also installed a radeon 9600pro (currently running as I type this) and the problem is gone, install the 9000pro and its right back. To tell the truth I think I scraped a bit too much when I was trying to get the thermal epoxy off the gpu and hit copper...I stopped immediately but I may have damaged the part of the die that is used to accelerate video...which would explain why I get a thin vertical red or green line down the center of the screen when playing certain types of videos (such as divx or DVD). Thanks for the comment rusty, sure makes me feel a bit better . I think it'll be fine myself.

-Ken

no probs. based on your description it is the 9000 fault in one way or another. although the chances for scraping a piece off from the die with the card still working are very unlikely think about those broken corners from the athlon dies.