Can Arctic Silver 5 be used on an XFX 7600GT?

By Gary2MBz
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Gary2MBz

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Title is the bottom line. Recently here in L.A. we have some hot weather and because of that my room can become as hot as a sauna. In the evenings it gets cooler but since the building material is asbestos, it traps heat. All the components in my PC stay cool in that heat except for my GPU. It has gotten so hot as I'm typing this post I'm scared to turn it on and don't need confirmation of SpeedFan or Everest either. It felt close to boiling hot and it didn't burn my finger but I flinched on the touch. So is it possible if I can use my AC5 to remove the stock paste/tape and apply it? I can't afford a 3rd party cooler sadly so this may be my only option. I cool it off using frozen butter packages sandwitched between 2 napkins on top and bottom and within minutes becomes the same temperatures.

Specific info on my GPU:

XFX 7600GT XXX edition PVT73AUDE3 AGP 8x

256MB VRAM and PCI-E variant specs unlike the crappier ones back in 2006.

Nvidia Windows 7 WHQL 186.18 Aero enabled and on balanced power plan

System specs are in sig as well.

Thanks

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StevoJD

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Artic Silver 5 did miracles for me on a Radeon X800GTO that was running way too hot and freezing all the time, I took off the heatsink and cleaned out the solution, applied some AS5 and just like magic there's no more freezing ever. Definitely do it.

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Gary2MBz

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BTW Bad news, my fan is dead afterall. I'll apply some tomorrow then thanks. I just wanted to be sure because I remember reading different paste is better for different parts.

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Gary2MBz

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Unfortunately It is still hot to the touch even after 2 reapplyings just to be sure it wasn't a fluke. Any ideas whether or not it is worth replacing the stock HSF with this?

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StevoJD

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If you're going to spend that much on a VGA cooler why not just get a new video card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102814

or this could be a cheaper alternative:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835186017

If I were you I'd just replace the video card altogether, something has to be wrong for it to running that hot. Maybe it's still covered by XFX's warranty?

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iamwhoiam

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Unfortunately It is still hot to the touch even after 2 reapplyings just to be sure it wasn't a fluke. Any ideas whether or not it is worth replacing the stock HSF with this?

That's a good HSF. Definitely better than stock and a lot better than that dead fan.

Grand Master

+Mystic MVC

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If you're going to spend that much on a VGA cooler why not just get a new video card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102814

or this could be a cheaper alternative:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835186017

If I were you I'd just replace the video card altogether, something has to be wrong for it to running that hot. Maybe it's still covered by XFX's warranty?

Probably out of warranty now but I'm with you on this one. Half the money spent on a VGA cooler could be applied to say a Radeon 4770 which will run cool and pretty quiet. I helped a friend install one today and it is doing marvels for his gaming now.

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Gary2MBz

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If you're going to spend that much on a VGA cooler why not just get a new video card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814102814

or this could be a cheaper alternative:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16835186017

If I were you I'd just replace the video card altogether, something has to be wrong for it to running that hot. Maybe it's still covered by XFX's warranty?

I would do the same but look at how slow the memory interface is for that much VRAM and the DDR2 makes it even worse. I got this one for the speed and at the time and still is today the best bang for your buck. I'd rather stay with this as well since my PSU is pretty much being fully or 90% used. Link to Specs I have an X-Fi XtremeMusic in there as well as a D-Link DGE-530T which has better driver support for Vista than the SiS 900 built in plus I now have Gigabit Full Duplex. My only workaround for now to the temporary passive cooling is to place my room fan next to the tower and I don't mind that but thanks for the suggestions. I doubt my card will be in warranty since I applied AS5 even though it is lifelong.

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StevoJD

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If you haven't changed the stock cooler then I don't know how XFX could know that you changed the thermal paste.

Just go through with the warranty and see what happens.. If not get a 3rd party heatsink.

Also you never mentioned the temperature of your video card exactly. Is it freezing or artifacting? Check the temperature because video cards normally run hot. My old 8600GT always used to burn me when I touched it but the temps stayed at around 60C and it never gave me any problems. Don't just base off the "overheating" problem by touching the video card.

I'm in Texas and it's been getting over 100 F here lately, and our AC is broke so I have to use a fan and it hardly cools my room but yet my PC temps are alright. :p I'm surprised I haven't passed out or gotten a heatstroke yet.

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Gary2MBz

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If you haven't changed the stock cooler then I don't know how XFX could know that you changed the thermal paste.

Just go through with the warranty and see what happens.. If not get a 3rd party heatsink.

Also you never mentioned the temperature of your video card exactly. Is it freezing or artifacting? Check the temperature because video cards normally run hot. My old 8600GT always used to burn me when I touched it but the temps stayed at around 60C and it never gave me any problems. Don't just base off the "overheating" problem by touching the video card.

I'm in Texas and it's been getting over 100 F here lately, and our AC is broke so I have to use a fan and it hardly cools my room but yet my PC temps are alright. :p I'm surprised I haven't passed out or gotten a heatstroke yet.

The SpeedFan temperatures reported as of this post is 70-73^C. No freezing or artifacting has occurred and I am honestly surprised it still works, Aero still works flawlessly. Like I said my room becomes a Sauna reaching temperatures of 110 on a 90 day, the building material is asbestos so it loves to absorb heat. By the time it is night, the room will barely cool down to 75 degrees.

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