AIW 9700 Heat Problems?

[budd_wm]

Ok, I've been having heat problems with my AIW 9700. I have a 92mm fan blowing right on the card. It seems that the only part of the card that gets hot is the VPU (the back of the card where the VPU is is too hot to touch after playing a game). I can play most games fine, but some games like Morrowind or Soldier of Fortune II will make the card too hot in a matter of a few minutes. I will get a system beep from the mobo speaker when it gets too hot and then shortly the whole system locks up unless I quit the game (if I quit the game, all is fine).

I watercool my entire system (except PCI/AGP devices), and I am sure the rest is cool. Even if I keep my case open, the card still gets too hot on that one point. When removing the heatsink to the AIW, it seems that the shim is not allowing the heatsink to make direct contact to the VPU. So it would seem I have two options: 1. Removing the shim. 2. Watercooling as the waterblock is small enough to fit right on the VPU.

There is a slight problem with watercooling though. The waterblock is so small that I'm afraid it will not provide enough cooling to the entire card, though it should for the VPU alone. My question is, do you guys think it will be enough if I watercool it and have the 92mm fan blowing right on it from the window? Do you think the problem is due to heat? Also note I have RMAed the card because I thought this was a problem specific to the card and not a heat issue. But I get the exact same thing with the replacement. Anyway, I'd appreciate any info if anyone else has experienced this or has any suggestions.

[muzz]

Well I never had an AIW, but I knew what the problem was B4 you said it, not uncommon for the hsf not to make good contact ( and thats bs if ya ask me).
I removed the shim and installed a wb on my 9700p , and never had a problem with it.

You shouldn't have any problem with watercooling the card, as I don't believe the hsf does much if anything at all for the rest of the card ( besides a little incidental cooling)........
Just make sure the WB makes good contact, I had my block milled around the shim, then I just took that dumb thing off( I slid a razor knife gently[ and just a little] under the edges and lifted it off slowly and carefully.... it came right off with just a little effort).

Good Luck

[budd_wm]

Well, I removed the shim. Heatsink makes direct contact now. Still get the beep in Morrowind though. I have run various memory and CPU tests to make sure it isn't anything else in the system. I'm also going to try another video card just to see if it will happen with it. I'm beginning to think this is a problem specifically with Morrowind and not the fault of my system or the card. However, I get this in Soldier of Fortune II as well (or did once). I dunno...anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Dazz]

You might want to contact ATi and see what can be done about the problem.

[budd_wm]

Well, I'm not so sure it's a problem with the card now. In a way I guess it is. I think it's draining my 5v line on my PSU, but I'll have to monitor it to be sure. That's the only thing I can think of that could be causing the system beeps. I will also try another video card tonight just to see if it happens...it's hard to believe it would be the PSU though as it's a 480W...

[muzz]

I have that exact PSU, and ran that 9700p at 460/360 without issue.... running an 8RDA+ at 1.9v+ and OC'ing my 2600/333 ( 2083mhz) to 2600Mhz.
Dunno what the issue with yours is, but if you have another vcard ( even a pci one ) I would try that and see if it still happens.

[budd_wm]

Another thing to add. Before I removed the shim to my AIW, a few seconds after the beep, the whole system would lock up. Now when I play the game, I get the beep, but it doesn't lock up. But I will get the beep like every 4 min. Never locks up though. I played Morrowind for 30 min. I can play UT2003 for hours and not one beep (max details, etc). So it seems it is now just with Morrowind. I haven't tested Soldier of Fortune II yet, but at work right now so I can't. So what do you guys think?

[GlowStick]

My friend who switched over to a Koolance watercooling case. He did have unusually heating problems with everything else, because he had no air flow though his case.

Do you still have sufficint air flow thouhg your case???

The fan blowing on your card makes me think it could some some kind of issue, i dont think they normaly do that.

[budd_wm]

Originally posted by GlowStick
The fan blowing on your card makes me think it could some some kind of issue, i dont think they normaly do that.

?? I don't understand what you are saying here. I don't think it's a heat issue though. The card does not get terribly hot anymore like it did.

Muzz, when you said you were running at 1.9v, were you talking about overvolting the AGP?? That's a huge overvolt if so.

[muzz]

No I was running vcore at 1.9 at the time I was running 2600mhz.........
I believe I was benching my 8RDA+ at 1.6-1.7v agp, and about 73mhz agp.

[budd_wm]

Ok, well I finally figured out the problem. My mobo has something called a Dual Power Voltage Regulator Module, supposed to enable 6 phase power on my mobo. Well I took that puppy off, fired up the system, and lo and behold, no beep on Morrowind. Overclocked my system back to where it was, and still no beep. I played Morrowind for 2 hours without a prob. So guess I'll have to keep the DPVRM off, but no big loss. I'm just glad it's working.

[GlowStick]

Ya, is it the chaintech or gigabyte boards that have it?

review sites said it dosent do anything for you, so they recomend to not use it.

[budd_wm]

Yeah, but it's good I had this problem or I would have never removed the shim on my AIW. Now I am overclocking and have it at 360/345. I'm getting 5300 marks in 3DMark2003. :D

[muzz]

Glad ya found out what it was budd.........
Like ya said that shim was worthless anyhow, and the worst thing ATi has done to their top line cards IMO.

Enjoy bruh.