AS5 application XFX 7950 problem

[YouWhat]

realistically you will need to use something to clean off the old stuff, there are fine grooves in the heatsink, it might look all shiny and smooth, but they are there, kind of like the grain of the metal, and when your heatsink warms up the paste will get into these little grooves and when it cools off, it stays there, which can effect your temps again, to what extent I don't really know, and it the same with the lid on the GPU chip.

You will need to use some sort of cleaning fluid whether it be TIM Clean or Arcticlean (Arctic Silver cleaning solutions) or some other stuff eg IPA, (my neighbor uses lighter fluid, I have advised him not to though as it will leave a fine film of greasy residue behind, which why his temps are always higher than what I get), but it should really be done.

 

[hawkinsa21]

Thanks YouWhat. When I do the AIO cooler mod I will make sure I do a full cleaning job and have new TIM for it.

Still interested to know if anyone can recommend VRM heatsinks or pads

Alex

 

[YouWhat]

Not had any experience with them, but if they like most other Koolance products, they should be good

http://koolance.com/video-ram-heat-sinks

And quick google search threw me to this page, so you can get good idea of what it about

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g40/c21/list/p1/Air_Cooling-VGA_HeatsinksCoolers.html

 

[hawkinsa21]

Not had any experience with them, but if they like most other Koolance products, they should be good

http://koolance.com/video-ram-heat-sinks

And quick google search threw me to this page, so you can get good idea of what it about

http://www.frozencpu.com/cat/l2/g40/c21/list/p1/Air_Cooling-VGA_HeatsinksCoolers.html

Thanks buddy, I'll have a read now

Alex

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I like the idea of the self adhesive. Makes things easier. Amazon do a very similar type in UK.

Cheers

 

[hawkinsa21]

Ordered some Noctua NT-H1, in the post

Temps with that AS5 are idling at around 68 degrees now. Eek.

 

[YouWhat]

Ordered some Noctua NT-H1, in the post

Temps with that AS5 are idling at around 68 degrees now. Eek.

Just bare with it, just have to use MS Paint for couple of days till it arrives , but remember to clean the block down before putting new thermal paste on it.

 

[hawkinsa21]

Just bare with it, just have to use MS Paint for couple of days till it arrives , but remember to clean the block down before putting new thermal paste on it.

LOL, I did hit 74 degrees watching a youtube video... gotta lay off those HD settings

Will certainly clean it off before reapplying

 

[SuB]

this sounds nuts dude. Take some photos if your paste application when you next take the block off please. prior to putting everything back together.

 

[hawkinsa21]

this sounds nuts dude. Take some photos if your paste application when you next take the block off please. prior to putting everything back together.

Roger that, will do so this evening. I need to do something otherwise temps could rise even higher

 

[hawkinsa21]

Hmmm. Either the last application did this straight away or its done it during the cure

 

[YouWhat]

Roger that, will do so this evening. I need to do something otherwise temps could rise even higher

I got the perfect thing for you....

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4250090.htm



This is what your PC case will be like by time your finished....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf9N7qpwiO0



Seriously though, something is definately wrong.

 

[hawkinsa21]

Lol I've been so close to putting a desk fan pointing at the open case it ain't even funny ;-)

 

[cooperman]

Hmmm. Either the last application did this straight away or its done it during the cure

http://i.imgur.com/m10y3Dz.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/iu2laMb.jpg

Thats far too much paste tbh you dont need even 1/2 the ammount you have on there.

 

[hawkinsa21]

Thats far too much paste tbh you dont need even 1/2 the ammount you have on there.

Yeah, this was the previous 'last ditch' attempt, the other applications in various methods also failed. This was applying a bit to the heat sink and the GPU, so yeah probably about twice as much as needed. I was running out of ideas. I think I need to accept that the paste is duff.

New stuff on the way anyhow

 

[hawkinsa21]

Plot thickens. Got my Noctua NT-H1, applied carefully after a full clean down. Now the GPU signal isn't recognised, and after the PC boots into windows with a black screen the GPU fans kick up to 100%

Hmmm. Noctua is hard to go wrong with. The application is easy. I had to reset CMOS to get my onboard graphics to work, which is what I'm using now.

Funny thing is, my power button at the front of the case sometimes sticks in, and corrupts the BIOS. When this happens my mobo restores the BIOS. What was interesting is that the 7950 was able to show that screen, but after it was restored, nada. Back to 100% fans booting into Windows with a black screen, no signal.

Is this damned thing dead? What are my options?

Grrrrr. Wish I never opened the silly thing up now, and lived with the slightly above average temps.

Cheers

Alex

 

[hawkinsa21]

So I guess my question is whether there are any tests I can perform to check the gpu isn't dead. I am very careful working with my kit, so I'm not worried about me having physically damaged the pcb out components from taking the card apart, for example.

Would the pc post if there was not enough juice to the gpu? I'm going to try it in another pc if possible this weekend

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OK, I've gotten some positive progress which does rule out a completely knackered card.

I tried the card in the PCIe x4 slot previously and didn't get any real difference other than that the fans kicked in much later that via the standard PCIe x16 slot

After resetting the CMOS twice (with a screwdriver to short the pins), I can boot into Windows with my 7950 from the x4 slot only. Same issue as before with x16 slot.

Performance on the x4 slot is terrible I'm presuming because the 7950 bottlenecks it, so I'm thinking I have a damaged x16 slot?

When I ran up Watchdogs, there were some spikes of temperature, one up to 97 degrees however it settled in game around 55 degrees, I'm assuming because the frame rate was abysmal.

Thoughts? I'm hoping my parents PC which I built them has the right power adapters in it because I can test it in their x16 slot.

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I've been reading that x4 PCIe shouldn't decrease performance significantly?

I used to get about 100FPS in Borderlands 2, but on the x4 slot I'm getting max of 22FPS. Seems to be a correlation in those numbers....

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Seems like my PCIe x4 slot is running on v1.1 rather than 2.0

Gigabyte suggest it should be running at 2.0? 1.1 will certainly be why my FPS is throttled!

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4140#sp

 

[hawkinsa21]

I think I've fixed it to some extent. I still need to check the card in another PC with a x16 PCIe slot to see whether I get any different behavior, but...

The BIOS had been wiped back to factory with the card rebooting the PC earlier when PCIe x16 first stopped working. I updated to F22, no luck then backed down to F18. Now, GPU-Z was showing that the card was stuck in x4 v1.1, which is why it was so slow. Using GPU-Z to try and force the card into its highest power previously didn't work on what was evidently the original F12 bios (2012 release). Googling showed this board has had some issues with GPU's on the factory shipped BIOS if it is before F14. Flashing to F18 then allowed GPU-Z to force the PCIe x4 slot to run in v2.0 mode, and now my performance is much better. Still cannot get it working in PCIe x16 slot though... I'm wondering if its faulty. Card is performing fine in x4.

Strange.