White Dots Overheated Card

[RandomPING]

Well I felt my graphics card when i was running aquamark because I was getting some white artifacts. The heat sink was running really warm, but the ram was burning to the touch. I'm running a 9800 Pro AIW built by ATI not Overclocked. I lost my reciept, and it's way over the 30 days. I only get the artifacts with heavy 3D applications, but it heats up really fast. I'd rather not clock it down, should i get heat sinks for the ram? Would a non-stock heatsink/fan combo be a good investment for the vpu? Any advice would be great.

 

[Shuzer]

What's your general airflow like in your case? Adding a few case fans might do the trick. Also, you might want to consider a PCI slot fan directly below the graphics card, that'll pull alot of heat away and exhaust it out the back of your case.

 

[qckbeam]

PCI slot fans worked wonders for me, I had the same issues you're having, and one slot fan did a lot to help fix the problem.

 

[RandomPING]

I threw a PCI slot fan on there and it reduced the artifacts somewhat, then i dropped a thermaltake fan right on top of it and it cleared the artifacts completely, so it is an overheat issue. Annoying that it overheats at stock. I'm gonna try to throw some ram heatsinks onto it and maybe mod my own little cooling thing, cause a lot of the good coolers arn't designed for the AIW.

At least i have it running without artifacts now, thanks for the advice on airflow and the exaust fan. Any advice on heatsinks? The ram is still really hot to the touch, so i think i may still be close to running in the red.

When i say ram, i mean the ram on the card.

 

[TrueWeltall]

Overclocking your ram doesnt have a big gain, one guy even water cooled his ram but didnt see much of a gain for the trouble making the water block etc etc.

 

[RandomPING]

Oh I know, i've read some reviews on how little gain you get from an OC of the ram. The problem is mine is running super hot at stock speeds.

 

[Mac]

you can buy ramsinks and use artcic alumina thermal adhesive to attach them to your ram

dangerden.com has some that are expensive... other people have cut up old pentium heatsinks and make ramsinks out of those.

 

[Willber123]

u might want to invest in an Arctic VGA cooler.
a very nifty little thing that can be picked up for around £15, i think thats like $20 ish. i would strongly recommend one.