How to [H]ot Rod that 8800GTS/GTX/Ultra Factory Heatsink

8800GTS/GTX/Ultra.......Thermal Paste MX-2 MOD......90cfm or 120cfm Fan MOD........Also a nice Lap and polish job for watercooling like Temps and performance on AIRCOOLING



All of us know how bad the stock cooling is on the 8800GTS/GTX/ULTRA . We also know that these cards have great overClocking potential too! Well like most people out there ,I wanted to keep my card cool and not spend money on another cooling solution. So after seeing that my card idled @69c Stock, I set the fan to 100% using Rivatuner . I still had plenty of Heat and wanting a nice overclock 24/7 drove me too make this thread....Besides who really wants to spend $150.00 on cooling when you can MOD for almost free!

The 1st Mods include adding NYLON WASHERS to the card so you can use MX-2 paste on the GPU ,,the Shader and the Memory. Also you will be using the old thermal pads for the PWM's only.

The 2nd Mods will be too Polish/Lap the Shader Pad on the heatsink along with the copper base for the GPU. You can also lap the GPU ,but i think it will Void your warranty:yepp:

The 3rd Mod I will be installing a 110cfm fan and cutting the Fan Shroud. Also the stock fan will still be used , it cools the PWM's as well as the front half of the memory. You could use a 90cfm fan instead of a 110cfm . The 90cfm is exactly the same width as the 8800, but dosnt offer as much extra cooling. I personally like the 110cfm ,because when the fan is done correctly it will overhang the card allowing cool fresh AIR to blow up to the top of your case,elimanating any hotair dead spots above the card!


Lets get MODDING

1st step remove the (4 small )fan shroud screws . Two of these screws will be under the sticker on the shroud. Next you will remove the heatsink screws. There will be (2 screws) in the rear of the card and (8 to 12) BIG SCREWS that hold the heatsink on. Do not remove the (8 really small)screws that are in the center of the card!
If you wish you can use a blow dryer to heat the card ,this softens the paste a lil bit. Now gently remove the heatsink by lightly twisting left to right, DO NOT USE FORCE ,Once its off give a real good cleaning with some denatured alchohal or sumthing. Make shure you save some of the old thermal tape. It will be used later on the PWM's!



2nd Step Ok this is where you need the nylon washers. In the picture below im using white nylon washers . They are 2/32nd thick and will be placed under the factory screws . These washers will take up th slack in the springs and create more down force on GPU . They also close the gap between the memory and the SHADER. The washer allows you to use MX-2 Thermal Paste . Do not use AS5 artic silverit is not conductivly safe!



3rd Step Now that the heatsink and card have been cleaned ,you will need to DRY fit the heatsink with NYLON Wahers installed under the SPRING SCREWS Check the gap between the memory and shader when after its tightened down.
ALWAYS tighten the spring screws starting with the GPU, tighten them in a criss cross patern and then the end screws last. When you tighten the screws you will need to push down the spring to start them. Tighten the screws till they are fully compressed ,you will feel them stop!The ideal thickness is a lil less or more than a buiseness card. Now remove the heatsink and lets get to the fun stuff! see how the SPRING SCREWS are full seated below



4th Step Mod the fan shroud. You will only cut out the vents and leave the sides and front portion of shroud intact! Use your 90cfm or 110cfm as your template and dont cut too much away, you can not replace what you cut out!:yepp: I used two zip ties to hold rear of fan to the exaust vent on the back of the 8800 and then threaded 1 screw to the top of the shroud.



5th Step I had a Big typhoon laying around in which i stole the fan a 110cfm and the aluminum fan mount . I then drilled and cut the aluminum fan shroud to fit. i wanted a fan that would hang over my card . This way i could use it to push cool air up in my case as well as out the rear!



6th Step I recomend this to everyone ! If you dont add a fan and just do the thermal paste Mod , cut the rear exuaste vent out and then remove the metal tab that goes between the two slots in your case. This will increase your stock air flow by 75%! can you imagine the flow of a 110cfm



Ok LOOK CLOSE at these next two pictures. See the barely visiable gap between the memory and how well the card is snuggled up with the SPRING SCREW MOD This was my dry run before i lapped everything





This is my favorite part the 7th Step The next three pictures are of lapping/polishing ,1st Heatsink 2nd GPU 3rd the Shader mount on heatsink You will need to take your time while doing this. You can bump things real easy while sanding or polishing and must take great care to not do so! i used 2000 grit wet/dry sand paper and did not use water,JUST LOTS OF TIME I then polished the surfaces by hand ,DO NOT USE A DREMAL! Cleaned with alchohal when done. I use only MOTHERS ALUMINUM WHEEL POLISH . Brasso does not work as good trust me. Once your happy with the Lap job , the next step is too apply the MX-2 and cut strips of thermal pad from the OLD STUFF you saved which will go on the PWM's







8th Step MX-2 must be used! do not use as5 Artic silver for this , it is not conductively safe... Ok the picture below shows how much paste to put on the Memory chips , the GPU and the Shader ... For the GPU cover the whole chip with paste put a BB size dot in the middle.. for the memory apply even on all chips with just a lil dot of paste in center to top it off. Exactly how it is shown in the picture on the stick of ram! Also cut four strips of thermal tape that was saved from earlier and use those on the 4 rows of PWM's. last put a BB size ball of MX-2 on the center of the shader chip.



9th inning strech This is the hardest part to do! PLEASE TAKE YOUR TIME Now that the PWM's are covered with thermal tape and the Shader ,GPU and memory have MX-2 installed you have to gently and evenly set the heat sink on the card. Thise means the card facing UP, this also means you will set the heatsink down on it making shure the thermal tape dosnt come off the PWM's!!.. Once the Heatsink is resting on card you need to wiggle it left to right ,only about a degree each way . this will set the paste and help the heat sink stick. Now CAREFULLY FLIP the card over while holding the heasink tighly against the card . Once you have it upside down you will install the (4 GPU spring screws with the nylon washer and tighten in a criss cross partern untill fully tight). Now install the end spring screws and nylon washers slowly tightening each a lil at a time untill fully tight. Do NOt CRANK DOWN on the spring screws . You will feel them stop with out much force. The springs will be fully compressed! It should look like the pictures below when done correctly.









All right the tuff stuff is over lets party!!!!! If every thing looks good ,procede to installing your fan shroud fan and get that baby humming:up: Below are a few shots of the finished card





See the vent Mod, this will get the air out:yepp:







Well here is the happy home my card rest in...Its a 1996 ANTEC TOWER CASE I painted it ,drilled it ,water cooled it, All last week because i sold my other case! This is the sytem in my SIG











Ok not bad for being 69c@ idle and 81c load Before the MODS Just think i almost put a water block on the thing!





P.S Hope everyone likes the mods for my card using 100%AIR I fully disasembled 8800 during the week just so you guys/gals could have full pics of the Mods
This 3dmark is the very first run i did after putting my card back together from its lil photoshoot I am now shooting for 13000+ with this lil 8800GTS 320 on my 6000+X2Ill keep em coming and by the way ,I still havnt done any Volt Mods to this yet

This Screen says it all and yes i still need to push my GPU some more,but my Bandwidth// 92.3 GB/s and Memory @2308mhz is beyond PRICELESS for no voltmodding!!!!!

Very nice work! Any advice for those wanting to make that shround thingy? What are your load temps?

I havnt exceded 56c under 3dmark06 playing it looped and ive only seen 54c while gaming any game i own....

I used a old BIGTYPHOON Aluminun fan shroud,It just unscrews and you cut the sides and drill the back! I had the thing lying around so i hacked it up You can find old typhoons for like 10bucks or even for free with the fan . If you dont like the 120size you can use the top from a Mini typhoon 90mm it the same thing but fits snugg on the 8800 stock fan shroud and dosnt overhang. If you want 24/7 Oc like my card I suggest a 120mm 110cfm or higher

P.S. MX-2 has my memory nice and cool @2300mhz , before the Mods i could not exceed 2000mhz stable 24/7 i may volt mod but dont like the soldering part so i may just settle for rasing my CPU untill i get a 4core.....

Very cool. I installed an HR-03 /w a 120mm Scythe and was getting about 45-50c load on a GTX. MX-2 is where it's at.

GPU=Z reports only locked shader to GPU under X64bit XP......Rivatuner is Correct . I have tested clocks with another GTS and it also showed GPU-Z is bugged in X64 XP...

Did a Vmod on my GPU.....I can hit 756mhz and 783mhz but it will trip my Pwm protection @1.46v in test #1 3Dmark06. Im @ 1.40v for the bench below , with only @ 61c load after 3Dmark was run 3times ..If i get the temps down some more @IDLE im shure i can get the GPU up a notch! Ive ordered some more MX-2 and am now looking into shaving the heatsink down to run bare IHS ...After reviewing several 8800GT cards for a friend. I noticed the GPU 's are bare ! No wonder they run cooler and clock good with an A3core, he also had me install a DUO Orb gave me another project idea to tackle

Im pretty shure i can Sqeeze out a lil more so i guess i will be modding the STOCKheatsink some more . I just have too check the gap clearances that i will have to work with!


So untill next week when .......To be Continued........ Writers guild strike is affecting my uberness J/K

nice mod I might have to try that fan deal with my 8800gtx

Awesome job on the mod!

I'm thinking about looking into voltmodding my 8800GTS myself. Did you say the only way involves soldering? I voltmodded my 7950GT via flashing the BIOS and that was easy enough. Even the pencil/lead way to do it sounds fun, but I'm not willing to play with a soldering iron.

just did half this mod this evening and although I didn't see as big a difference as you...a difference is a difference.

before my temps were 55c-58c idle and 77c load. I haven't tested the load yet, but the idle is down to 48c. I didn't lap anything, just put AS5 on the GPU and RAM, then used the washers to tighten the gap. Also mounted a 92mm fan on it which I'll need to re-mount at an angle so it doesn't fight the stock fan as much.

great mod for on the cheap!

Just remember when using AS-5 use little of it so it has no chance to touch any chip resistor contacts...It is conductive...Thats why i USE MX-II ,before MX-II came out i used AS-5 and always made shure there was no exess to leak over any memory edges and used only thermal tape on PWM's...

Also ran AS-5 vs MXII and MX-II gave me better results . Applied Both PASTE 2Xtimes ,once @stock settings and once @Overclocked settings...MX-II won hands down by 4-5c @Idle and and almost 8c loaded VS AS-5...this was done @22c ambiant room temp!


Little things do count so take your time.....

So the entire gpu chip has to be covered with thermal paste, I thought the grain of rice method still apllied ?

Wow, excellent thread. I'm probably going to do this to my card so that I can make it much quieter with a 120mm fan.

P.S.: Nice 3dfx Voodoo 5 in the back.

So I guess it's safe to say that those who said it's not effective to cool the memory with one large heatsink were wrong. No one with the dinky little individual RAM 'sinks has gotten anywhere close to those numbers.

so what did you use to lap the gpu? how did you do it? i did a few cpus but im stumped on doin a gpu

Well , I lapped the Copper portion and the shader tab by HAND with 2000grit wet /dry with out water....using a piece of 3/8" flat arcrylic/plexyglass cut to size of IHS...2"x2" then wrapped the sand paper around it...You want to Lap front to back accross the factory fine lines...Remember it dosnt have to be perfect just completly smooth,Ive checked flatness from factory and this was all that was required for my performance gains.... I polished the finish once it was lapped for total smoothness of any micropores..Polishing smooths all the pores in the copper...When your done make shure to clean any polish residue with ketchup or alchohal....I wanted to keep this as easy as possiable....with the least amount of money spent.. I could of Paid $100.00 for a WB or $150.00 for a ZALMAN cooler but why The money i saved is going to my next chip ...or maybe that 1gigGTS when the time comes

Im not done yet with this card and am looking at shaving the heatsink down to go IHSlesseheheheee...


NOTE: when applying past on GPU spread it thin and even on whole IHS...Do not use the dot method with the MX-II or AS-5 when applying it on the GPU..This will yield better results,, Especially if you opt to polish the lap job, which helps transfer the heat through the whole IHS instead of the center....The temps and Overclock on my card speaks for itself i believe...

P.S. ill be happy too answer any Q's....and REMEMBER this MOD was intended to do on a budget of buying themal paste /sandpaper/MX-II/1fan =less than $25buck..If you already have everything as i did then its FREE!

hypertek said:

so what did you use to lap the gpu? how did you do it? i did a few cpus but im stumped on doin a gpu

Click to expand...

DONT USE WATER! while sanding , sand dry and tape off around the GPU...

WORK SLOW ,the little resistors and stuff can get banged real easy so please take your time



HEATSINK sanding,,,Find something that is flat and Hard about 3"x3" even a cut piece of hard OAK will work!!!

You do not need to use force while sanding...Use light preshure too sand front to back across the lines of heatsink copper ...

GPU Sanding,,,Wrap the sand paper around the small block or what ever only once, dont double the sandpaper and then sand from the PCI-E Slot end to the top of card ,Just how the picture is above...this means you will be sanding across the short side of the card,this way you dont chance hitting any caps! .....

The GPU// IHS is the best ive ever seen factory wise...Compared to INTEL and AMD IHS's...Its actually a little high in the center ...So when you lap it ,sand until you cant read the lettering and the edges just start to show copper, When you cant read the LETTERS YOUR DONE ....This will leave it slightly bowed and give best results even if you dont opt to polish it....

Also for those of you who believe you need it to be copper too copper .Just sand untill the GPU IHS is all copper! Trust me ,when i say you dont need to fully sand the IHS to all copper too get these results... I have modded a few for friends and have more of them wanting to know my secret

Sometimes less sanding is better...These GPU IHS's you dont want perfectly flat anyhow . This way the extra presshure from the spring mod works at its fullest...When your done LAPPING,put paste on the (GPU ONLY) reasemble and tighten all screws down fully...Then remove the HEATSINK and youll see a nice QUATER or maybe little larger contact size paste print in the center of the IHS that has full contact....I do this with every card..If all is good then clean and do final assembly...

Should look like this when done with very little sanding and then i polished to get the micropores smoother on GPU ...



ALSO NOTE: If you have never polished before , you must apply some force polishing in a circular motion... Dont use too much polish alittle goes a long way...Polish untill the black haze becomes very smooth..then buff clean with soft old sock or something , it wont leave lint behind...when your done it should be mirror smooth..You wont even see sand lines from lap job giving your GPU tighter micropore.This means more surfact to surface contact with less pores!

The VooDOO 5-5500AGP is Prettynew in the Box only about 20hours of use on an old ABIT KT7Raid with 1000mhz AMD Tbird, have those in Box tooI couldnt let them go... That system Oced nice too,Just think those three Items ALONE were $770.00 new back in the day......