replacing Ati5850 stock cooler with modded VF1000

[BraveSoul]

With Sapphire HD5850 being pushed to its limit the fan noise and temperatures were too high. had Zalman VF1000 sitting on ati4850 for a while, so off it went onto 5850. By browsing on internet found couple of nice threads where in one someone did the same conversion, and in another with different card, but used 2 80mm fans,,,ideas started flowing and this is what happened

a comparison of stock and zalman heatsink: stock heatsink seem to be of good quality, has 2 large heatpipes(probably 8mm) and thik copper base

before and after, gpu-z taken at room temp of 76F-78F

the card now takes up 4 slots
here is what i used: 2 80mm screwless fan brackets from an old case for spacing between the 2 80mm fans and the heatsink, Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, and the metal plate from stock cooler which cools memory and vrm
zalman fan was removed from the vf1000 heatsink.

 

[AlienIsGOD]

Im glad to see ur VF1000 getting a 2nd life, only downside I can see is 4 SLOTS !! but if u dont need any other slots than more power to you.

 

[grassy]

massive cooler! but your temps are mean my gpu temp #2 gets up to 70 at 1200mhz ram and 850mhz gpu...

 

[BraveSoul]

couple more tests with higher clocks, case fans on medium speed, video card fans on high, ambient temperature is 76F

 

[plugmein]

First, let me apologize for bumping the thread, but I found this through a forum search and have been running a few fan replacements as well lately while I try to beef up my system for increased email marketing efforts. I am glad to see your experiment paid off the way you were hoping and you got a little extra life out of some idle pieces. Would you do everything the same if you were given another opportunity, or are there any changes you would make. For answering my questions sake, I would say assume you have a decent budget as well...

 

[Pestilence]

1. It takes up 4 slots so IMO its a total waste when you can get 2-3 slot coolers that do a better job

 

[ShogoXT]

Dude your video card will snap in half with that massive weight pulling it down...

 

[happita]

Thats a great idea, given that you can somehow modify your case to support all that extra weight on top of the VF1000's heatsink. Your motherboard will thank you for it in the years to come if you plan on keeping any system more than a few years. This gives me an idea as I was planning on selling off my VF1000, but I might try something like this out

 

[BraveSoul]

hey there,,,

little extra life out of some idle pieces

indeed.
as for doing it again with good budget i would get my hands on one pictured below,
with limited budget would simply replace the 2 fans for better ones, such with higher airflow and less noise

Dude your video card will snap in half with that massive weight pulling it down...

so far so good :0)
almost forgot,, one of my favorite things in this mod was the zalman fan controller which i could extend out of the case to the desk and manually adjust for quietness or full speed for overclocking/gaming

 

[Mr McC]

Very nice job.