Should I make the switch?

tek · Aug 22, 2003, 02:53 AM

WELL. Decision time has come, ever since I destroyed a new Sapphire 9500np red pcb l-shaped mem 3.0NS, I've been having second thoughts...

Right now I'm on a Built By 9500 PRO, and I like this card.. it gets me through every game I need at sweet FPS with AA and AF both on.
But it's 3.3ns, and the highest I've gotten this card with stock cooling is 353/303 without artifacts, and ever since I removed my shim, I haven't tried OCing again, wasn't too happy with the results.

I also bought a Zalman Heatpipe (The brand new one with the optional fan) and its the reason I killed the new Sapphire 9500np, I guess I did something wrong in installation, or dripped some AS3 somewhere, or maybe even cause I removed the shim.

Dont know and dont care, I got my money back

But I'm at decision again.

SHOULD I stick with my ATI 9500 PRO, or go with the 9500np red pcb, l-shaped mem and try to softmod it (not guaranteed.)

I need YOUR opinions, and anything you know about the Zalman Heatpipe, I was quite pissed when I saw it didnt work.

Bane the ECF · Aug 22, 2003, 02:56 AM

Stick with what you've got.

tek · Aug 22, 2003, 02:58 AM

I did notice that my exact card is $205.00 on newegg.com right now.

I payed $180.00 for it around 2-3 months ago, wierd...

~~craig588~~ · Aug 22, 2003, 05:04 AM

The demand has changed, ATI is no loanger making the r9500pro becuase its too fast fow its price range.

You can get the r9800np for 250$ on newegg, and you can bios mod it to r9800pro with a 100% success rate. (unless you have inferion ram, the pro cards don't use inferion ram

) I have never heard a report of the bios mod failing.

The r9800pro bios does something special apparantly because everyone that has put it on their r9800np card has gotten much higher overclocks, like going from 400/330 to 420/380.

Necrosis · Aug 23, 2003, 06:17 AM

Do you put that the sticker on the bottom heatsink? Mine didn't even come with it, and it called for the sticker in the instructions so I had to improvise. The Zalman's are nice but they are definitely not very easy to install.

~~Crash Override~~ · Aug 23, 2003, 08:27 AM

for something like a zalman do not use AS3 or any other conductive thermal interface material.

use something like arctic ceramique so you dont kill the hardware

Sharkims · Aug 23, 2003, 09:01 AM

Get the R9500np, DON'T remove the shim, you don't need to... On the Sapphire cards, they were nice enough to ground down the shim so it actualy fits correctly. I also used AS3, without any hitch. With the shim + AS3, you should be fine.

~~craig588~~ · Aug 23, 2003, 04:14 PM

I have a sapphire r9500np and it had too high of a shim, I needed to remove it.

I think the hight of the shim is sometimes lower because they put a bit less glue on it.

~~Crash Override~~ · Aug 23, 2003, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Sharkims
Get the R9500np, DON'T remove the shim, you don't need to... On the Sapphire cards, they were nice enough to ground down the shim so it actualy fits correctly. I also used AS3, without any hitch. With the shim + AS3, you should be fine.

Let me clarify what I meant about not using AS3 as I mentioned earlier.

Let us say that you put some AS3 on the core of your video card and all of the other places where the Zalman will make contact. Now as you are getting ready to mount the Zalman, you slide it on and it disturbs some of the AS3 located in any of those places just enough to cause it to touch one of the resistors located on the core, or perhaps in the case of the ram just enough to touch an exposed trace on the PCB. Now when you power up, you may just have a dead card on your hands.

If you had been using Arctic Ceramique which cools just as effectively as AS3 (its made by the same people and designed to be the non-conductive alternative) and this had happened you wouldnt even know about it as it would run just fine

Sharkims · Aug 24, 2003, 12:12 AM

That is why I learned, "generous amount" means, hardly any.

The Shim, thing, *bows head in shame* I would still make 100% sure you need to remove it though.

Necrosis · Aug 24, 2003, 12:43 AM

I used of that OCZ Ultra 2 stuff on mine and works rather well. I didn't know it's better to remove the shim so I left my on. Fortunately it's running very well, and both side get decently warm so I know it's doing it's job.

Aug 22, 2003, 02:53 AM	#1
tek DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Boston, US Posts: 2,103 Rep Power: 0	Should I make the switch? WELL. Decision time has come, ever since I destroyed a new Sapphire 9500np red pcb l-shaped mem 3.0NS, I've been having second thoughts... Right now I'm on a Built By 9500 PRO, and I like this card.. it gets me through every game I need at sweet FPS with AA and AF both on. But it's 3.3ns, and the highest I've gotten this card with stock cooling is 353/303 without artifacts, and ever since I removed my shim, I haven't tried OCing again, wasn't too happy with the results. I also bought a Zalman Heatpipe (The brand new one with the optional fan) and its the reason I killed the new Sapphire 9500np, I guess I did something wrong in installation, or dripped some AS3 somewhere, or maybe even cause I removed the shim. Dont know and dont care, I got my money back But I'm at decision again. SHOULD I stick with my ATI 9500 PRO, or go with the 9500np red pcb, l-shaped mem and try to softmod it (not guaranteed.) I need YOUR opinions, and anything you know about the Zalman Heatpipe, I was quite pissed when I saw it didnt work. __________________ [COLOR=White][/COLOR]

Aug 22, 2003, 02:56 AM	#2
Bane the ECF DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 220 Rep Power: 0	Stick with what you've got. __________________ ASUS K8N-E Motherboard Athlon 64 3200+ 10x200MHz Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu Heatsink & Fan 2x512MB Mushkin Black Level 2 PC-3500 ATi Radeon X800 SE 256MB 100GB Western Digital SE 8MB 7200RPM 320GB Seagate 8MB 7200 RPM Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Sony 19" E400 Trinitron Thermaltake Xaser III V2000A All-Aluminum Logitech Z-5300 5.1 Surround Sound

Aug 22, 2003, 02:58 AM	Thread Starter #3
tek DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2003 Location: Boston, US Posts: 2,103 Rep Power: 0	I did notice that my exact card is $205.00 on newegg.com right now. I payed $180.00 for it around 2-3 months ago, wierd... __________________ [COLOR=White][/COLOR]

Aug 23, 2003, 09:01 AM	#7
Sharkims Seen my brain? Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: WA,USA Posts: 760 Rep Power: 0	Get the R9500np, DON'T remove the shim, you don't need to... On the Sapphire cards, they were nice enough to ground down the shim so it actualy fits correctly. I also used AS3, without any hitch. With the shim + AS3, you should be fine. __________________ System-1: MSI K8N Neo Platinum \|\| A64 3200+(200x11) - Zalman 7000A-AlCu \|\| 1x1gb OCZ PC3200@400(3-3-3-7) \|\| 9800XT \|\| WD Raptors 2x36 RAID0 System-2: MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R \|\| P4 2.4c(FSB:200) - Intel Cooler \|\| 2x256 GEIL PC3200@400(2-3-3-6) \|\| AIW9000 \|\| WD SE 120x2 RAID0 System-3: DELL Inspiron 9100 \|\| P4 3.0c(mobile) \|\| 2x256mb PC3200(3-3-3-8) \|\| Mobility Radeon 9700 - 128mb \|\| WSXGA+ 15.4" \|\| 60gb 5400RPM 8mb

Aug 24, 2003, 12:12 AM	#10
Sharkims Seen my brain? Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: WA,USA Posts: 760 Rep Power: 0	That is why I learned, "generous amount" means, hardly any. The Shim, thing, bows head in shame I would still make 100% sure you need to remove it though. __________________ System-1: MSI K8N Neo Platinum \|\| A64 3200+(200x11) - Zalman 7000A-AlCu \|\| 1x1gb OCZ PC3200@400(3-3-3-7) \|\| 9800XT \|\| WD Raptors 2x36 RAID0 System-2: MSI 875P Neo-FIS2R \|\| P4 2.4c(FSB:200) - Intel Cooler \|\| 2x256 GEIL PC3200@400(2-3-3-6) \|\| AIW9000 \|\| WD SE 120x2 RAID0 System-3: DELL Inspiron 9100 \|\| P4 3.0c(mobile) \|\| 2x256mb PC3200(3-3-3-8) \|\| Mobility Radeon 9700 - 128mb \|\| WSXGA+ 15.4" \|\| 60gb 5400RPM 8mb

Aug 22, 2003, 05:04 AM	#4
~~craig588~~ Banned Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In clothing Posts: 3,510 Rep Power: 0	The demand has changed, ATI is no loanger making the r9500pro becuase its too fast fow its price range. You can get the r9800np for 250$ on newegg, and you can bios mod it to r9800pro with a 100% success rate. (unless you have inferion ram, the pro cards don't use inferion ram ) I have never heard a report of the bios mod failing. The r9800pro bios does something special apparantly because everyone that has put it on their r9800np card has gotten much higher overclocks, like going from 400/330 to 420/380.

Aug 23, 2003, 06:17 AM	#5
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Do you put that the sticker on the bottom heatsink? Mine didn't even come with it, and it called for the sticker in the instructions so I had to improvise. The Zalman's are nice but they are definitely not very easy to install.

Aug 23, 2003, 08:27 AM	#6
~~Crash Override~~ Banned Join Date: May 2002 Location: Olympia, WA Posts: 2,448 Rep Power: 0	for something like a zalman do not use AS3 or any other conductive thermal interface material. use something like arctic ceramique so you dont kill the hardware

Aug 23, 2003, 04:14 PM	#8
~~craig588~~ Banned Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In clothing Posts: 3,510 Rep Power: 0	I have a sapphire r9500np and it had too high of a shim, I needed to remove it. I think the hight of the shim is sometimes lower because they put a bit less glue on it.

Aug 24, 2003, 12:43 AM	#11
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	I used of that OCZ Ultra 2 stuff on mine and works rather well. I didn't know it's better to remove the shim so I left my on. Fortunately it's running very well, and both side get decently warm so I know it's doing it's job.