So, in theory, it could be replaced with any ATi heatsink with the same mounting holes. In theory. The replacement heatsink in this case was salvaged off a Radeon 9800 Pro, whose days left working could be counted using only one hand’s fingers. While it could’ve definitely cooled the GPU sufficiently, the problem was the power cable which couldn’t reach the socket on the card itself. In effect, this would’ve been a fine heatsink, but a non-functional fan. Booting up the computer like that would spell disaster. The moral of the story so far is very simple. Make sure everything fits and all cables are long enough, otherwise you’re best off keeping the computer shut down until you get a proper fan.

Old Fan and Heatsink Disassembled

So, if you’ve tried jury-rigging a foreign heatsink to your card and it didn’t work out, for some or another reason, what is left? By far the best solution is to invest into a brand-name heatsink/fan assembly. Depending on your graphics card, you will have to pick the appropriate model of the heatsink. A Zalman VF-700-series heatsink is suited for most cards except for any nVidia PCI-X model – on the other hand, an Arctic Cooling Accelero X series is suited specifically for them. Before purchasing a heatsink, make sure you’re about to buy something that really can fit.

New ATI Heatsink and Fan

While installing your new heatsink, there is no universal guideline – each brand and model has its specific documentation that should come with the heatsink itself. Some models come with small VRAM heatsinks as well, and while they might appear miniscule, it’s worth attaching them to the RAM chips, just to insure an extra bit of cooling.

Some heatsinks come with their own tube of thermal grease – whether you’ll opt to use it, or a different brand (such as one of Arctic Silver’s pastes) is entirely up to you. Naturally, before putting a new layer on, the old one should be removed with a dry paper towel, or a cotton q-tip with a dab of acetone or diluted alcohol. Now remember – thermal grease isn’t butter. A thin layer that just barely covers the chip’s surface will do. Any more and you risk creating a thermal buffer – a thin layer of the stuff helps heat flow, while a thick one won’t get it to the massive heatsink in time.

Heatsinks with Thermal Grease

Provided you followed the instructions for both removing and replacing the heatsink carefully, you should have a happier, more functional (and possibly even faster) card. After an hour of trying to jury-rig the above 9800 Pro cooler onto the 9600XT, the end result was a Zalman VF-700 Al-Cu heatsink installed. The temperatures immediately dropped to a very healthy 27 deg. C (80 deg. F) idle and 31 deg. C (88 deg. F) active – an astounding difference, because not only did the idle temperature drop, the active temperature is only 4 (or 8, if you will) degrees higher – that alone is proof that the new heatsink is doing its job well. Game performance immediately skyrocketed, and the system hasn’t experienced an in-game crash ever since. In the end, it proves that just by making sure your graphics card runs cool, you can gain a performance boost – or, at the very least, make sure you don’t experience as many hiccups and stutters.

Special thanks to Vedran C for photographical work.