ATI 4850 Overheating "EVEN" after replacing thermal paste

[enderzshadow]

I have a ASUS 4850 in a PC I built myself 2+ years ago.

My temps on my vid card have been steadily going up.

As of this afternoon, I cleaned out my vid card as best I could, and replaced the thermal paste.

With not much of a change here are my temps,

50% fan speed, idle my temps are 73C
100% fan speed, my idle temp is 64C. Thats with NO load



Currently I am in beta for an upcoming mmo, at 75 to 95 percent load (activity) 100 percent fan speed, my temps jump up to 108C


I have read some people will remove a part of the video card to get to the heatsink.
How would I do this?
And are they talking about the plastic piece that faces down in my case?

Here is a pic of the card I have

http://computershopper.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/components/product-profile/asus-eah4850-graphics-card/33802-1-eng-US/asus-eah4850-graphics-card1_large.jpg

Would I be removing that plastic cover with the asian lady on it?

And if so how would I do that?


What else would you suggest? For a 100 bucks I can have the same card thru newegg.
For 30-50 I can buy an aftermarket cooler.

I would love to be able to afford a nicer card, but I still have my wifes laptop bill to take care of = she wont let me

Thanks for the help.

 

[enderzshadow]

Eh, maybe I worded that wrong.

I took the card apart, cleaned it, and applied thermal paste.


When reading some other threads, where people had the same card, same problems, a couple said they removed the plastic piece, and cleaned more thoroughly, everything connected to the heat sink.

 

[nforce4max]

The single slot was notorious for noise and terrible thermals. If modding is to much for you then go with a new card. A 5770 is aging and the GTS450 is like a lot of cards out there and is a under performer for it's specs. So look to a 6850 if you are lucky to find one at a reasonable price or a cheap but reliable GTX460. I got ATI and Nvidia and Nvidia has much better drivers. Got S3, SIS, 3DFX, Trident, Cirrus Logic, Matrox, PowerVR, and several more brands under my belt so I got a good grasp when it comes to cards unlike most who learned only on modern machines before making the next step. The 5770 isn't the best ATI card out there but it is 6-7/10 depending on build quality. The GTX460 wins out due to more features and performance for the price. 7.5/10 Quality of modern cards leaves much to be desired so there isn't even a card that is 9/10 in my book.

If modding, the best quality cooler is a Zalaman VF1000. I wouldn't recommend this if I didn't spend $50 for one my self. Get any grade hack saw to cut away the power vrm end of the stock cooler as you will need it. Mount the new after market cooler and vram heatsinks that come with the cooler. Attach the vrm part of the stock cooler that you have cut away and there should be two screws to mount it into place. Be sure to not use the included compound as it is no good. Use arctic silver 5 or any other compound of your choice. If the temps improve but not enough to your liking then pair it up with a pci bay mounting fan or fan kit that blows air into the cooler. This will improve the performance of the cooler greatly and is more than enough to air cool even hotter running cards such as the 8800gtx.

 

[nforce4max]

the thermal paste should go onto the GPU chip after you remove the heatsink. you can see the nvidia gpu here with the heatsink and fan taken off

http://members.chello.nl/n.tran2/gpu/IMG_0003.JPG

Ah the GTS250, the G92 will always be on top of my favorites list when it comes to gpus. This is the 55nm version with the 280~mm2 die.

 

[enderzshadow]

the thermal paste should go onto the GPU chip after you remove the heatsink. you can see the nvidia gpu here with the heatsink and fan taken off

http://members.chello.nl/n.tran2/gpu/IMG_0003.JPG

Yep, I did that.

Did you look at the link of my video card? So the big plastic piece that has the asian chick on it, some people say they removed that and were able to clean everything much more thorougly.

http://computershopper.com/var/ezwebin_site/storage/images/components/product-profile/asus-eah4850-graphics-card/33802-1-eng-US/asus-eah4850-graphics-card1_large.jpg





That is my video card, after removing the thermal paste from the heatsink and before I removed it from the GPU.


http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb366/enderzshadow/ASUS%204850/DSCN3228.jpg?t=1291436409

The flipside of that large copper piece is a piece of plastic. That is the piece I am considering removing. Supposedly this card wasnt very well designed and a ton of junk builds up under there.

Pretty much the last resort...if its clean in there, then /shrug. Guess I'll put up with it till I can get a new card.

 

[nforce4max]

You can remove the shroud and it will be easy except do not strip the screws while doing so.

 

[enderzshadow]

Best answer selected by enderzshadow.