Zalman VF900-Cu weird fit on 7900GT

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Phrantic

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Alright I think this is the best section to post this... but feel free to move.

I've just bought a Zalman VF900-Cu GPU cooler for my Gainward 7900GT 512MB. After examining my card I found out that the Gainward model does not adhere to the standard 7900GT layout. Meaning, my RAM chips are aligned on two sides of the GPU chip, three at each side, instead of sort of 'surrounding' it:

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As you can see it's quite a tight fit, and I wonder if it would be safe to carry on mounting the cooler to the graphics card. Normally, the RAM heatsinks would have some space to dispose of the heat, but now there are heatpipe blades running over them by no more than 2 mm. I wonder how warm those will be, and I wonder if it's smart enough to give it a try.

What do you think? Has anyone mounted a cooler like this on a card which had an unusual layout?
 
From what I remember I didnt have much room between the heatsinks and the gpu heatsick either. I'm guessing the fan blows on both the gpu and ram heatsinks altogether.
 
That's just fine...ramsinks are needed far less than most people think....in fact if you took the sinks off completely you probably wouldn't notice any difference.
 
Heatsinks don't do all that much good if there isn't air flowing over them. If anything, having that fan that close to the ramsinks will help keep them even cooler.
 
Encouraged by the positive sounds I went on to just do it. Found out there was a little more space than I'd thought between the heatsinks and the heatpipe, enough to fit a cable. However the awkward positioning did make me knock off some of the heatsinks here and there. Even when I was ready to put the card back in my case, I knocked one off. I just hope they're going to do the job and stay on it now. Gurusan says the RAM heatsinks don't matter much and it wouldn't do any damage. Anyone agree with this point of view?
 
I voltmodded my 7900GS the other day, and I put two of those big ramsinks on the back of the card on these 3 little chips that apparently get really hot...and they do. I've touched the heatsink under full load, it they were pretty hot.

People have said that the thermal pads on those won't hold very well after you knock one off, but I removed one and then put it back on, and it's still on there solid. Looks like your using AS or some other thermal paste though.

They will help keep the RAM cooler. Since you already have them, why not just leave them on?
 
Encouraged by the positive sounds I went on to just do it. Found out there was a little more space than I'd thought between the heatsinks and the heatpipe, enough to fit a cable. However the awkward positioning did make me knock off some of the heatsinks here and there. Even when I was ready to put the card back in my case, I knocked one off. I just hope they're going to do the job and stay on it now. Gurusan says the RAM heatsinks don't matter much and it wouldn't do any damage. Anyone agree with this point of view?
It helps if you clean the RAM chips with alcohol before you stick the RAM sinks on.

Oh, and the Gainward cards can't be voltmodded the same way normal 7900 GT's can be.
It probably can be voltmodded, but I don't think people have bothered with the gainward cards. So I don't thin you'll find any guides for them.
 
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