GeForce DDR Modification

Blue Orb and Ram Sinks Provided By: The Overclockerz Store

Arctic Silver and Arctic Silver Epox Provided By: Highspeed PC

 

Introduction

So, you just dropped $300 on your new video card and you need to find a good way to void the warranty. Well, you've come to the right place. With video cards getting hotter and more complex, it is almost standard to have a heatsink and fan attached to the GPU. The stock fan is sufficient for normal speeds, but what if you want to overclock? You can only go so far with stock parts. While this modification is on a GeForce 1 card, the same technique can be applied to a GeForce 2 or any other card of your liking. Following, I will guide you through the easy setup of a Blue Orb and Ram Sinks.

 

Preparation

First thing is to remove the old HSF and clean to surface of both the core chip and the ram chips. Simply, close the two pins on the bottom of the HSF and lift them from the other side. Once removed, clean the old grease off of the chip with alcohol and do the same for the ram. If you had epox on chip instead of grease and pins, it may be difficult to get the old glue off. However, it can be done.

 

 

Uh-Oh!

After you apply the Arctic Silver, or thermal grease of your choice, to the GPU, place the Blue Orb in position and lift off to look at the impression. As you can see, the bottom of my orb is anything but flat. At first, I though it was the chip itself. However, after holding the old HSF up to a light and comparing the gap with the Blue Orb, I could see that there was a HUGE gap between the Orb and the GeForce

 

 

Getting the Surface Flat

In order to have proper cooling and good contact, we will need to make the surface of the Blue Orb as flat as possible. I did this using 150 Grit sandpaper for the first step. A file should also do the trick. I wrapped the paper around a carpenter's speed square and began chopping away. As you can see from the picture, the low points are in the middle of the orb, where we need to be making good contact.

 

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