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"Whats the best VGA cooling device?"

I am looking for something to significantly cool my graphics card down as I am getting frequent crashes after a while due to the extreme heat and poor air flow in my case. Would this do the trick?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/ eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3460121833&category=3673

Any help and links would be appreciated, cheers!

It doesn't load from the CD whilst in the game as the installation copies all the files to the hard drive. The only time the CD is used is to start the game. The problem is extremely strange as there really doesn't seem like there is a solution to it. I checked task manager during the loading times and the CPU useage goes up to 100% for the 1-3 seconds that the pause lasts, it appears all the useage is actually coming from the game which means there really isn't any way it can be solved.

ÂLŠ†ÂÎR wrote:
> I have dual fan 400 watt PSU which is supposedly pretty decent, a new
> case would see a new PSU and fans can be bought cheap enough off
> eBay. As for my motherboard, it has all the customisation options for
> RAM timings etc but the settings are supposedly optimised for the RAM
> which I have.

A new case doesnt mean a new PSU, as alot of cases come with out PSUs. It would be good to see pics of your case and what it looks inside so we can see what sort of airflow you have etc.

With the C&C problem I did get pause which happened every few seconds, maybe every 10 seconds. This would happen through out the game from loading it up. The problem was due to not playing it with the CD in, even though I had a patch to play with out a CD. So I doubt this is your problem, as you probably use the CD when playing. If you dont use the CD then repair C&C from the Add/Remove menu and then continue to always use the CD.

I have dual fan 400 watt PSU which is supposedly pretty decent, a new case would see a new PSU and fans can be bought cheap enough off eBay. As for my motherboard, it has all the customisation options for RAM timings etc but the settings are supposedly optimised for the RAM which I have.

As for the Generals problem it happens with both Generals and the expansion pack, its not so much slow down as it is frequent pauses in the gameplay. It only happens on specific missions and some it starts from the word go. Its just frequent pauses every 1-10 seconds for aboout 1-2 seconds but it really pi$$es me off as there really shouldn't be any problems with my setup. I ran 3DMark 03 and scored 6152 with my setup which wasn't too far behind someone with an Nvidia 5950 Ultra with an Athlon 64 CPU. I know the Nvidia 5950 Ultra isn't as good as my graphics card with Driect X 9.0 games but I was quite surprised to see my processor up there with a much more expensive and powerful one. The pauses in the gameplay are random but once they start they remain for the whole mission which is why I am keen to find the root of the problem. Any ideas what could be causing this? All background apps are closed that don't need to be and disk defrag is ran on regular basis. Its definitley a hardware problem as the Hard Drive isn't loading when the problem occurs, someone suggests GPU/CPU overheating which I feel may be the case.

Any ideas? Cheers!

What PSU do you have Alastair? As if it was only 350w then maybe spend some money on getting one of these www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog (Space)/Online_Catalogue_Chieftec_Cases_128.html

Or even www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog (space) /Online_Catalogue_Antec_160.html

I know that they can be a good £100 with a decent 430w PSU but with 4/5 fans you will keep the case cool.

I agree with Taka in that getting a VGA cooler is a bit point less at the moment. The ATI card should not overheat in stock form other wise every owner of a 9800XT from ATI would have a problem. If the case gets hot then the graphics card will get hot. Reduce the case temperature by 10c and you will see at least a 10c drop in graphics card temperature. With one of the cases above that have a side fan, you will keep cool air blowing onto the graphics card which will probably give you another few degrees drop if not more.

It may be an idea to see what sort of temps other people get with the same card, just to see if yours is running too hot.

ÂLŠ†ÂÎR wrote:
> Its the official ATI release, not the Hercules, 3DConnect etc. On
> C&C Generals did you ever get bad frame rates on certain maps
> agter a while? Some maps had constant pauses and someone suggests it
> could be my memory timings however I have no idea how to change them.

Don't think so, only got the slow down due to tons of stuff happening etc. First you need to see what memory timings you already have and what the RAM makers suggest. If you can change the memory timings then it would be in the BIOS, but from what I can recall when you wanted to overclock your CPU your BIOS was limited, so you may not have these options.

Sounds like you need a case with more airflow, as adding a new VGA cooler will make little difference in a high heat enviroment. I would go fo a Coolmaster case as they usally come with fans and are designed for good airflow. You could get a silver or black CoolerMaster Centurion (http://www.coolermaster.com/index.php?LT=english&Language_s (SPACE) =2&url_place=product&p (SPACE) _serial=CAC-T01&other_title=+CAC-T01+Centurion%201) for around £40-50 at overclockers.co.uk. This one doesn't come with the fans as it is a fairly cheap on, but you can get 2 80mm for it for about £10 together.

I don't have the money and from what I have read it really isn't adapted enough to work with desktop computers. Its all a little too tricky for my liking.

You could always watercool your setup.

Its the official ATI release, not the Hercules, 3DConnect etc. On C&C Generals did you ever get bad frame rates on certain maps agter a while? Some maps had constant pauses and someone suggests it could be my memory timings however I have no idea how to change them.

What make is the 9800XT by the way? Hercules, Sapphire?