Revisiting the Low-Profile 8600GT Cooler Problem

I'm still trying to find a cooling solution for a low-profile Galaxy
8600GT video card and seem to have run into a brick wall. Or at least
run into a dearth of information. The existing heatsink is solid copper
but seems to have far too few fins to do a good job. Add to that a fan
which seems to be doing an imitation of a Hoover even while moving
little air. Since this card is in a HTPC the situation is not good.

The existing heatsink is all of 60mm (H) X 80mm (L) X 10mm (D) and the
fan seems to be roughly 46mm in diameter. The hole pattern of the four
heatsink mounting screws is just about 42.5mm square. Using this
low-profile card there is really no chance of using a physically larger
cooler unless I can go deeper than 10mm and sacrifice a slot and this
wouldn't bother me at all. Problem is that I don't even know if this
heatsink screw pattern matches any sort of standard. Does it seem
familiar to anyone experienced in replacing VGA heat sinks?

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

John McGaw wrote:
> I'm still trying to find a cooling solution for a low-profile Galaxy
> 8600GT video card and seem to have run into a brick wall. Or at least
> run into a dearth of information. The existing heatsink is solid copper
> but seems to have far too few fins to do a good job. Add to that a fan
> which seems to be doing an imitation of a Hoover even while moving
> little air. Since this card is in a HTPC the situation is not good.
>
> The existing heatsink is all of 60mm (H) X 80mm (L) X 10mm (D) and the
> fan seems to be roughly 46mm in diameter. The hole pattern of the four
> heatsink mounting screws is just about 42.5mm square. Using this
> low-profile card there is really no chance of using a physically larger
> cooler unless I can go deeper than 10mm and sacrifice a slot and this
> wouldn't bother me at all. Problem is that I don't even know if this
> heatsink screw pattern matches any sort of standard. Does it seem
> familiar to anyone experienced in replacing VGA heat sinks?
>


You can glue nickels to the chip if you choose, it doesn't have to look
pretty: the secret is mass and conduction, just find a heatsink that
fits (covers as much of the chip but still sits flat on it), it should
feel heavy in your hand, not light. Stick it on and be done with it.

As long as the surfaces can conduct heat, problem solved. You don't
actually need a fan on a 8600's heat sink.