Koolance GF4s

by Ryszard Sommefeldt on 18 May 2002, 00:00

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Introduction

Earlier on this year I reviewed the ABit Siluro GeForce4 Ti4600 graphics card. You can see this here. During the review I discovered that I could not attach my Koolance GPU water block like I could to the GeForce3, which I demonstrated in my Koolance Case review seen here. Below is the picture of my GeForce3 attached to the Koolance GPU block:



As you can see the GPU block fits like a charm and the cooling and overclocking results were astounding for a GeForce3 original (non-Ti).

Because of the results I had managed to achieve with the GF3+GPU Water Block I was very disappointed when I discovered that the attachments that Koolance supplied would not fit on the GeForce4 Ti reference design. Obviously not any fault of Koolance as they could not predict that NVidia would move the heatsink mounting holes further apart.

Originally I set about trying to attach the block using some sort of tag ties or a similar method. This was right back when I first reviewed the card. Any method I came up with did not attach the block as securely to the core as I would have wished and so I left it with stock cooling.

Then when I upgraded to a Intel P4 2.2ghz ABit TH7-II rig I decided it was time to try for high 3DMark scores again and I definitely would need water cooling both for the CPU and GPU. For this I had to get the new Koolance CPU water block designed to be better than the original CPU block. The new block is called CPU-200 because it is designed to cool 200w of output. Where as the original was rated at 100w. A review of the CPU-200 Koolance block coming very soon!

To attach the GPU block to my GF4 core I simply looked around my room to see what was lying around. At this point (in my frustration) I felt I had nothing to lose and so chose maybe a little bit of a reckless path in my efforts.

Attaching the Block to the GPU

The thing that had always irritated me about the GF4 and the block not fitting had been that there were four holes around the core that could be used to attach some sort of heatsink or block, but they were simply too small for the plastic bolts supplied by Koolance. In fact I have never found anything to fit through them they are so small.

From a recent raid on one of my cases to remove a 80mm YS-Tech fan I had a few rather large self tapping screws sitting on my desk. Unfortunately for my GF4 my eyes fell on these as my possible source of fixing the block to the GPU.

USE THIS METHOD AT YOUR OWN RISK. NEITHER HEXUS.NET OR MYSELF WILL BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE CAUSED.

The results look like this:

As the picture shows I screwed them directly into the PCB of the GeForce. These were those small holes that I mentioned before. The screws did not go in too far, but where extremely secure and sturdy once in. I could have screwed them in further but I didn't want to damage the PCB any more than I already had.

To give an indication as to the size of the screws I used here is a picture of one with a normal case screw next to it:

I am not exactly sure on the size of the screws I used but they are the ones that Overclockers.co.uk sell for attaching 80mm and 120mm fans to cases.

The screws would not quite go in far enough to secure the clamp fully, so I had to improvise some washers. So I cut a small bit off the end of the spare tubing you get with the Koolance:



Slipping the new washer around the screws and reattaching it to the graphics card it gave a good amount of resistance and provided tension on the clamp and made the block extremely secure to the core. Here is a close up:



In the picture you can just about make out the tubing bulging just underneath the head of the screw. The pointed end of the screw was just sticking out of the underside of the PCB. But not by much at all, you can see this here:

Here is a full picture of the final look of the graphics card once the GPU Water Block has been attached. As you can see it even looks pretty good and fits in with the silver decor of the ram sinks:


Click on Image to Enlarge

Now with the water block attached I could put it back in my trusty TH7-II motherboard. To be very honest after screwing two huge self tapping wood screws into the PCB I was a bit doubtful the card would even still work. However I pushed on and boot the computer up. To my relief everything booted up as normal and 3DMark2001SE went through its entire cycle of tests without a hitch.

Testing the Block

The whole reason for water cooling the GF4 in the first place is so I can push it to the limit. With the stock cooling on a very VERY cold night I could get a stable 335mhz core speed for a 3Dmark2001SE bench. However for normal running I would not trust this speed to be 100% stable especially now that its creeping into the summer months.

Remember this is still all without any sort of voltage modification. With the water block attached I can do 335mhz without any trouble at all from summer temperatures. With a nice cold night I can now also bench the core at 340mhz. The card freezes in the dragothic benchmark at 342mhz but there is no artifacting due to overheating so I believe I have once again managed to reach the absolute limit of the core through the use of the Koolance GPU block. Just the same as I did with the GeForce3.

My next plan is to voltage mod the core of the GF4 and see how far I can really push it now that its water cooled. Hopefully I will be up there breaking 14k and more.

Conclusion

Before I screwed the screws in I did carefully check to make sure there was nothing around the area of the holes. When I discovered nothing in the immediate vicinity I then carried on.

This method of attaching the water block seems to be an almost perfect solution to the problem. The block is attached to the core with a good amount of pressure, the 'washers' are an excellent inclusion as it stops any excessive pressure while keeping the clamp secure with even pressure.

While this method is extreme and most definitely voids any warranty, but then so do most mods. It can be a valid solution to anyone wishing to attach any sort of cooling to the GF4 core.

The improvement it gave me over the stock ABit Siluro cooling was around 5-10mhz if I can keep my water cooling enough in this heat wave we are having in England right now. Despite the weather I believe it has taken the core to its maximum with its current voltage. My next plan is to voltmod the core and really see how far the block can take it.