Extreme TNT2 Cooling/Overclocking On A Budget
by Jonathan Jusczyk
Intro
Do you like making things faster and more powerful? Do you like working with electronics and powerful adhesives? Do your friends look at you funny when you talk about overclocking and liquid nitrogen? And do you do all of this on a budget? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions and you've got a beloved TNT2 working on your system, then this article may be for you--Extreme TNT2 Overclocking on a Budget.
Overclocking, like some sort of disease, is not particular about who it infects: the rich, the poor, the ugly... well, you get the idea. So what are the people on a limited budget that cannot spend hundreds of dollars to get the latest 1.x Ghz processor and $500 for the latest video card, not to mention the $1000 for liquid nitrogen? Well the idea of this article is to squeeze every bit of performance out of your old decrepit video card so it can run today's games at an acceptable level without having a huge impact on your wallet. This article will also give you something that no $500 video card can give you--pride in your work and the bragging rights that go with it.
DISCLAIMER: THIS PROCEDURE IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS, AND COULD RESULT IN THE DESTRUCTION OF YOUR VIDEO CARD, MOTHERBOARD, CPU, AND YOUR HOUSE, DUE TO FIRES, EXPLOSIONS, ETC. THIS PROCEDURE WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. NEITHER THE AUTHOR OR ANYONE AFFILIATED WITH OCTOOLS TAKES PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OF THE INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN. WE WILL NOT BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, PERSONAL OR OTHERWISE, THAT MAY OCCUR AS A RESULT OF THIS OPERATION. THE AUTHOR DID NOT TAKE CERTAIN PRECAUTIONS DURING THIS PROCEDURE WHICH MAY BE POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS, ALWAYS FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS AND TAKE NECESSARY PRECAUTIONS.
Some notes about this project: I used a Diamond Viper V770 TNT2 regular edition, not the Ultra. I used Tntclk as my overclocking tool. The computer used is my AMD K6-3 450 with 128 mB PC100 RAM on an ASUS P5A, 40 gig UltraDMA 66 hard drive currently only running at UltraDMA33, Superdisk Drive, Kenwood multibeam 40x CD-ROM, Linksys LNE100TX network card, Soundblaster Live!, with a total of nine fans and two peltier coolers, and a custom install of Windows 98 using the 95micro feature of 98lite. While I used the Viper TNT2, this procedure should work with just about any TNT2, or even TNT, but as I have not tried, I do not know. It would be interesting to try this on a TNT2 to see if the supposedly "higher quality" core and memory components actually make a difference. Important information or steps will be in red.
Notes about overclocking and this project: before deciding to peltier my TNT2, I first used ordinary means to get the most out of my card, such as a large number of fans mounted to the board and blowing across it and well as other fans in the case. While I was able to get some fails impressive numbers (160 stable core, 242(!!!) stable memory), being a rabid overclocker I of course wanted more. The only feasible way for me to accomplish this was with a peltier. I already had a peltier on my CPU with good success, so I decided to peltier the video card to get the most performance for my money. Note that I did NOT take precautions against water damage, something that you should probably do. Since my video card would be hanging upside-down in the case, I deemed that the water, if any condensed, would not have an effect on the board or other components. This is a huge risk, however, and if you determine to take the same route I did, make sure you are fully prepared to replace EVERY component in your case. Waterproofing is neither expensive nor time consuming, so I recommend it. Read about it here and here.
Materials
Here you will find all the materials that you need to successfully modify your TNT2 board for extreme overclocking.
1. A TNT2 board, obviously
2. Peltier cooler (note that the higher the wattage, the more condensation it will produce, as well as requiring more heat to be pumped away, and thus a larger heatsink and fan)
3. Heatsink, and fans
4. Thermal Compound (I used Arctic Silver II Thermal Compound AND Thermal Adhesive, so as to make it removable) and aluminum foil
5. Wire clippers and file (may not be necessary, see details below)
6. Various tools: Swiss army knife, tweezers, philips head screwdriver, razor blade, scissors, tape
7. Wax paper and paper towels
8. Isopropyl alcohol
9. Vice or clamp, and something to distribute pressure (metal plate not shown)
10. Newspaper, so that you do not make a mess (contain the mess is more appropriate), and...
11. Last but not least, a high quality beverage (Barqs Root Beer pictured)
Procedure
Before starting, you should make sure that you have time to complete this in one step, if you choose, or at least make sure that you do not have to leave in the middle of it just as you squeezed out some thermal compound. It took me about an hour from setup to clamping, and I left it overnight to cure. Also be sure that you have a place to put the card while the clamp is on it, suspended between two chairs worked fine for me.
Make sure that you read entirely through the procedure and that you thoroughly understand everything discussed. Again, if you choose to do this, whatever happens to your video card or anything else in your computer is not my responsibility, so do you complain to me if things do not work correctly.
Make sure that your modified card will still fit in your case! Mine takes up two component slots, the AGP and it covers a PCI, so if you do not have the extra spot to waste, then do not proceed. Also, do a rough approximation to determine if the heatsink will fit onto the GPU and not interfere with the AGP slot or motherboard in any way. You do not want to permanently attach the peltier and heatsink to the GPU only to find that it does not fit in the AGP slot, so measure twice and be absolutely certain. First, you need to remove the old heatsink from the GPU. I found that it was easier to remove when the heatsink was hot, so you may want to have it running in your computer before trying to remove it. Now that you are ready to rip that sucker off, take the edges of the heatsink and pry it off. I used a flat head screwdriver to pry mine off, but this is dangerous. Make sure that no components will be damaged in the process. Wrap the head of the screwdriver in electrical tape. It took some effort to remove it, and came off rather loudly. More than likely, some residue will be left on the GPU, and you will be able to see the poor job nVidia did with the gluing job. Using the corner of the razor blade, slowly and carefully pick off the remaining glue and make sure that the surface of the GPU is as smooth as possible. Clean it with isopropyl alcohol and avoid touching it.
With the heatsink off, you will now want to "test-fit" the peltier, heatsinks, and fans to the board, so assemble everything to the way you want it and make sure it fits.
Place the card back in the AGP slot and make sure that it fits. For me, the heatsink was touching the AGP 4X jumpers, and since I do not have a 4X motherboard, this would cause problems. My solution was to cut the jumpers, leaving enough at the bottom to solder them together if I ever put it in a 4X motherboard. Other video cards may require more modification in order to assure a proper fit.
Now that you are sure everything will fit, it is time to prepare the board. In order to ensure that nothing gets onto the board, you will want to protect it. Taking the wax paper, cut out enough to warp the front of the board and tape it to the back. Using the razor, trace the outline of the GPU and remove the paper covering it.
For jumpers and anything else sticking up, just punch them through the paper. The idea is to prevent any stray bits of compound from embedding on the board and possibly creating a short. You can see that I pushed one jumper through the paper while cutting around that connector at the top and completely avoiding the CRT connector. Remember that the most likely place for the compound to get is closest to the GPU. It may be useful to mark with a pencil on the wax paper the outline of where the peltier and heatsink should go. I did not need to, as they lined up perfectly with some markings that were clearly visible through the wax paper, but a little planning goes a long way.
You should now be ready to affix the peltier to the GPU. MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHICH SIDE OF THE PELTIER GETS HOT AND WHICH SIDE GETS COLD! YOU DO NOT WANT TO PUT THE HOT SIDE TOUCHING THE GPU, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE PERMANENTLY BONDING THE PELTIER TO THE GPU! Knowing that I would likely reuse the peltier, I decided to mix in some Arctic Silver II Thermal Compound to make the bond removable. Thoroughly clean each surface with isopropyl alcohol and the paper towels. From this point on, do not touch either surface to minimize contamination. You should already be familiar with how to use your thermal epoxy and/or compound and all procedures. Click here to view the instructions for Arctic Silver. Squeeze out a small amount of each substance that you need onto the aluminum foil. Avoid getting this anywhere else except on the foil, as it will get everywhere (trust me). If you think you might get it all over yourself, you might want to consider wearing gloves, especially if you wear contact lenses (I would not want to get any in my eyes).
Know exactly what you will need to do once you mix the compounds together, because once you mix the epoxy, you will only have about two minutes (more if you add thermal compound), so make sure you know what you are doing before you mix! Following the directions, spread the now-mixed compounds onto the GPU and place the peltier in the exact location that you want it. If you made markings on the wax paper, this is where it will be useful. Using a portion of paper towel, I folded it into a square slightly larger than the bottom of my vice so as to avoid any damage to the PCB and components. I tightly clamped the peltier down to ensure that proper contact was being made and suspended the board-with-vice between two chairs and let it sit to cure (note that you do not have to leave this part overnight, as you only need it hard enough to attach the heat sink to; however, if you have the time to spare, you might want to let the peltier cure for at least several hours, but a half hour was fine for me).
