What exactly is the pink stuff on the back of the X800XL?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Fisher
  • Start date Start date
Fisher said:
I bought an ATI X800XL yesterday and noticed this pink square on the
back of the card. The other vendors are not using it on their X800XL
cards so why is ATI? I'm guessing it's some sort of thermal compound.
Here's a pic of it I found on the web.

http://news.mydrivers.com/pages/images/20050329151909_21527.jpg
Click to expand...

It does, indeed, look like some kind of thermal interface material. But
what's the use of that if there's no heatsink to transfer the heat to?

You can always pull it off carefully to see what kind of chip is underneath
it. Afterwards you can always attach a heatsink using Arctic Silver Thermal
Adhesive or something like that.

=- Brian Dickens, the Netherlands
 
The chip is the rialto bridge which is used to convert ,what is in essence,
a PCE express video card to an AGP card. the pink stuff is used as a type of
heatsink - do not remove it - you will invalidate your warranty and
potentially have heat issues.

I belive that all AGP type X800xl cards have this pink stuff - my Powercolor
one does.
 
The chip is the rialto bridge which is used to convert ,what is in essence,
a PCE express video card to an AGP card. the pink stuff is used as a type of
heatsink - do not remove it - you will invalidate your warranty and
potentially have heat issues.

I belive that all AGP type X800xl cards have this pink stuff - my Powercolor
one does.
Click to expand...

Kind of a flaky heatsink. I can see this stuff deteriorating over
time. I would rather have seen them put something more robust there,
you know, something made out of metal. It looks like a layer of bubble
gum. :-)
 
it is bubblegum, sniff it
Kind of a flaky heatsink. I can see this stuff deteriorating over
time. I would rather have seen them put something more robust there,
you know, something made out of metal. It looks like a layer of bubble
gum. :-)
Click to expand...
 
The pad is for protection, necessary because the bridge chip is exposed on
the back of the card. Think AthlonXP CPU shim.
 
Fisher said:
Now that makes sense. Thanks for the info.
Click to expand...

Hoping to pick up an X800XL next month, have a 9800Pro currently. What do
you think of the card? I'm asking because the 6800GT has now come down to
the same price and though I've been ATI for many years friends rave about
their GT.
 
Hoping to pick up an X800XL next month, have a 9800Pro currently. What do
you think of the card? I'm asking because the 6800GT has now come down to
the same price and though I've been ATI for many years friends rave about
their GT.
Click to expand...

Well, I haven't done any numbering benchmarking but I can tell it's
faster than my 9800pro was of course but it's not an amazingly amount
faster. Lots of web benchamarks show it on par with the 6800GT, it
wins some, it loses some. I didn't get the 6800GT because I read of
driver issues with some of the games I play. I like it but like all
newer vid cards I think it's overpriced for what you actually get.
 
Fisher said:
Well, I haven't done any numbering benchmarking but I can tell it's
faster than my 9800pro was of course but it's not an amazingly amount
faster. Lots of web benchamarks show it on par with the 6800GT, it
wins some, it loses some. I didn't get the 6800GT because I read of
driver issues with some of the games I play. I like it but like all
newer vid cards I think it's overpriced for what you actually get.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that - appreciate it.
 
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