How To Overclock the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Series

[Olin Coles]

Although this guide (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=1) covers how to overclock all recent NVIDIA video cards, I have selected the FOXCONN NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS as my test subject, which I reviewed back in November 2006 (http://www.benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=1). Presently, the 640MB version of the GeForce 8800 GTS is the second-best video card available on the market. Gamers and computer enthusiasts alike have already speculated on how the GTS could be made to perform to the same level as the GeForce 8800 GTX with some tweaking. Unfortunately, this just isn't possible. What is possible though is taking a great product and making it even better; and do it all for free.

Read the complete guide here... (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=38)

[XJnine]

I didn't pay attention enough to see if you did your overclocking on Vista or XP. I haven't been able to get ATI Tool to run under Vista. Have you?

[Olin Coles]

It was done in Windows XP. Unfortunatly, Windows Vista will not allow driver-level access, so it doesn't work there. I'm not sure if it ever will, since that is the primary function of the program.

[BigBamBoom]

If I could find a better program with a smaller footprint which would enable me to manually adjust 8800 series blower fan speeds, I would be using it. But since this is the only one I am aware of, it is a necessary evil.

You can always try RivaTuner... http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner

It is a very good program with amazing tools, settings and options. But why I posted it was that it has very dependable fan settings and does have a relatively small footprint, I suggest you give it a try. The author has taken a break from updating but only for a short while and a new version will be released. It will tell you that it has not been updated to work with the latest drivers but in-fact works like a charm with all settings. I am currently using it without a problem.

Good job with the article.

[Olin Coles]

Good post! Once RivaTuner comes out with a new version, it may be in the time frame of working SLi Vista drivers, and either a new article or at least an update can follow up. The one reason I like ATITool more then RivaTuner is for its testing tools, which have done a better job loading the video card in my experience.

Welcome to the forums!

[jsimmons]

Great article and well written. I decided to try the O/C on my new EVGA 8800 GTS - but its the 320 Meg version, not the 640 Meg card as tweaked in the article. The default clocks on this card were 513 MHz on the GPU and 792 on the Memory.

With AtiTool, I could manually set the GPU/MEM clocks to 605 MHz/985 MHz and run full 3-D loads on the card for hours on end with no visible artifacts or errors. After flashing the card with these values, the system booted into Windows, but was very unstable. BSOD errors and reboots were frequent.

I flashed the card back to defaults and the system is 100% stable again. Of couse the obvious conclusion was the clock settings were too high. But it doesn't fully explain why the card could run for hours on end under heavy load when the clocks were set Using AtiTool, but not when flashed with those same settings.

I will likely back the clocks down and try again, but I'm a little hesitant given that I was not expecting this behavior and don't want to brick a perfectly good new video card.

I'm open to any thoughts on the topic. Thanks.

[Olin Coles]

Hello Jim, and welcome to Benchmark Reviews.

I appreciate your feedback, and mentioning the details in your email message. First and foremost, make sure you stick with ATITool until you are absolutely certain your settings will be safe "if" you choose to flash them again. I don't want you to ruin your investment either.

In my project, ATITool allowed me to assign 2D, low power 3D, and performance 3D speeds. However, in NiBiTor I could only enter the performance 3D speeds. This leads me to believe that the settings are maxed all the time, even when not playing a game.

I suggest that you simulate this by using the max settings across the board for all three areas, and test (at length) again. Let us know what happens!

[jsimmons]

Interestingly enough, my work with AtiTool always had all 3 clock settings (2D, Low Power, and 3D) set exactly the same when manually testing the clock speeds.

My testing procedure was to first set GPU and Memory at default (513 and 792), set min/max limits of 792/1000 on the Memory, and set min/max limits on CPU at 513/610 in the AtiTool settings and then run the Find Max Mem test until it completed.

After getting max mem speed of slightly over 1000, I set memory back to default 792 and ran Find Max GPU. This gave me results of 620 on the GPU.

I then manually set GPU limit at 605 and Memory limit at 985 and set both clocks to these speeds. I then ran find MAX GPU for a complete cycle that took over an hour to run. Of course with the starting speeds for both memory and GPU set at the max values, no increases took place, the heat-up and Scan for atrifacts phases repeated over and over until it completed with no errors. I periodically inspected the Cube window to see if any atrifacts were being generated.. None were.

I then let the 3D Cube "spin" in the background for several hours while I ran some 3D games in the foreground, Did normal web surfing, ran outlook, etc. Again no issues seen, and the system was 100% stable.

Only after this process did I venture into the world of flashing the 8800 Bios.

I think my next step will be to set my GPU and Mem clocks down to the highest defaults for the EVGA 320 MB GTS cards out of the box. EVGA lists their default for the 320 MB "Superclocked" board at 576 GPU, and 1700 MB (850 MHz). This is quite a bit lower than the 605/985 I've been testing with, though.

If it will flash and run stable with those speeds, then I may raise it some more.

There is an article I found on Anandtech's site comapring a number of the 8800 cards and how well they overclock. In the article, they discuss also altering the shader clocks using NiBiTor and testing the O/C of shaders via BIOS flash (since Shader Clocks aren't exposed in AtiTool or nVTune). Their results show that shader clocks can also withstand some significant increases.

Finally, in reading up more on nvflash, I came across this tid-bit:

"*Remember* To always change out the drivers after a flash, most people forget this and then wonder why the drivers are giving them problems or why they get strange effects in there games. Always re-install the drivers and turn off any anti-virus before doing so. Rename the file to something thats easy to remember and point the string path too."

I clearly did not do this after flashing my 8800 GTS. Perhaps it could account for the behavior I encountered.

[jsimmons]

I am currently opting to use a "low tech" approach to overclocking the 8800 GTS. At least for a while.

I'm using the AtiTool "Startup" options set as follows:

1 - Every Time AtiTool is launched, Load Profile "Superclocked"
2 - Load on Windows Startup via "Registry Key"
3 - When loaded via Windows Startup, exit after loading above profile.
4 - Wait 30 seconds for system to stabilize.

My "Superclocked" profile uses the EVGA settings for the "Superclocked" version of the GTS card - 576 MHz GPU, 1350 Shader clock, and 800 MHz Memory Clock.

This has the advantage of not requiring a BIOS flash. I will run this way for a few weeks, then possibly try flashing the BIOS to these settings.

Call me gun shy, but I'll leave the BIOS alone for the time being. :)

[Olin Coles]

Jim: Athough the startup via registry key is convenient, you should also mark the box to enable 3d detection and have it load your "superclocked profile" then. I sometimes even grossly underclock my card for 2d use, so that power consumption is at it's lowest and the hardware has a longer life. Once I open a game, ATITool ups the speeds to the profile I specified.

I cannot blame you for not wanting to flash the card. Most would also agree that it is not totally worth the risk. However, in SLi and other environments it is required.

[Akentut]

I just installed ATITool 0.26 and the default settings for my nVidia 8800 GTS were 513 Core and 792 Memory. Seems a bit off from the settings that they state in most of the reviews that it is 500 and 800 respectively. After tweaking with the same program I now have a stable 550 and 900.

My question is what is the best relation between the two settings. Granted the top Core frequency was 660Mhz with memory at 792Mhz before it crashed and top Memory was 1080Mhz with core at 513Mhz. Where is the balance between them to get the best performance?

The 3D View shows FPS and AVG which settled at 353FPS with Core @ 550Mhz and Memory @ 900Mhz. Also I should state that I have dual cards and they are water cooled with EKWater Blocks.

Tnx
Akentut

[Olin Coles]

Good questions Akentut!

First one: Where is the balance between them to get the best performance?

Answer: This will be different with every card. Since ATITool has a decent 3D tool which is good for heating the card up and testing the GPU, and the artifact scanner is good for testing vRAM, it will only be determined by actual gameplay and use.

Additionally, it is very important that you overclock and test each card as a solo installation rather then SLi. Once you have tested each card at great lengths, then you will be ready to flash the BIOS of each card and return them into an SLi set.

Welcome to Benchmark Reviews!

[Akentut]

Tnx for the quick reply.

So it looks like at my present SLI config, I'm probably only overclocking one card, and that is probably the one in PCIe slot 1 (ID:193 / bus6 / Dev0 per Use Device it's the only one in the dropdown). And slot 2 is just along for the ride and running default settings 513/792.

Time to unplug one and test like you said and find the optimum for that card, then test the other. But in order to make them both work in OC and SLI mode I would have to Flash them as ATITool won't allow me to access the cards independently, unless taking them out of SLI will allow that.

[Olin Coles]

I have gone back and edited the article to clarify the overclocking of SLi sets. Yes, you should do one at a time, and then flash the final product to the BIOS before you rejoin them into the SLi set.

Come back and let us know what kind of overclock you get from your cards.

[jsimmons]

Having the basic EVGA 8800 GTS (513/1188/792 clocks), I decided first to flash to the same settings as the 8800 GTS OC card (576/1350/850 clocks).

So far, its solid as a rock.

I am now using the hardware monitor in RivaTuner (since AtiTool can't monitor all the components on the 8800 boards). However, I still use the AtiTool for testing the higher clock speeds. The combination of RivaTuner, AtiTool, NiBiTor, and nvflash = the complete set of tools for overclocking the 8800. Perhaps nvtune will join the group when it better supports the 8800.

[XJnine]

You're article made me feel a bit more comfortable about using the BIOS to OC my 8800GTX. Thanks!

[redbull{wings}]

Hey, I hope you don't mind but I've got a bit of a problem after overclocking my 7600gt.


I used AtiTool and overclocked my memory speed fine(using your guide)but when I got to the core speed if I put it higher than 610mhz my desktop would slow to a crawl and I would have to slowly pull it back down.

I know people who are getting much higher than 610mhz on a 7600gt why is mine doing this? or is it safe to keep going after 610?


Also I'm getting serious artifacts in BF2 and Oblivion even though my clocks are relativley low at 600 on the core and 800 on the mem

If you could shed any light on this it'd be much appreciated thanks.

[Olin Coles]

Hello! Some of the 7600's which were sold as GT's were high-bin 7600's or low bin 7800's. Obviously the low-bin 7600 is going to have more headroom for overclocking compared to an already maxed out high-bin 7600. This could explain why your results are low. It all depends on the actual GPU used on your specific video card, which is displayed in the advanced tabs of ATITool.

Next is heat. How hot is your card running at full load? This could be limiting your stability.

Lastly, some general rules are: overclocking the GPU will raise heat (first) and overclocking vRAM will increase artifacts (primarily). You need to find the max for each seperatly, then cut them down to work together. They will not each work at their MAX speed at the same time.

Hopefully this helps you out. Please post specifics if you have them.

[redbull{wings}]

what's a ballpark figure for a good memory overclock because I maxed out at around 850 on my card and brought down to 800 but I still see artifacts now and then so should I take it to 775?


My max temps will working in atitool were 70C and after gameplay I normally see them around 70-75C my gfx card and cpu are on stock cooling with one fan in the back pulling air out.


correction my back fan was not in but it is now and my temps have gone down abut 5-6 degrees

[Olin Coles]

Whoa! 850MHz Memory clock? Keep in mind that the actual clock speed is doubled, so you are technically achieving a 1700MHz vRAM clock, which seems way too high.

I would keep dropping the memory down until you see absolutely no artifacts after about ten minutes of hard use. Believe me, it is better to drop some overclocking points so that your game doesn't crash ten minutes in.

[redbull{wings}]

its at 770mhz now with a 600mhz core speed and I played Oblivion on medium/high settings with no artifacts for an hour.


but do you think it would be safe to bring the core up a bit I feel a little cheated going from 560 to only 600?

[Olin Coles]

560 to 600 is really quite a bit actually, especially for that video card. Besides, framerate is usally most impacted by the video RAM speed.

At least you were able to overclock your card. I received an XFX 8800 GTS 320MB that won't go past the speeds it arrived at.

[XJnine]

I recently got another 8800GTX to go SLI. I've found thet even when they're at the same speed it can be tricky to OC when running SLI. Not only is it hard to test out each card but if one card isn't rendering absolutely perfect you can get some weirdness.

[Olin Coles]

XJnine, I have found the same thing to be true. I do mention in my article to overclock each card seperatly and test to the extremes before moving on and flashing the new BIOS. Only after each video card is confirmed perfectly stable working on its own for hours will it be ready to join an SLi set.

[mobbmann]

First off thank you very much Das Capitolin for such a comprehensive guide. I have a question though hopefully you can answer. I've been running my 8800gtx overclocked for months now through ntune and it runs perfectly fine, I actually have a very modest over clock on my card which I think I will bump up a little bit, currently I have it set at 620/ 973 just because I was uncomfortable with the heat it was generating under load (71 degrees) which after calling xfx today I found out my threshold was actually 130 degrees and they said my temp was totally ok.

That being said, I was looking at your screen shots and I see that there is a shader box between core and memory on the first page of your guide, do I have to adjust this or can I just adjust the core and memory speeds. If I do need to adjust it what do you recommend to figure out what to set it at? thanks in advance.

[Olin Coles]

Howdy mobbman, and thanks for becoming a member of our forum.

First things first: 130C is beyond the boiling point, and therefore should be considered out of bounds. 100C is more realistic. In your case however, 71C is nothing. I would easily see temps reach near 90C at full load on my GTX prior to it being overclocked.

Next up is your shader question. You mentioned the first page, but really the shader function is in the NiBiTor program on page two; so I hope you didn't miss the first page. You don't have to overclock this, but you could get better performance with some tweaking.

Based on your current results, I can see that there is still plenty of room for improvement out of your card. If it were mine, I would follow the steps in my guide and push it considerably more. I like to find the absolute ceiling for GPU first, and then find the absolute max vRAM clock, and then settle for a stable middle ground which is usually 70-80% of each. As I mentioned before, RAM makes the most difference, but too much overclock and you get artifacts. GPU overclocking yields some improvements towards performance, but also raises temps.

Good luck, and thank you for the compliments! Please come back and tell us what you get out of your card.

ps. Ditch nTune, you will be glad you did. ATITool is far better, and consumes less overhead.

[mobbmann]

I agree, I dont like Ntune, especially if your a vista user since it wont overclock at all. secondly, I would rather set my card up to be overclocked with out having to have software running in the background, I have had issues with Ntune causing a very rare crash that only happened twice since I had my card but I have no problem flashing the card bios to get the same result.

Oddly enough, I had quite an easy time overclocking my cpu and frontside bus, but I for some reason never messed with my video card, thanks again and ill update how successful my over clock was, I'm evaluating performance and stability as we speak with atitool.

[mobbmann]

Ok, I flashed my bios on my xfx8800gtx and everything went fine. However...

there is a problem with the fan control, even though it says 100 percent in nibitor it still only works at 59 percent when I check ntune or any other app to check my fan speed. I tried making the value 120 percent or higher under nibitor but it resets it to 100 percent. the only thing nibitor will let you do is lower it, and yes im running version 3.4.

Does anyone know how to modify the fan speed for this card? I'd like to set it around 70 percent since it is still quiet at that speed. ntune will not load the setting at start up I have to manually do it every time windows starts, I heard rivatuner works well but it is still running in the background. I would like to be able to alter this setting through the bios or make it so there is no software running to control it, I want to go sli eventually so I'd like to make it where there is no ntune, rivatuner or anything else running in the background, help pls.

[redbull{wings}]

have you tried checking your motherboard site for a fan control utility?


by the way as an update my overclock is 605 core and 775 mem completely stable after hours of game play and never goes over 60 now thanks guys

[mobbmann]

Like i said... I dont want another item in my task bar or running in the background. I'd rather make it so my fan is set up this way at start up, and I dont have some piece of software running in the back ground, is there any way to do this? I already know about speedfan, and other fan control software, however there has to be something that can make it possible to alter the fan speed on this video card to make it run at 70 percent preferably to help cool it just a little more yet remain quiet.

On another note, is Nvidia stupid or just not care that ntune doesnt and hasnt since the 8800gtx came out, been able to adjust the fan speed on this card?

[Olin Coles]

Presently, there aren't any ways around controlling fan speed; you will have to use a 3rd party application. Since resource overhead is important to you, then I recommend ATITool since it uses nearly no CPU or RAM. Yes, it runs in the background, but so does a lot of other stuff you probably haven't addressed (ie. services).

[mobbmann]

ok, thanks for verifying what i was affraid to be the answer. I find myself looking more and more to liquid for cooling from this point on. I cant imagine cooling two of these 8800gtx's in an sli configuration with only air. In a few years when I build my next system I think water cooling will be the way to go, thanks again.

[nightxmarez]

Hey all, EXCELENT review, i was very impressed, however i am going to shy from the bios flashing. My question...i have a pny xlr8 320 mb 8800gts and i like to OC any video card i run for obvious performance gains. I have it clocked to 560/980 and it runs very stable though i dont see much gain in 3dmark06 from the stock clocks for some reason on my xp boot. I boot in vista and run the same stock vs OC comparison and its worlds of difference so i can probably safely account that to drivers...but my true question is, why cant i run any higher than 560 core...i see loads of 600+ yet mine get small yellow artifacts in the 3d view in ati tool at anything above 560....anyone got an answer. Though i should point out i get like 900+ avg frames in the 3d view, lol.

I should also point out the card doesnt really go much higher than 74 degrees with max load under my current cooling...and when the air is cooler in my house...(night-time) it peaks about 71.

[Olin Coles]

Hello and welcome to Benchmark Reviews!

There may be two different answers to your problem: the first is that PNY uses "binned" GPU's, which means that the GPU could not safely achieve the higher speeds and so it was used in a standard GTS. Had it been a higher output part it may have gone into a OC version of the GTS. The second is that the memory overclock is too high. I would suggest reducing all of your clocks to normal, and then testing for the maximum GPU overclock before changing the RAM. Once you have the max GPU speed, you can begin introducing the RAM overclock, which might (and probably will) mean that you will have to bump the GPU overclock down a few steps.

Please let us know how this works out, and what speeds you get on your card.

[nightxmarez]

Alright so in windows xp i achieved an OC of 630/987.....very stable and very good performance....im soo confused....drivers i guess.

[Olin Coles]

Drivers for sure. This isn't surprising though, since you can't get SLi in Vista either.

[Rumshifter]

Hi there. Great instructional resource, I'm glad I found it! Just a couple of questions as I'm a novice to this sort of thing!

I'm an avid gamer and therefore want to achieve highest possible FPS at all times. I looked up your guide and started following it. I was just going to run that program every time instead of flashing the bios because that looked a little advanced for me. While I built my own computer and it works just fine, I'm not comfortable with any of those squirly bios settings.
Anywho, I started following your guide, I downloaded the fuzzy cube program and ran it, It started heating up my video card which is expected. I just let it sit there and run while it warmed up. It got to about 89 degrees C. andI guess I didn't know but I then pressed the test for max memory since you said to start with that. The program started testing and it began to warm even more. It got to about 9 seconds without an error and then the cube was covered in yellow glitchy boxes. Great, error, success, don't go any farther. Well I was like Ok I'll abort so my card doesn't go bye bye. Wouldn't let me click it. It froze up my comp and I panicked. I ran and got a can of compressed air, shut off the computer completely (held power button) And then blew the video card with it so it wouldn't just sit there and bake. After about 10 minutes I venture to turn on the comp again.
It's fine, but I am quite shaken because I really have no clue what I'm doing I guess. When I start the program should I just run the max test from the get go? Or should I let it warm up and then perform the test? And once I do, what do I do with that info? Is the freeze supposed to happen? I'm just so lost! >.< I guess any form of help would be greatly appreciated. I don't expect you to spood feed me but I'm just a bit afraid.

As far as technical aspect. The comp froze at gpu 660 (default) and memory ~1108 (950 default). I'm using the Nvidia 8800 GT and it's seen a performance drop lately. I used to run COD4 at 333 steady fps but lately getting ~180 with spikes of ~70 fps. I updated drivers and am even trying the Omega Drivers which are just for gaming, but only a tiny improvement in performance so far as I can see. I bought the card about 1 year ago. Are there any options for better cooling on it? Maybe it's filled with dust and should be blown out?

Again I'm sorry to unload these questions on you but it seems that whenever I ask on other forums I get snubbed. Thanks in advance for any info at all!

Rumshifter

[RagingShadow07]

Haha, looks like this thread has been dead for about 2 years now. Someone (besides me) will definitely post some advice on this as well, though. Here's my opinion:

First of all, if the video card has been installed for a while (several months) in a case with high airflow that has no dust filters, I'd definitely take it out and use a can of air on it. It's not going to hurt to just pop it out, dust it, and pop it back in.

Second, if I remember correctly, the stock clocks for an 8800GT are 600 Core, 900 Memory (1800 DDR) and 1500 Shader. So I'm assuming you have a factory overclocked model? Those already have some overclocking applied, and have been tested so they'd run at that speed. Any higher might cause instabilities, and freezing/artifacting (those "glitchy boxes" might have been artifacts) is a usually a sign that the clocks are too high for the card to handle.

Have you looked into aftermarket cooling? I just got a 9800GT, which is basically the same thing as an 8800GT, and with the fan on automatic, it will idle at a massive 60-70c. So I have to keep fans on 100% to get it to idle at 56c.

Zalman has some high-rated heatsinks on Newegg. This one (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118001) was one that I was looking at. I believe it will void the warranty of the card, assuming you still have a warranty on it, though, so use at your own risk, :p.

Lastly, just out of nothing more than curiosity... what settings were you using that would get you 333FPS in CoD4..?

[Olin Coles]

Hello Rumshifter, and thank you for posting your questions with lots of detail. We like 'em like that!
The ATITool you're using has a "find max" tool, but I like to use that as a measure for where the ceiling is, and then manually tweak my video card. The crashing/freezing/etc is quite normal when you scrape your head on that ceiling, but it doesn't cause harm in nearly all cases. Your temperatures seem on the high side of things, so aim for higher memory before GPU. Finally, once you've found that magic threshold line, reduce it by 5-10% so you don't crash your system at some random point hours into a game.

[RagingShadow07]

Sorry to kind of hijack the thread here, but coincidentally, I'm having some problems with my 9800GT now. It's at stock clocks but 'acts' like it's overclocked. There's a lot of shader and texture problems randomly, as well as artifacts, FurMark is extremely messed up (I'll grab a screenshot later if I can) and every so often, Windows will report something to the effect of "Display adapter has stopped responding but has recovered" and has done this multiple times within the last 2 to 3 days.

Any idea what could be causing that? I'm blaming it on temps, to be honest. Without having the fan on high, it will idle as high as 70c and I think I've seen it to get to the mid 90s without 100% fan before.

Edit: Can't grab a screenshot of FurMark in full-screen. What it's doing is, to try to explain, distorted and flickering extremely fast, to the point where you'd probably get a headache if you stared at it for over a minute. It seems to work, but...

[Bruce Normann]

I think you can get the screenshot in Furmark with the F9 key. Look in the upper left corner, it should be listed there.

BR, Bruce.


Edit: Can't grab a screenshot of FurMark in full-screen. What it's doing is, to try to explain, distorted and flickering extremely fast, to the point where you'd probably get a headache if you stared at it for over a minute. It seems to work, but...

[Olin Coles]

I'm betting temps are the issue. Summer is fastly approaching, and those winter-like room temps will soon prove how stable your overclocks are.

[RagingShadow07]

I think you can get the screenshot in Furmark with the F9 key. Look in the upper left corner, it should be listed there.

BR, Bruce.


Yep, that worked. I looked at the screenshots and it doesn't reflect the graphics bug FurMark is having, though. (Looks normal in the pic)

Olin, any idea what temps a 9800GT is rated to, or recommendations on a saf(er) limit? I'll likely be getting an aftermarket heatsink soon, so we'll see if temps really are the issue.

[Olle P]

First I suggest you simply remove the heatsink, clean it and re-seat it properly with fresh TIM.
That should fix your problems.

What's become something of a standard aftermarket cooler nowadays is Arctic Cooling Accelero S1, rev.2.
Can be used with or without fan(s) depending on how much airflow you have through the case.

Cheers
Olle

[Rumshifter]

Hey sorry been busy the last couple days. I haven't changed any settings yet because I'm waiting until I get a new fan for my processor and some new thermal paste. I'm using the stock fan for the IP 35 pro motherboard and I guess it could be better. Anywho I haven't run that program again yet but hopefully I'll get around to it after I get the new cooler for my processor since it does idle at a rather warm temp. Thanks for the info so far though, very helpful ^.^

As for COD4, when I first got it, it was rather boggy and slow, you have to learn the console commands if you want to speed it up. I have some helpful commands written down somewhere and I'll find them in a bit and post them for you but they definitely help out when it comes to fps. And I'll also tell ya what I'm using for in game graphics settings. ttyl!

Rummy

[RagingShadow07]

First I suggest you simply remove the heatsink, clean it and re-seat it properly with fresh TIM.
That should fix your problems.

What's become something of a standard aftermarket cooler nowadays is Arctic Cooling Accelero S1, rev.2.
Can be used with or without fan(s) depending on how much airflow you have through the case.

Cheers
Olle

I have the HAF 932, so airflow definitely isn't a problem. Except for the fan that comes stock on the 9800GT, which is 4500RM at 100% speed, noise doesn't really bother me, so I wouldn't aim for passive unless it works really well. By 'it can be used with or without fans' do you mean you can mount a fan onto it?

[Olle P]

... do you mean you can mount a fan onto it?Yes. AC have a two fan arrangement (called Turbo module) specially designed for it, and any regular fan (preferably 12cm) fastened with zip-ties will do just as well.

Links: Accelero S1 (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=105), Turbo Module (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=108)

Cheers
Olle

[RagingShadow07]

Hm, looks like the cooler plus the Turbo Module would be about $40, counting shipping, on Newegg. Seems reasonable, since the Zalman heatsink alone, that I was looking at, was almost that.

Haha, looks like you weren't joking about it being popular/standard. Almost 400 Newegg reviews, plus it's out of stock! Looks like this will be what I end up getting when I get an aftermarket GPU cooler.

Thanks for the recommendation Olle!

[Rumshifter]

Please be aware however that this unit takes up a considerable amount of space and might stop you from using 2 video cards because of the size, especially if you also use the turbo module. It's a good heat solution however is very bulky.

[RagingShadow07]

Haha, I appreciate the reminder, but I don't have a SLI board, and my case has more than enough room for it. I'm not ready to adopt a multi-card solution just yet, until one card can't run anything at all.