video card cooling

[Conceptor]

i really need some advice here... i put this new zalman heatpipe cooling onto my 9700 pro you see and....well it actually works worse than a stock fan.

1. whats the best cooling solution for a video card (especially when it comes to overclocking)

2. did it matter that much that i didnt scrape off a few bits of the old thermal pad from the stock heatsink?

3. how much thermal grease is too much? whats the best way of applying it. p.s. it wouldent go on the heatpipe very well. instead, it dispersed and got stuck on the piece of cardboard i used to apply it with.

4. not realizing the SIMPLE way to take my heatsink off i tried to get it off the hard way, thus making 3 small near insignificant scratches on the back of the board. the video card still works just like it ever did but could those scratches possibly be ruining my overclocking experience dramatically? could this lead to poor circuitry which thus leads to overheating just to make par with the video card?

[Conceptor]

c'mon now somebody has to have the urge to reply to this and put their two cents in

[Doobz]

number 2 could very well be the cause

[Sentrosi]

Those Zalmans are a joke, IMO. Go with an upgrade to your stock fan. Thermaltake Crystal Orbs are good. If you want to go extreme, look into water cooling or phase change devices.

[Conceptor]

what exactly is a phase changing device? and while im at it....do you know where i could learn about modifying the timing settings?

[AtomicBanana]

The whole point of the zalmans is zero noise, not overclocking.. in that department they are certainly not a joke.

[Spider]

Liquid hydrogen :o

[Conceptor]

a phase changing device uses liquid hydrogen?

[Intruder]

check out
http://www.tomshardware.com


They test out about everything

[Xenar]

Yeah you only get a Zalman if you're concerned about noise... it's passive cooling. You aren't going to get lower temperatures than an active cooling solution would.

I'm not an expert on the adhesives and thermal compounds and stuff, but I WOULD remove the old stuff carefully and thoroughly, and then use some AS3. From what I've heard, you want to use enough of it to cover the entire area, but you need to be careful that NONE of it drips over onto another part.