VisionTek Radeon 9800 XT - 256mb

Here is out 9800 XT laid out bare.  You can see that ATi's reference design is followed here giving the card a nice non-crowded layout.

Here is the R360 core.  As many heatsinks as we've seen in our time here, the R360 core rates as a true shaver.  The thing was so clean I could read the writing off my degrees hung on the wall above it.  I don't think I have ever seen anything with this level of a finish on a heatsink, let alone a core!

Back side of the card again along with a close up of the 32 mb DDR memory chip.

The memory chip are in contact with the heatsink via thermal pads.  I can't say I care too much for these but the processor is in contact with the heatsink by means of thermal paste.  Basically, the VPU and memory are not flush with one another so you are stuck with the thermal pads.

This was my ONLY disappointment with the 9800 XT card but unfortunately it is a noteworthy one.  When I removed the heatsink from the VPU, I thought it odd how much thermal paste was used.  So much thermal paste that I thought Graham had a part time job somewhere I didn't know about.  (He's bad about gooping on the grease.)  Using my small plastic thermal paste spreader I covered the VPU with thermal paste, reattached everything firmly then took it back apart to confirm the contact the VPU had with the heatsink.  The picture below says it all.  I repeated this twice and both times the same areas left evidence of disappointing contact.  With the memory chips being "lower" on the card than the VPU, I should be able to lap this down a bit and make it have better contact.  BUT, for five hundred clams I DAMN WELL EXPECT BETTER THAN THIS!!  Easily corrected but still a piss poor job from the manufacturer I have to say.

BTW, in case you are wondering, the total weight of the top and bottom copper heatsink plates is 247gms.  I expected it to weigh more but was pleasantly surprised to see that it did not.

Our last pic of the physical card gives you some idea of its size.  The 9800 XT is not a super sized card in size just power.  You'll see what I mean in a minute.

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