NEVER buy a Sapphire card!

[Descent]

This fucking Atlantis 9700 Pro just made me spend an assload of cash to upgrade it's cooling, because it is a piece of shit. I have near second degree burns from touching it's HSF, so I just had to spend $20 for some new cooling.

Sapphire...rot in hell!

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-110-106&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-118-220&catalog=23&manufactory=BROWSE

Fortunately, the previous owner was kind enough to apply some Arctic Silver for me...I'd sooner cut myself with a thumbtack than apply any of that stuff.

 

[tzedek]

i need some cooling for my card too it gets so damn hot i think its going to explode.

 

[BRiT]

It's not their fault, they're using the reference implementation design from ATI. And yes, the worst part is the lil metal tab on the topside near the bracket plate. What's a sweet series of coolers is the VGA Silencer. It exhausts the heat out of the case and is damn near silent. If you can afford the slot below the AGP, I highly recommend this. Here's the model for the 9700 series: http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-186-113&depa=0

 

[Descent]

It turns out the fan on the card was kaput. If I didn't find out sooner, it may have died. The HSF on it is a tiny fucker, it's worse than the one on the 9600XT.

I'm running a TNT2 in there now. Read my post that will be up in a few minutes.