BitFenix Prodigy M + VGA Cooler Mods

If you own an AMD Radeon HD 7970 graphics card that follows the reference design, you know that both idle and load temperatures are high (i.e., 43->84 degrees Celsius). The result of which is unreasonable high load noise (i.e., 48.2 dbA) from the fan(s). I use this particular graphics card in my gaming PC, and I am constantly annoyed by the loudness of the fan when playing taxing games such as Crysis. To alleviate the issue, I have purchased my first VGA cooler; specifically, Gelid Solutions Icy Vision Rev.2.

Figure 1: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970.

The Icy Vision is ideal for my application because of the copper base design. Note the diamond shape in the image below. This shape is unique to my particular model of graphics card and is required if you want to transfer heat appropriately (with the copper plate touching the chip).

Figure 2: Icy Vision Rev. 2.

The process of applying a VGA cooler is the same as building your first PC. Terrifying at first (you void the warranty), simple once done, and monotonous anytime after. The first step in the process is to remove the reference cooler. Typically, this requires the removal of a few screws and a fan connector. Figures 3-5 depict the teardown process.

Figure 3: Backside of the Radeon HD 7970.

Figure 4: Frontside of the Radeon HD 7970 with the fan still attached.

Figure 5: Card with the fan removed.

The next step of the process is to clean off residue thermal paste and attach a set of small heatsinks using adhesive, thermal pads (provided with the VGA Cooler kit) to the RAM and VRAM chips. This step took a bit of trial-and-error as the copper heat pipes misalign with the common variant of the heatsink provided. Figure 6 shows the result.

Figure 6: Heatsinks for everyone.

You may notice in Figure 6 the large heatsink that dangles over the edge of the top of the card. This use of the heatsink is my own. I could not properly fit any of the provided heatsinks over the VRAM and thus opted to use the HD 7900 series one as best I could. My final result, with the supplied backplate mount attach, is seen in Figure 7.

Figure 7: VGA Cooler kit applied.

Figure 8: The VGA Cooler  design takes approximately 3 PCI-e slots (2.5 at best).

Figure 9-11: My BitFenix Prodigy case with the new VGA Cooler installed.