Graphics Stasis Thermal NV6800 Regulator Heatsink Review

HAXOR · 4 Oct 2005

When I saw Stasis Thermal's release thread for the nVidia 7800 series voltage regulator heatsinks, I was thinking to myself "WHAT? NOTHING FOR THE 6800 CARDS??". So I poked around a bit and I found it both over at HardOCP and at the OCForums. I was hyped to say the least! The first thing I did was go to his website and check the availability of the product, which was 'yes', and then to post a reply in his thread. At the time, the sink with shipping was $25 even, a bit much for a little copper sink I thought. I had purchased my NV6800C1 from him a month before and thought it'd be worth a shot asking him if he could cut a deal for those of us who ordered our GPU coolers before production of this unit. He said yes, and offered me some ArctiClean, which I have been wanting to try since I heard of it, but never had the extra cash to pick some up. So he tossed in some ArctiClean with my unit and shipped it off. I received it a couple days later and was considering calling in sick for work so I could play with it, but decided I should just go to work and settle down a bit so I didn't break anything in the process of installing it.

Mine arrived in a square Priority Mail US Postal Service cardboard box. Well packed with lots of bubble wrap, and the sink and hardware all packed in yet another container. I'm glad Matt and his crew(?) are concerned with getting their products to customers in one piece. I think of them highly when it comes to shipping items, just like NewEgg.

After unpacking it, I was pleased to find yet another case badge, which I can put away for future use on my next case.

Mine came with the bottles of ArctiClean, but a typical order of this sink would probably come as shown:

Here is a shot of the mounting hardware included with it. I noticed he's using the springs again for mounting, which makes it a little bit hard for one person to install, but it's by far easier to do than it was when he first released the NV6800 coolers.

The counter-sunk washer and the spring sit on top of the heatsink, while the nylon washer and nut go on the underside of the card. Don't forget to install the nylon washer, or you might end up seriously damaging the underside of the card!

Here's a quick comparison picture of the stock 6800GT heatsink and the Stasis Thermal one.

Here is the sink fully installed:

Note how the end fins on the left and right slant inward, touching the inner fins. This don't effect performance any, though.

This is due to the counter-sunk washers on the top, between the screw head and the spring. This makes it a bit difficult to install, cause the screws go in the holes at an angle and thus don't line up with the holes on the card to accurately. It takes a bit of time to get it to line up and go into the hole on the card, but it's entirely possible to do with the given patience.

Here's the bottom of the card with the nylon washer between the PCB and the nut.

For securing the mounting hardware on this, I just used my fingers. It doesn't need to be TO tight, just enough so it makes good contact with the components and doesn't move around.

And now my card with the new voltage regulator sink installed:

Time to install: 15 Minutes

Overall score (scale of 1 to 10) - 9

Pros:
Made entirely of copper, which is good for heat dissipation, and looks.
That and it's made by Stasis Thermal, which is very good thing by itself.
No more small artifacts while running 3DMark03 or 05.

Cons:
Mounting it takes patience and practice, but is relatively easy to do alone.

This can be purchased only from Stasis Thermal. If you purchased your NV6800 GPU heatsink from him before the release date of this product (9-14-2005), you can email him and he'll cut you a deal on it. Don't lie to him, I'm sure he has records that he can check the date that you ordered your GPU cooler on.