The 256MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro (Continued)

The 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro did not come with any cooling solution for the BGA memory chips. So it was with this 256MB model.

Many argue that memory chip cooling is necessary. But the real source of thermal production is actually the R360 core. The stock cooler of the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro is truly pathetic. It is not able to dissipate the GPU's heat output fast enough. That's why even the PCB is burning hot!

So, it should not come as a surprise that the memory chips are also hot. However, this is not because the memory chips are, by themselves, sources of tremendous thermal output. Rather, the memory chips are hot because of conducted heat from the PCB.

Although the card was stable running at stock Radeon 9800 Pro speed, it is evident that the cooler is barely enough to do the job. The heat generated by the R360 is evident, even without physically touching the card!

I highly recommend you improve this card's cooling capabilities BEFORE you mod this card into the Radeon 9800XT. The stock cooler is definitely not up to it.