New approach to fanless cooling by Sapphire

wundi · Post by **wundi** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:12 pm

Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO Ultimate.

My intention was to buy a passively cooled card but instead got something that sounds like a fire alarm gone mad...

Your thoughts on this fanless heatsink?

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:17 pm

Well, it doesn't have a fan on the front of the card, does it?

At least they didn't claim it was 0 dB

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 9:58 pm

Hmm, about a month ago when I was building my new computer, this was one of the cards I was thinking about buying. At the time, NewEgg pics did not show the card with a large fan on the back side, it was passive. Guess they must've been having problems with people frying their cards, though, so they added the fan.

Kind of a bummer you got a fan-cooled fanless card, though. If you raise enough hell with the store you bought it from they'd probably take it back. I'd say it's their fault you didn't get what you bought, they should've had more up to date pictures on their site before they started shipping different products out.

Or if you want to keep it, just unplug the fan or use software to slow it down to an acceptable noise level.

dragmor · Post by **dragmor** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:35 pm

Give me one of these in AGP with Dual DVI for my Shuttle and I will buy it in a second. It makes more sense for the Sink and Fan to be on the back of the card.

It would be nice if the fan only kicked in after a certain temp, so 2d could be passive, but 3d required the fan on low.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Tue Dec 20, 2005 10:46 pm

Software such as ATi Tray Tools will allow you to adjust fan speed based on GPU temperature or 2D/3D mode.

spolitta · Post by **spolitta** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 12:07 am

I would return this for false advertising.

wundi · Post by **wundi** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 4:53 am

Thanks for the heads-up everyone.

Yes my intention is to return this, since the store I bought it from has a 2-week returns policy (by law). I'll just wait till they have a 7800GT in stock (should happen next week).

But the noise this thing makes by default is just unbelievable. The P180 muffles it quite a bit but it still sounds like a fire alarm had gone off in the distance. I've never heard a fan that makes this kind of noise. Believe me it scared the hell out of me on the first boot with the case open, since it was also the first boot of the whole system.

I also find it very interesting that Sapphire didn't include even a little note in the package saying that ok it's not exactly fanless anymore. Not even software which allows tuning the fan speed. So the average Joe has no means to make his "silent" graphics card, for which he paid a premium, even remotely quiet.

BTW, I was also amazed by how HEAVY this thing is. I don't have accurate scales in here but it's definitely the heaviest component I've owned.

I'll let you know how unplugging the fan / ATI Tray Tools affects things once I get down to do some testing.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:31 am

it's definitely the heaviest component I've owned.

Heavier than your PSU??

wundi · Post by **wundi** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 10:11 am

jaganath wrote:
it's definitely the heaviest component I've owned.
Heavier than your PSU??

Ok sorry now I'll admit that I got ahead of myself there. The S12 is heavier of course.

A Hexus.net review said the mass of the X800GTO Ultimate is 530g. Well to me the 665g Scythe Ninja felt lightweight compared to this. I guess the grip makes all the difference in how heavy something feels -- and I was only handling the Sapphire by the corners of the PCB. But still, it did feel so heavy that I wondered to myself if the cooler had some major copper parts in it.

Another thing: the noise of the fan has got a lot smoother during the course of the day. Yay!

Krazy Kommando · Post by **Krazy Kommando** » Wed Dec 21, 2005 7:47 pm

bahahaha! thats heaps funny! *copies image to file of funny pics*

i fully would sue them (sapphire) for false advertising. even if the fan wasnt plugged in, its still not fanless. the product clearly has a fan, even tho it is advertised that it does not. search the box and if it doesnt mention that the product has been altered with an added fan, you would have a case.
the least they can do is give you a few thousand to keep it out of court

wundi · Post by **wundi** » Mon Dec 26, 2005 1:59 pm

I also thought it was pretty funny! Actually I expected more humoristic kind of replies, but I won't complain about the constructive ones either.

And no, I'm not going to sue Sapphire, even if I had a case..

Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts of this card.

The fan really is of low quality. When spinning at very low speeds, I can see it "swaying" off-axis, ie. it's not really balanced. When I first started the PC up, the fan sounded like a fire alarm, and I'm not even exaggerating. It's got smoother with use though.
At 20-30% duty cycle, it's pretty nice. I can hear it over the Antec fan, but not very clearly. Doesn't bother me when gaming etc.
At 50% it's still bearable but not a pleasure to hear. At first it used to whine a lot at this speed but that has tuned down a bit.
At >60% the whine gets higher and more intrusive. Not really usable.

At idle, fan not running, the temperature rises to about 55 C. Other than that I haven't done extensive temperature testing, but under load with the fan running at 30%, it seems to rise to about 75 C.

Another thing: this thing is a real overclocker! I got the GPU from 400 to 580 MHz with no artefacts, which in my books is quite an achievement. I got the memory from 490 to 525 MHz. Of course these figures only apply to my unit -- and I don't know whether I got lucky or if I'm just overly excited.

In the end I'm glad that Sapphire decided to include the fan. The card still provides passive 2D operation (with appropriate software), as well as adequate cooling for overclocking if desired, yet the fan isn't overly bothersome at low speeds.

For reference: case cooling in my P180 is provided by an Antec TriCool, on low, as the rear exhaust.

Thunder · Post by **Thunder** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 11:46 am

WTF

without fan

wundi · Post by **wundi** » Sun Jan 08, 2006 3:50 pm

Thunder wrote:without fan

Yes, that's the version you'll find in all online reviews of the card in question.

Anyway, another little update:

I returned the card for a refund and intended to get a 7800GT instead, but since it was still out of stock everywhere (except for the real expensive models), I got another Sapphire X800 GTO Ultimate from another store which sold it for quite a bit less.

I wasn't surprised to find a fan on this one too. But I was surprised by the difference in the noise that it makes compared to the previous one. This one is of much better quality and pretty quiet even at 50-60% duty cycle. Apparently the quality of these fans varies a lot from sample to sample.

The core on this sample overclocks a bit worse but the memory will compensate, getting higher than the previous sample. Here's a modest chart:

Code: Select all

         GPU  MEM
Stock    400  490
Sample1  580  527
Sample2  554  547

The clocks don't seem to affect idle temps, but naturally the fan will have to spin pretty fast under load with high clocks. I've found good settings at 540/540 clocks with the temperature rising to around 85 C and the fan speeding up to 80%. It doesn't bother me at all while playing. Assisting is a Nexus 120mm case exhaust fan, set at ~850rpm under load.

Janzki · Post by **Janzki** » Tue Jan 31, 2006 12:58 pm

I too bought this as fanless...