new NVidia card /cooler for Abit NF7S mobo...

scruzbeachbum · Post by **scruzbeachbum** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 11:38 am

Sort of a fishing expedition, but wanted to get some opinions...

I'm looking to update my graphics card to a newer NVidia based card. Looking for middle of the road or better performance with low fan noise.
I'm willing to retrofit an acoustically challenged card with aftermarket cooling, but has to be compatible with the skyline on my mobo....the processor has an Artic-Cooling Copper Silent 2TC rev 2 (I like it!) and northbridge has Kalman northbridge HS.

Any thoughts?

As an aside, the other bits of the system include Antec Sonota case, Samsung SP1614C (nidec), and an old Asus GeForce 3 card. The only thing I can regularly hear is the vid card's fan.

greeef · Post by **greeef** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:11 pm

any reason why you want an nvidia based card?

Most enthusiasts are agreeing that ati offer the better value for money at the moment, and they seem to have most cooling options as well.

I have an NF7 with that nb cooler, and a 9800 equipped with an arctic cooling vga silencer and coolermaster ram sinks - run beautifully and quietly.

griff

scruzbeachbum · Post by **scruzbeachbum** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 1:15 pm

some games I run are not compatible with Radeon....sad development by the game companies, but true...otherwise I'd be using my 9600XT with a rev 3 arctic cooler.

Anyone mess with the nvidia 5900xt?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 185&depa=0

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:39 pm

Not Gainward's, but I'm quite happy w/ the Leadtek. I have a ZM80C-HP on it, RAMsinks (OCZ aluminum ones--cheapest the Egg had), and a fan. Since it is finally there, get a D

. It gets way too hot w/o a fan, but even a weak fan should do the job. It's more important to get air moving than it is to have a lot of it moving, as it is using the fan to counteract the fact that video cards are just badly situated for good cooling.

Fully stable OC'd to 450/946. If you're replacing the cooling anyway, Leadtek (fast RAM), BFG (warranty and tech support), or Gainward (faster RAM tyhan most, and very highly OCable GPUs) should work wonderfully. Leadtek will have the quietest stock cooling of any but MSI as well, IIRC.

If you're not sure it will fit, do some measuring. Zalman has the required dimensions on the product page at their website.

scruzbeachbum · Post by **scruzbeachbum** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 5:53 pm

Cerb - thanks for the info!

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Thu Jul 01, 2004 7:27 pm

Also, if it would make any difference, Leadtek's 5900XT has a temp sensor...very handy when you're trying to get it to the lowest amount of cooling possible

. I don't know what 5700 cards have them, if you're more into the <$150 range.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Fri Jul 02, 2004 8:29 am

Last little bit, if you do use one of the Zalman coolers...take your time, be as exact as possible, and don't worry about the little brace things. I recently re-re-installed mine, this time doing several dry fittings, overall, taking nearly an hour, and the load temps are now down 10-15C from before (gets into the low 80s as quick as ever, but before I could get it to 102C if I tried...now 86C is the absolute max I can get).