Silencing an Asus 5200 FX videosuite

Mario · Post by **Mario** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 8:37 am

This card has a tiny whiny fan. It is almost acceptable if it is run at the lowest speed.
But problem is that it always start at the high speed. It is possible to set it low with Asus Smartdoctor tool but problems are:
* invasive tool, does not start minimized
* fan speed must be set to low at each boot because settings are not retained
* the tool creates an intermittent problem, changing the resolution of the monitor from time to time.
Useless!!

So my questions are:
* anybody had any luck with that tool, maybe I make a mistake using it?
* I don't do games, no 3D and no overclocking: is it possible to just remove the small fan? where do I find the acceptable temps for the card? Could not find it in the asus site!
* if all else fail a zalman ZM is the only solution? looks overkill for a little card like that! isn't there anything easier?

Seeing now other card with passive cooling solutions, I regret my choice, but at that time I did not know.

Thanks.

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 8:51 am

I would turn the fan off and hang a 5 or 7v Panaflo L1a over it, using a slightly modified piece of PCI slot cover, a la MikeC in his article here :

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 11:27 am

One of the Zalman northbridge-coolers does an excelent job cooling the smaller Graphicscards. Have an nb32 cooling a MX440, works like a charm.

miker · Post by **miker** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 11:28 am

Tobias wrote:One of the Zalman northbridge-coolers does an excelent job cooling the smaller Graphicscards. Have an nb32 cooling a MX440, works like a charm.

Agreed. Cheaper than a Panaflo, too

Mario · Post by **Mario** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 2:31 am

thanks guys, nice idea. Would the Zalman ZM-NB32J or ZM-NB47J fit the card? Is it easy to mount, since it is not designed for it?
Any difference for the 2 models?

BaconTastesGood · Post by **BaconTastesGood** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:09 am

You'll have to mount it using thermal adhesive/epoxy, but the NB32J includes this in the package so it shouldn't be a worry.

miker · Post by **miker** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:10 am

I would say the NB32J would be better. I think the NB47J was trimmed a little to help it fit better on some mobos.

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:27 am

I didn´t have to use any epoxy. The holdingarms on the nb32 is flexible enough to reach the mountingholes on the GF-cards. It is alot easier to mount it on a GPU than NB, strangely enough.

spacey · Post by **spacey** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:31 pm

heh, i just turn off the fan all together. i have the exact same video card, i turn it off when i goto bed. temps hit about 40 deg c. which is fine, because during gaming with the fan on low its about the same.
i leave it on low during the day though... which depending on your tolerance of noise is fairly quiet.

i do wish asus would release a way to set default value, i tried looking into the registry with no luck.

Laz Winterz · Post by **Laz Winterz** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:47 pm

Do you think the BFG 5500 OC 128MB could be cooled effectively with the NB47J? The stock heatsink/fan on the GPU looks so flimsy that I was even thinking about just unplugging it. That side mounted fan directed at the video card looks promising as well.

Ryan · Post by **Ryan** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 8:54 pm

Why not one of those zalman NB's, zalman ramsinks, and a nice panaflow Under it, with a duct leading out of the pci slots

Laz Winterz · Post by **Laz Winterz** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 9:10 am

I doubt the ram sinks are needed but do you have a pic of something similar to that duct your talking about? Oh and also bfg's customer support told me the max Wattage under load is 56-watts. Would this be comparable to a motherboards northbridge?

The Zalman ZM50-HP looks promising
[url]http://www.directron.com/zm50hp.html[/url]