Just some FYI, i spoted an Arctic Silencer 3 the other day while ordering stuff and got 1. Unfortunately theres no way it'll fit a 9800 SE AIW nicely, its intended for 256MB 9800 Pros and the XT so its not really surprising but the Silencer 1 & 2 weren't in stock or listed.
In any case the fan seems to be of a much higher standard than the old ones. That was my big complaint about the old cards, the fans were very low quality and wore out quick. While manually powering the fan its inaudible, powered will be different but i can't test without frying my gfx card due to the power connector btu i am hopefuly it will be very good. It seems well balanced etc from first inspection.
The Silencer 3 has a nice backplate which touches all of the ram chips, as does the front by the looks of things (though considering the heat given off by the core i'm nto sure if this is wise). Theres not speed toggle (aparently the cooler(?) runnign X800 Silencer 4's do though.
As a final note i'll be dremel-ing the card tonight, one way or another it'll fit my 9800 SE AIW. First casualty is the rear ramsink plate. Aslo these cards are BIG, at least an inch longer and higher than the rev3's, seriously, they're huge. Other models may vary though.
I'll post back once i've got it powered an let you know how much trouble its been to mod.
The new Arctic Silencers and AIW's info
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I haven't seen any talk of new AIW cards. I'm not sure if they're moving in a different direction with them now, since they're starting to do proper HDTV support with PCI express. Not sure, we can't get HDTV in the UK so i haven't been paying too much attention.
As for the AIW / Silencer issue.... i've got one that very nearly works
I broke the last mandrel i had for my dremel-a-like trying to cut through the copper/aluminium join thismorning. I'll pop out tomorrow and pick up another along with some carbon fiber discs. Its a bit messy but i'm hopefull it'll look cool when i'm done.
As for the AIW / Silencer issue.... i've got one that very nearly works
I broke the last mandrel i had for my dremel-a-like trying to cut through the copper/aluminium join thismorning. I'll pop out tomorrow and pick up another along with some carbon fiber discs. Its a bit messy but i'm hopefull it'll look cool when i'm done.Well 2 hours of cutting and butchering the Silencer 3 got me one that fits my 9800 SE AIW. Not only do you have to work around the TV unit, theres a chip between each pair of ram blocks, a row of capacitors beside the tuner gets in the way, as does a heatsink on a small chip next to them.
Big pain in the ass. Was it worth it, nope... The fan is absolutely appauling. My worn out fan on the revision 3 is better (at least at low noise) and by a fair margin. The Silencer 3 only has 1 speed but i'm guessing the clicking is a constant over all speeds.
This is only 1 card but i've seen other reports of similar problems, its also the same fan thats used on the Silencer 4. I've got no idea about the NV coolers but i guess its the same. If your looking for something quiet i'd steer clear, though its still better than a stock cooler if only because it doesn't have the high pitch squeel that they do.
Big pain in the ass. Was it worth it, nope... The fan is absolutely appauling. My worn out fan on the revision 3 is better (at least at low noise) and by a fair margin. The Silencer 3 only has 1 speed but i'm guessing the clicking is a constant over all speeds.
This is only 1 card but i've seen other reports of similar problems, its also the same fan thats used on the Silencer 4. I've got no idea about the NV coolers but i guess its the same. If your looking for something quiet i'd steer clear, though its still better than a stock cooler if only because it doesn't have the high pitch squeel that they do.