Which VGA cooler??

They make noise, too.

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ryboto
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Which VGA cooler??

Post by ryboto » Tue Dec 14, 2004 4:16 pm

I currently own an Antec Sonata case. Soon i'll be getting an X800pro and a second 120mm fan. Eventually i'll have an acoustifan and an antec smartfan.

Now, I was planning on getting the pro vivo version and attempt a bios flash that would get me an x800 xt, possibly PE as i've heard of people doing this. I'm aiming for the most silent solution for cooling such a beast, but I can't find and acoustic comparrisons between the Zalman ZM80D and the ATI Silencer 4.

I don't like the idea of having a mini-radiator in my case, as is what i'd get with the zalman, but with the second 120mm fan positioned directly at the card slot, I feel I might have ample cooling. Then again, with the Silencer, I'm garaunteed less heat generation in the case.

I'd just like to know, what the consensus is with the two coolers. Would the silencer generate noise audible above the case fans, and do I have enough airflow for the zalman...And in case anyone was wondering, I've got absolutely no cable obstruction for air, the only cable that is visible over the motherboard is one of the power connectors. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

edit: I have limited it to these two since they come with a ram cooling solution, whereas that new thermaltake, and the aerocool don't.

ONEshot
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Post by ONEshot » Tue Dec 14, 2004 5:13 pm

NO! GET RID OF THE ANTEC SMARTFAN! The worst purchase I have EVER made for my computer!!!

Spod
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Re: Which VGA cooler??

Post by Spod » Wed Dec 15, 2004 5:48 am

ryboto wrote:Would the silencer generate noise audible above the case fans, and do I have enough airflow for the zalman...
Yes and yes - a fanmate will improve the former, though it may require the use of a motherboard fan header if the plug won't attach to the fan header on the card itself. If that 120mm fan is on the back of the hard disk cage and blowing directly across the graphics card, then you probably wouldn't need an extra fan on the Zalman - though overclocking it to X800XT-PE levels would probably require you to turn up that fan a little.

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Wed Dec 15, 2004 9:21 am

ONEshot wrote:NO! GET RID OF THE ANTEC SMARTFAN! The worst purchase I have EVER made for my computer!!!
What's so bad about it? from what i can gather through reviews is that it's like the acoustifan, just lower in quality...

And in reply to the post by Spod, idealy, i'd be putting the temp sensor on the heatpipe cooler, so that the fan would be 'controlled' by the heat of the card. Also, as for using the fanmate, do you mean to use the fanmate for the Ati Silencer?? From what i read in product specs and reviews was that it ran between 5-12v, though how or when or why it switches between 5 and 12 was never explained, i assumed it operated using a temp sensor..hidden somewhere??

From what i gather though, it might be best to go with the zalman?

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Post by Tephras » Wed Dec 15, 2004 6:34 pm

The Ati Silencer itself doesn't have a fan controller, it's the fan controller on the video card that regulates the power to the fan, provided that the video card have a fan controller off course, and one can assume that the fan controller on most video cards use the temperature to regulate the speed. With the use of a fanmate plugged into a fan header on the motherboard you will have better control over the fan speed (read noise) and the risk of noise caused by the PWM will be eliminated.
With the Zalman cooler on a Radeon X800 you will need a fan blowing over it. However, according to this review a fan @7V will be enough to cool a X800XT (no info on what fan they are using other than it's an 80mm), so maybe the Zalman will be a quieter cooling solution for your VGA than the Ati Silencer. Naturally, this might not be valid if you overclock your grapic card.

Spod
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Post by Spod » Wed Dec 15, 2004 11:32 pm

To answer the other interpretation of ryboto's question, the Zalman will manually adjust between 5 & 11V using a knob on the fanmate itself.

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Thu Dec 16, 2004 8:05 am

Ok, so the zalman would be a quieter solution, and since i'll be putting in a second 120mm fan, even though i've heard mixed reviews on how well that actually helps, i assume it will be ample airflow over the card. My final concern is temperatures. With the second 120mm fan, would I have ample airflow to remove the excess heat from the zalman cooler, or am I correct in assuming the silencer will keep the case the coolest?

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