Zalman heatpipe or Arctic cooler for ATi Radeon 9800 Pro

cyclocross · Post by **cyclocross** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 3:37 pm

So it sounds like there isn't an effective DIY solution to silence my jet engine/video card. Bummer.

Looks like the most effective solutions are the Zalman heatpipe and the Arctic Cooling fan. Both have received positive reviews from a variety of sources. My question is has anyone out there had the opportunity to try BOTH products and have a preference one way or the other? Any pros/cons?

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:26 pm

I have only tried the VGA Silencer (and it works great), but most reviews say they're pretty close in terms of cooling. Iwould think the Zalman is more dependent on case airflow.

Pjotor · Post by **Pjotor** » Tue Feb 01, 2005 9:42 pm

I prefer Zalman's solution (and yes, I have tried both).

The primary reason is that it is silent -- it has no fan. If you do need a fan on it, you can choose any fan you like, whereas you're stuck with the same fan if you use the VGA Silencer. In my case, the fan rattled at 5 V, which was one of the reasons I went back to the ZM80D-HP.

My VGA card is a 5900XT with a Panaflo 80mm stuck on it. Temps are 44 C idle with the fan at around 5 V -- still just about silent. I only have to turn up the fan after a few hours of gaming, since there are some occasional artifacts if the room temperature is too high.

Cons: ZM80D-HP has a higher price and takes time to install. For me, the tradeoff is worth it.

BlueCan · Post by **BlueCan** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:05 am

I've tried both. The VGA silencer works better for me in my Sonata. In a case with decent airflow, I'd probably be using the ZM80D-HP with no fan blowing on it.

-Patrick

cyclocross · Post by **cyclocross** » Wed Feb 02, 2005 9:45 am

Thanks for the comparisons! I think the best plan is to suspend my hard drives at the same height as the Radeon card and then mount a 120mm fan in between them. This will pull air in through the front of my Antec SOHO case and over the drives and then blow it across the Zalman equipped card and out the back of the PC. I dont' OC the Radeon so this should keep things cool enough.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 6:54 pm

I've used my 9800 Pro 398MHz for almost a year now. Only PSU fan and no intake fan. Zalman 7000 at 5 V and a HD fan at 5 V, AXP 2200 MHz, one HD. AOpen H700B case = BIG, 625 mm high. It never fails, there's only one thing to comment. I've played many hi end games but only playing Doom 3 can sometimes result in white dots in the screen (because of overheated RAM??? can't remember.... I don't think that's a problem for you because you get RAM heatsinks with the latest version.)

The Zalman is a bit more tricky to mount, but it is better for modding, more universal. Like if you wan't to cool it with the HD fan, building ducts...

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 7:25 pm

Mats wrote:I've played many hi end games but only playing Doom 3 can sometimes result in white dots in the screen (because of overheated RAM??? can't remember.... I don't think that's a problem for you because you get RAM heatsinks with the latest version.)

No. That's the core GPU overheating. Most guys that encounter this problem (even at stock 9800 pro speeds) can underclock the card a little bit to get rid of them.

When RAM overheats it results in artifacts, rather than the white speckles.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:01 pm

Wedge wrote: No. That's the core GPU overheating. Most guys that encounter this problem (even at stock 9800 pro speeds) can underclock the card a little bit to get rid of them.

When RAM overheats it results in artifacts, rather than the white speckles.

Ok, thanks! I always mix them up...
Can you describe how artifacts look like? I'm not so good in English..

We do have "artefakt" in Swedish, but still I don't know what it means when it comes to graphics (in English). Google just gives me a lot of stuff made in flintstone....

(surprise!!)

Still, cyclocross should get the D version that got two heatpipes, My C version got one. That gives him a bit better cooling. My runs at 398 MHz stock, most of them runs at 380 MHz.

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:30 pm

Mats wrote:Google just gives me a lot of stuff made in flintstone.... (surprise!!)

Artifacting of the video can really mean just about any irregularity that is obvious to the eye.

But have a look at these pictures and try to imagine the last one happening to the games you play. That is very similar to what I have seen when I once had my RAM clock too high.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:40 pm

Wedge wrote: Artifacting of the video can really mean just about any irregularity that is obvious to the eye.

Thanks, a simple explanation!

A grammatic question: As an English speaking person, was it obvious what it meant the first time you heard about it or did you also think about archeologic things? For me it was just the latter... but I think it's used when talking about data compression too (just found out).

Wedge · Post by **Wedge** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 8:58 pm

The very first time I heard the word "artifacting" being used to describe video irregularities, I wasn't sure exactly what it meant. I didn't know if it meant a specific irregularity or general type of irregularity.

And yes, like you, I tend to think of archaeological digs when I read or hear the word "artifact". I would say your association of the word with the science (archaeology) is right on track. It is probably the most common use for the word "artifact".

But as I am sure you can see, we americans like to make it very confusing.

EDIT: I reread this and maybe I didn't answer your question. Yes, the first time I heard the word "artifacting" my mind went to archaeology.

trxman · Post by **trxman** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 5:59 pm

So, theoreticly, it's possible to cool down stock clocked 9800Pro with fanless ZM80D-HP ?

theyangster · Post by **theyangster** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:05 pm

well it is with an Aerocool VM-101

but it seems a little warm....i can only imagine the temps when I disconnected the fan on the stock cooler and put a 120 fan blowing at at it....

btw you do know that this is topic that is over 7 months old

trxman · Post by **trxman** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:09 pm

yes, but I'm only now considering buying second-hand 9800Pro

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 1:11 am

trxman wrote:yes, but I'm only now considering buying second-hand 9800Pro ;)

I'd do it since I've already done it with a 80C. If I thought it was too hot then I just add a 5 V fan, possibly in the front of the card with a duct and some slots left open in the back.

Mar. · Post by **Mar.** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:57 pm

Typically, Any white or red dots that aren't supposed to be there are caused by the GPU overheating... Memory overheating is where you start to see your geometry errors, like polygons being stretched across the screen, that sort of thing. However, that can also be caused by a badly damaged GPU (but it's usually the memory).

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Tue Nov 01, 2005 4:36 pm

Mar. wrote:Typically, Any white or red dots that aren't supposed to be there are caused by the GPU overheating...

I forgot to mention, it happened to me sometimes when I played Doom 3, but never with other games like Far Cry for instance. I guess a 80 mm fan running at 5 V would have made the difference. Remember, I had no case fans.