Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 7:29 am

I have one of these fellas and tbh it's doing my head in. I suffer from tinnitus and have been on a quest to make my pc run a bit quieter, however the weak point is this card - it has a tiny fan on it and it's playing havoc with my ears so would like a bit of advice as to what people think may be the best solution.

Has anyone made one of these cards run quietly or even better silently?? Or should I just chuck it and get a new fanless card. I don't want to spend huge amounts on it as I don't play games on it - mainly music production and general everyday stuff.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I dont think my ears can stand any more!!!

flyingsherpa · Post by **flyingsherpa** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:09 am

do a search for some posts by wumpus, he has several where he shows how he made his 9600's passive. he used a zm-17cu, which must be mounted with thermal adhesive and is therefore permanent. i just bought a 9600xt that i made passive with a zalman northbridge cooler... this can be mounted without thermal adhesive so it is reversible. 9600's are pretty low in power consumption so you can definitely go passive.

mrzed · Post by **mrzed** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:15 am

There are lots of ways to cool that card quietly. You may be able to underclock the card using ATItool, and then just unplug the fan if you have reasonable system temperatures. If that doesn't work, a slow 80mm fan pointed at the card should bring it down to OK temps. Lots of folks here (including myself) have also used any number of types of heatsinks to replace the tiny one that comes on those cards, but I would try underclocking and unplugging first.

As you say, spending much money to fix it seems like a poor idea, as you can buy completely passive cards for not much more.

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:39 pm

I have the same card cooled passively with an Aerocool VM-101. There are more pictures of the combination in that gallery. Just for fun, I've been able to overclock the GPU by 42% (gives 25% higher 3DMark05 score, if that mattered). At stock clock speed, the GPU core doesn't get over 45C (measured with an infrared thermometer).

As others have said, that card can be cooled easily by a variety of passive heatsinks, including Zalman NB32J or similar.

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 2:54 am

cheers for the replies. I've looked into that aerocool thing but I think it may interfere with a heatsink on my motherboard(Asus p4p800).

I had toyed with the idea of unplugging the fan altogether. I have also looked at the zalmans but i think they are too expensive.

What types of heatsinks have been used and how do they connect??

Cheers again for the replies!!!

Krazy Kommando · Post by **Krazy Kommando** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 4:05 am

you could buy a Zalman VF700Cu, and run it without the fan turned on. its perfectly capable of cooling that card passivley

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 4:58 am

OK I've had a look at some threads from wumpus cheers for that. How do you guys think a zalman ZM-NB32 would do. And whats the difference between the K version and the J version??

Again thanks

shadestalker · Post by **shadestalker** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:05 am

I would not just unplug the fan. I almost did that to a geforce3 ti200 last week before I noted that the aluminum wafer (I'll not call it a heatsink) and sparse fins would probably allow the chip to get too hot.

I'm not familiar with differences between the Zalman northbridge coolers, but Coolermaster makes one that I used on the geforce3. It was less fiddly to install and covers more area, though it does seem to have less heatsink mass than the nb47j I tried.

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Wed Apr 12, 2006 8:19 am

Apparently the K version adds "push pin swing arm mounts"to the NB32J kit - a nice addition. Otherwise, they appear to be identical.

This, and most other heatsinks, attach using the holes now used to attach the fan assembly on your card.

The Aerocool fin assembly does project considerably (about 45mm) above the "back side" of the card, but it is about the same distance away from the motherboard. This pictureshows how the some of the long spines on an NB47J were very easily shortened to accommodate the VM-101.

Of course, any passive GPU heatsink needs some internal airflow to be effective. And be sure to clean the GPU core and use a good TIM like Arctic Silver Ceramique when you replace the heatsink.

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 12:03 am

dfrost wrote: Of course, any passive GPU heatsink needs some internal airflow to be effective. And be sure to clean the GPU core and use a good TIM like Arctic Silver Ceramique when you replace the heatsink.

I've purchased the NB32K so am waiting for that to arrive now. I'm new to all this stuff and having never used 3rd party heatsinks etc - What would I use to clean the GPU?

I currently have 1 Silent case fan exhausting on the back and will be putting 2 silent intakes at the front bottom of the case. Will this be enough??

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:21 am

Paul Alcock wrote:What would I use to clean the GPU?

Isopropyl alcohol, the higher the purity the better, or acetone, and a lint-free cloth.

Here are instructions from Arctic Silver. Their ArctiCleanmay be even better, but not as readily available.

and also wrote:I currently have 1 Silent case fan exhausting on the back and will be putting 2 silent intakes at the front bottom of the case. Will this be enough??

What size and speed fans are you using? The recommendation around SPCR is for fewer, larger, slower fans, cool-running components, and unobstructed airflow through the case. Have you routed your cables out of the air flow?

Generally, intake volume isn't as critical as exhaust, so two intakes for one exhaust might be more then enough.

We've forgotten our manners, since no one has yet said:
Welcome to SPCR!

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:14 am

The case fans are 80 mm. The cable routing is next on the hit list.

Re the zalman heatsink - it came this morning and i have now installed it. The whole PC is now less "offensive" noise wise. The heatsink is already hotting up and is almost too hot to touch - and this was all while sitting idle at the desktop. Have dug out an old 80 mm case fan and have this sat on the bottom of the case pointing at the gpu. not ideal but still a *hell* of a lot quieter.

A new case is also probably gonna be on the cards cos I hate mine at the minute.

Any quiet reccomendations??

Oh and BTW thanks for the welcome!!!

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 9:42 am

Paul Alcock wrote:A new case is also probably gonna be on the cards cos I hate mine at the minute.

Any quiet reccomendations??

Here's the recently updated article and listof recommended SPCR cases. The highly recommended SPCR cases these days are the Antec P180(big, unique arrangement, designed with SPCR help) and P150 (if you like the color and the included PSU).

With 80mm case fans, you'll be challenged to make your existing case all that quiet.

Any airflow across your new GPU heatsink will make it much more effective. Make sure there's a way for the now-heated air to get out of the case. For the short term, you might want to remove some of PCI slot covers downwind of the NB32K and stand the added fan so that it's blowing toward those openings. You could temporarily attach it with zip-ties to a nearby cable for some mounting security.

Be sure to check out all the articles in the Recommended sectionof SPCR, and for latest quiet fans, look in the User Reviewsand Fans & Controlforums. There's a wealth of useful information and helpful contributors in SPCR, but be prepared to become addicted to the quest for silence.

flyingsherpa · Post by **flyingsherpa** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 1:58 pm

dfrost wrote: With 80mm case fans, you'll be challenged to make your existing case all that quiet.

i disagree... my case uses only 80mm fans (1 intake, 1 exhaust, 1 on cpu, 1 in psu, 1 for gpu) and i can't hear any of them. they're all panaflo L1As and are fed 5-6V. 80mm fans are fine if you don't have a really hot system.

paul, see if you can suspend that fan right near the heatsink you added. here is one way i did it that works very well:

i used some zip ties to attach an 80mm panaflo to a PCI slot cover. i bent it up so it does not touch the PCI slots below it, and i use a rubber washer so it doesn't vibrate. also, be sure to undervolt that fan... i keep mine at 5 or 6V and its inaudible at that level yet still cools as well as the stock cooler.

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 2:41 pm

eeeeh yous lot on here are dead friendly and helpful.

dfrost - cheers for the case link - will have a look at that.

flyinsherpa - You've helped me out no end with that fan mounting idea!!! Gonna butcher an old car and give that one a go. You seem to have a 9600 as well. How do you go about keeping an eye on the temp of the card?? I've been touching it every so often and it's still getting fairly warm even with a fan pointing at it!!!

dfrost · Post by **dfrost** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 3:12 pm

Paul,

Here's a pic with all my fans. The "intake" 120mm fan at only 5V (~840 rpm) on the right attached to the Sonata HDD cage provides airflow for both the HDDs and that VM-101. Something like that would work equally well for your NB32K on the front of the video card.

flyingsherpa's fan mounting is pretty clever, but I keep thinking that it would be more effective blowing across the heatsink and out the case through some PCI openings. OTOH, with the low power consumption of these 9600 cards, maybe that doesn't matter much.

I've checked the GPU core temp under sustained load with an infrared thermometer, and it hasn't gone over 45C with this setup. Definitely only warm to the touch, including heatpipes.

flyingsherpa · Post by **flyingsherpa** » Sat Apr 15, 2006 8:04 pm

Paul Alcock wrote:How do you go about keeping an eye on the temp of the card?? I've been touching it every so often and it's still getting fairly warm even with a fan pointing at it!!!

i have a 9600xt which includes an on-die temp sensor, so i can check temps through ATI's or 3rd party software. i believe it is the only one of the 9600 series to have that sensor, so you'll have to stick to touching the heatsink

on the plus side, 9600's are very low power consumption (9W idle, around 20W load 3D i believe), so as long as you have a little air directed right at that heatsink you'll be fine. i wouldn't worry about it too much.

datapappan · Post by **datapappan** » Wed Apr 19, 2006 2:26 am

I have the exact same card, using a Titan heatsink with fan removed, but an 80 mm case fan as intake on the bottom of the case, rihgt below the heatsink.

I use "AtiTool" for overclocking the card while gaming. You could use the same tool to check for stability in your setup, since you can't read out the temp from the 9600 Pro. Also, with AtiTool you can UNDERclock, to make it even quieter.

HTH, datappan

( AtiTool www.techpowerup.com/atitool/)

Paul Alcock · Post by **Paul Alcock** » Thu Apr 20, 2006 3:18 am

flyingsherpa wrote:so as long as you have a little air directed right at that heatsink you'll be fine. i wouldn't worry about it too much.

Got a 80mm quiet fan blowing across it and out through an open pci slot and the heatsink is much cooler now!!!

Cheers for all the help people - although now i'm looking at gutting my case and starting a fresh with new quieter fans and psu's!!!!