HIS X1900XT ICEQ3 - How Quiet?

tridion · Post by **tridion** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:22 am

I am thinking of getting this card but I have read differing opinions on how loud or quiet it is. Some say it is almost silent, others say it is actually rather loud.

So which is it? Does anyone own this card here?

I am not bothered how loud it is during game playing as long as it doesn't sound like a jet engine, but I am looking for a powerful card that is extremely quiet in 2D mode and "normal" Windows use.

zenboy · Post by **zenboy** » Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:07 am

I have one of their X1900 Pro IceQ cards. It's not silent, plain and simple. With work, it could be made very quiet, and it gave my AGP system a reason to live much longer than it otherwise could have, but it's not silent. With some fiddling and farting, like a fanmate jimmied in there or something, and a thermal probe to check temps, you could probably make it very quiet, but my next fancy card will be bought as just the cheapest one I can for the performance level I want, and I'll put a Zalman on there with a fanmate.

oscar3d · Post by **oscar3d** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:31 am

I have a HIS X1900XTX IceQ 3 and is hands down the most silent ATI of it's class.

Answering to the person that says it's not silent. Well of course yours is not silent because you have an IceQ (only version). We are talking here about the version 3 of the ICeQ technology.

I've posted about my results on my card before here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=31997

I'm very confident youy'll have a great experience with the IceQ 3 version.

The previous IceQ versions are not silent, but you have to go with the 3rd.

I hope it helps.

zenboy · Post by **zenboy** » Wed Aug 09, 2006 10:55 am

Any numbers to back up the claim that the IceQ3 fan is quieter than the IceQ? Not doubting, just curious if anyone had done a side by side.

hkcadcam · Post by **hkcadcam** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 5:38 am

oscar3d wrote:I have a HIS X1900XTX IceQ 3 and is hands down the most silent ATI of it's class.

Answering to the person that says it's not silent. Well of course yours is not silent because you have an IceQ (only version). We are talking here about the version 3 of the ICeQ technology.

I've posted about my results on my card before here:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=31997

I'm very confident youy'll have a great experience with the IceQ 3 version.

The previous IceQ versions are not silent, but you have to go with the 3rd.

I hope it helps.

No, HIS X1900 ICEQ series are all using ICEQ3 cooler but not design by AC.At the max fan speed is 3000RPM, while old AC silencer is 2000RPM.
So, it will not silent if you set the speed to to 100%

oscar3d · Post by **oscar3d** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:47 pm

You say it's not silent. Do you have one?

I'm interested because mine is dead silent.

I don't have numbers here, all I can say is that I've posted here many times trying quiet my computer. And this card was the final step and the answer to my prayers.

Of course there might be other options out there but this has been mine.

oscar3d · Post by **oscar3d** » Fri Aug 18, 2006 11:49 pm

BTW it never, ever get's to a 100% speed. Except when you POST, 5 secs, and then silent.

And even with 105F ambient like last couple of weeks in CA, it never changed speed and maintained stable.

This is a great piece of equipment...

RPost · Post by **RPost** » Tue Aug 22, 2006 5:14 pm

oscar3d wrote:And even with 105F ambient like last couple of weeks in CA, it never changed speed and maintained stable.

Have you got it overclocked? If so does it make a difference?

oscar3d · Post by **oscar3d** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 12:29 pm

I've overclocked it a couple of times. And I really didn't notice a variation on the fan speed, at least noise wise.

I'm rinning it on a P150 case, with 1 120 Tricool@Low exhaust and a Ninja + Nexus 120 @7v. The PSU is a Seasonic S-12 500

My hard drives are outside the case on an enclosure, which doesn't add noise. As you can see I've tested this card on a very silent system.

Do you think I would like to add a noisy card to a really already quiet system?

DJ_Mike · Post by **DJ_Mike** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 5:27 am

I've bought one of these myself, which I've housed in a P180 case with the rest of my setup. It's an absolute dream! The first time I powered on my PC I thought it wasn't working because I couldn't hear a damn thing over the noise of my TV and old PC! :S

I can confirm that the IceQ3 fan can be heard very audibly when you first power on, as it spins at top speed for ~5 seconds during POST - after that I didn't hear a peep out of it. Maybe it got just a little noticeable during a long session of Doom 3, but other than that it's wonderfully quiet

M;.

oscar3d · Post by **oscar3d** » Tue Aug 29, 2006 10:10 am

I'm glad to hear you had a great experience with it as much as I had.

It's been 2 months so far with this card and still working perfect and quiet.
Definetely the fan of this card has been made with better components than the Arctic Cooling ATI Silencers.

Silent, takes the air outside the case instead of recirculating it, it doesn't get hot. It's a must have.

This is hands down the choice for the ATI customers, with powerful rigs.

Not to mention the new HIS X1950XT (red coolers) that are coming.

thegoldenstrand · Post by **thegoldenstrand** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 6:49 pm

I would like to have it pump out a little less air and run quieter.. I am guessing it is the loudest by far component in my PC.. maybe 50 dba??

So.. is there an easy way to slow the fan down. It pumps out more air than the power supply and rear case fan combined.

Mike

zenboy · Post by **zenboy** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:28 pm

So the card you're talking about is the IceQ3? Interesting.

The IceQ I have does pump out quite a bit of air, and I wasn't able to get the PWM to turn the fan down at all. I hooked it up through a FanMate and that brought it down to an acceptable level of noise (my system is far from silent, but fairly quiet). However another video card in my stable (A 6800 vanilla) is running a Zalman 700Cu which is quite a bit quieter.

DJ_Mike · Post by **DJ_Mike** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 12:49 am

What the heck, 50dba? You must be extremely unlucky to have it sounding that loud in your system - I can't hear mine above the sound of the rest of my PC during normal operation, and I've tried my hardest to get my PC running as whisper quiet as possible. The only time I begin to hear it is when I have a 3D game up and running, which is when I expect it to be doing its job! (Perish the thought it leaves my card to overheat to death).

HIS X1900XT ICEQ3 - How Quiet?

HIS X1900XT ICEQ3 - How Quiet?

My new HIS 1900XTX ICEQ3 pumps out a lot of air and is LOUD