Suggestion for a silent Radeon X1950 Pro

Vampirtc · Post by **Vampirtc** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:13 am

I've been looking into:

1. Passively cooled PowerColor Radeon X1950 Pro SCS Edition
http://geizhals.at/eu/a241004.html
Problem I see: need an extra fan

2. Cooled with Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 PowerColor Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme
http://geizhals.at/eu/a222654.html
Problem I see: as far as I can tell hot air stays in the case

3. Cooled with Arctic Cooling HIS Radeon X1950 Pro IceQ3 Turbo
http://geizhals.at/eu/a226961.html

4. The cheapest X1950 PRo I can find + a quality and silent cooling system. Which?

What do you think?

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:14 am

I think it depends on how much silence you want. If you must have silence, get your first option. If not go for something else.

1. Silent, To ME I don't think that heatsink can properly cool a X1950 Pro. This card seems notorious for it's overheating. I'm a bit skeptical about cooling this card passively.

2. I have a X1950 Pro and a X2, and it's pretty quiet. The X2 keeps my card at about 43C. (stock was 51C) (also note that this card is factory overclocked)

3. I've heard that the IceQ cooler is pretty quiet, even more quiet than the X2. I don't have any experience with it though.

4. The cheapest option here would be to get the X1950 (170 US dollars) and then buy an aftermarket cooler: a X2 (20 US dollars) or a Zalman ZF-900. (30 US dollars)

Your best option....

I'm not sure. I would eliminate #1. Look at this quote:

DWangerin wrote [url=http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=322030&highlight=#322030]here[/url] wrote:Perhaps I just got a loud unit (sampling variance happens) but the X2 was by far the loudest part of my system and is much louder than the other two coolers. The IceQ3 is almost silent at low rpms and when it ramps up it makes more of a 'whoosh' noise compared to the X2's whining noise, kind of like the difference between a 120mm fan and a 80mm fan. The X2 was very quiet at low rpms but would get loud as it ramped up.

However, the IceQ3 is not a perfect unit- it only works well when the video card is standing vertically, i.e. desktop orientation vs. tower orientation. When the card is horizontal with the cooler hanging off the bottom, as in tower cases, then the fan makes a clicking noise at high rpms (see thread in VGA forum for more info). I've finally settled on using the Thermalright HR-03 with a 7v 92mm Nexus fan, but I'm having trouble cooling the VRMs. BTW- thanks for the X2 link, which shows that Arctic Cooling makes a VRM cooler specifically for the x1950Pro. Should be easy to make work with my cooling setup.

Just some more info to help you.

Vampirtc · Post by **Vampirtc** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 9:30 am

Thanks for reply. I want it as silent as possible, but I'm sure other components will make some noise as well (Core 2 Duo, Raid0,...). Though I want it silent only when I'm browsing, writing, Photoshoping in Vista. I don't care about the noise when I'm gaming.

What if I fit say Scythe Minebea Silent IC Low 120x120x25mm fan on the http://geizhals.at/eu/a218584.html
PowerColor Radeon X1950 Pro SCS Edition or make sure there is sufficient air flow in the case (probably Lian Li PC-B20A)?

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:33 am

I have the Gigabyte 1950 Pro with the VF700 Zalman cooler, and have been pretty happy with both its performance and its noise level. I don't know if there are any reviews online directly comparing this card to the others you list, at least in regards to noise level. If it is available where you live, though, you might check it out.

http://www.gigabyte-usa.com/Products/VG ... uctID=2392

I would also be leery of a passively cooled 1950 Pro, unless you take some specific steps to ensure good airflow over the card.

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:15 am

I just installed an HR-03 on my x1950pro, completely passive. Maximum load temps with 25C ambient temp have been 71C. By comparrison, but cousin bought a powercolor x1950pro with an X2 cooler on it, and at load, his reaches 75C under similar ambient temps. check the link in my sig for pictures of the installation.

Anodyne · Post by **Anodyne** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 11:38 am

Ryboto, did you notice a difference in noise level when you replaced the VF700 with the HR-03?

Just wondering, because I replaced a passive GeForce 6800 with the X1950 Pro/VF700, and didn't really notice a difference in system noise level. However, I think the loudest item in my system is the AlCU7000 CPU cooler, so the VGA switch may not have mattered.

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 2:13 pm

Anodyne wrote:Ryboto, did you notice a difference in noise level when you replaced the VF700 with the HR-03?

What about the noise difference between the VF-700 and the Accelero X2?

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Fri Mar 02, 2007 3:01 pm

I never used the vf700, i bought a sapphire with the stock cooler, replaced it with a vf900, swapped the fan. I used a low speed panaflo, but even at 8v(the lowest my motherboard will bring it) it was noisy. So, I put a resistor inline to slow the fan to 900rpm. Even at that, the fan seemed to have a coarse bearing noise compared to the S-Flex's. I could have swapped it with a better fan, but the vf900 is tricky to do a fan mod, you either destroy the fan, or mount one on top of the heatsink making it nearly a 3-slot monster.

In the end, I figured if I could go fanless, I'd have zero noise, and no fan to worry about. I never actually listened to my cousins X2 cooler, but Considering it gets hotter than mine under load, and his is in a PC-V1000 case, the fan must be spinning slow. I'll ask him about it the next time I talk to him.

Vampirtc · Post by **Vampirtc** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 9:15 am

If I gonna go with HR-03 which graphic card in similar price range and performance would be easiest to cool? In other words its most power efficient.

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:11 am

Vampirtc wrote:If I gonna go with HR-03 which graphic card in similar price range and performance would be easiest to cool? In other words its most power efficient.

Can you elaborate on this? Do you want a card that you can run passively with the HR-03? Or a card that you can cool quietly? A HR-03 can cool a X1950 pro with a quiet 92mm fan on it. You could probably cool up to a X1650pro passively. (And up to a 7600GT in nvidia's cards)

ryboto · Post by **ryboto** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 10:17 am

angelkiller wrote:
Vampirtc wrote:If I gonna go with HR-03 which graphic card in similar price range and performance would be easiest to cool? In other words its most power efficient.
Can you elaborate on this? Do you want a card that you can run passively with the HR-03? Or a card that you can cool quietly? A HR-03 can cool a X1950 pro with a quiet 92mm fan on it. You could probably cool up to a X1650pro passively. (And up to a 7600GT in nvidia's cards)

Did you not read that I'm cooling my x1950pro PASSIVELY with the HR-03? I've read of guys cooling x1900xt's passively with the HR-03...it's perfectly safe.

Vampirtc · Post by **Vampirtc** » Sat Mar 03, 2007 11:42 am

angelkiller wrote:
Vampirtc wrote:If I gonna go with HR-03 which graphic card in similar price range and performance would be easiest to cool? In other words its most power efficient.
Can you elaborate on this? Do you want a card that you can run passively with the HR-03? Or a card that you can cool quietly? A HR-03 can cool a X1950 pro with a quiet 92mm fan on it. You could probably cool up to a X1650pro passively. (And up to a 7600GT in nvidia's cards)

Sorry, some really bad English there. I need a graphic card that can be silently (not heard through Lian Li B20A from 1m) cooled with a HR-03 and a 92mm or 120mm fan when I'm not gaming.
I was asking if any other graphic card is more efficient with heat that has similar performance and can only be up to 30% more expensive as X1950 Pro.