X1950GT : Fan Control and HR-03 Compatibility?

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:26 pm

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying the Sapphire X1950GT. It's around the same price as a 8600GT but with performance equal to, or exceeding the 8600GT by as much as double, depending on the game and settings. So it looks to be a good buy. Power consumption doesn't look too bad either. It's considerably less than the 1950XT and 8800GTS.

On to my questions...

1) Does ATITool (or other program) support fan control for this card?

and

2) Does Thermalright's HR-03 fit this card? According to their website the heatsink fits the 1950 series fine, but has compatibility problems (which can be worked around) with the 1950Pro, as seen here:

http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main ... on1950.htm

As the GT and Pro are so similar, I'm concerned the GT might have the same issue.

Matija · Post by **Matija** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:04 am

The GT is a lower-clocked Pro.

That said, if the card has the old design, with VRM chips, don't make the mistake of trying to use the HR-03 on it. If it's a newer design with "normal" voltage regulation circuitry, then there are no worries.

Look in this subforum, I have detailed my frustrations with the card.

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 8:33 am

Geez, just thread your whole thread! Shame man, i feel your pain.

I googled the the exact model number of the card i'm looking at (11103-00-51R). First link it returns is this:

http://www.alza.cz/sada-ati-sapphire-ra ... d80364.htm

The power circuitry is definitely different from your card, so hopefully it'll work with a passive cooler.

Are you able to adjust the speed of the stock cooler's fan?

Matija · Post by **Matija** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:27 am

Yup, it's adjustable, but it's not really helpful. The stock cooling is so horrible that you need the fan at 100% when the card is loaded... And then it's loud. It's so damn loud that I get ringing in my ears very soon. I even hear it through my headphones with reasonable volume settings.

You might want to take a look at the Accelero S1 as well. It's cheaper than the HR-03, and also works nicely.

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 4:36 pm

Matija wrote:Yup, it's adjustable, but it's not really helpful. The stock cooling is so horrible that you need the fan at 100% when the card is loaded... And then it's loud. It's so damn loud that I get ringing in my ears very soon. I even hear it through my headphones with reasonable volume settings.

You might want to take a look at the Accelero S1 as well. It's cheaper than the HR-03, and also works nicely.

I might want to plug a separate 120mm fan into the graphics card, it depends how hot it runs passively. It will require some haxing of the wires though. My idea is to have the 120mm fan blowing air over the gfx card horizontally and exhaust the hot air out the PCI slots.

Yes, I'd actually prefer the Accelero S1, but they're not available locally, so i'ld have to import. And with that, the price advantage disappears. But i'll definitely look into it.