Quieter fan on HIS x1950Pro card?

Zorander · Post by **Zorander** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 10:46 pm

Hi all,

I am considering swapping the HSF unit on this card (picture here) with something quieter and hopefully even more efficient. At 27% fan speed, it is still noticeable in my relatively quiet bedroom and temperature hovers around 50C at idle. I don't know if the temperature is acceptable but I could do with less sound.

I have been looking at either the Zalman VF900-Cu or Zalman FC-ZV9 (what's the difference?). Will they fit the HIS card (I have not tried disassembling the card so I can't tell)? Are there any (safe) passive alternatives?

Cheers!

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:59 am

Personally, I'm very dissapointed with the VF-900 noise - to me, it's far from the quietness, the SPCR review suggest. It's more noisy and intrusive, than a Nexus 12 @ 6 volt.

I dont know if everyone think the same, but there's examples of fan swapping here on SPCR forum.

Passive cooling is probably not possible with your VGA card, but I suggest choosing a cooler, where it's easy to make a fan-swap - it's not a trivial task on a VF-900, it can be done though.

EDIT: This review came to mind, and it seems as an AC Accelero S1 should be a safe passive choise: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... -scs3.html

Zorander · Post by **Zorander** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 2:20 am

Thanks for the reply.

I saw the Accelero S1 right after I posted the thread. Silly me. Looks like it's high up on my shopping list now.

I'm beginning to think of replacing the x1950Pro with a 3850 (AGP card) and slapping the Accelero S1 on it. What do you think? I believe the 3850 is even less of a heat source (and significantly faster to boot), isn't it?

Cheers!

maf718 · Post by **maf718** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 5:48 am

Zorander wrote:I'm beginning to think of replacing the x1950Pro with a 3850 (AGP card) and slapping the Accelero S1 on it. What do you think? I believe the 3850 is even less of a heat source (and significantly faster to boot), isn't it?

I've been considering the same upgrade, the IceQ fan is a little too noisy even at 27%.

Most benchmarks seem to show a 30% to 50% increase in frames per second when going from the 1950 pro to the 3850 at my screen resolution (1280x1024), and I'm undecided if that's enough of an improvement or not. As for heat, I'm not sure if the 3850 is less of a heat source, but it does consume less power which is a good sign. (13w less at idle and 8w less at load according to a direct comparison I saw). All temperature comparisons I've seen use different heatsinks on each card so are not really comparable.

Maybe someone with an Accelero S1 has upgraded from a 1950 pro to a 3850 and can comment on the relative temps? In any case the S1 is a suitable cooler for either card.

Matija · Post by **Matija** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 8:44 am

Read this thread before getting all happy-happy-joy-joy about passively cooling the card: viewtopic.php?t=40671

angelkiller · Post by **angelkiller** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:44 pm

Unlike Matija, I seem to have had a good stroke of luck. My X1950 Pro is the revised design without the scorching hot VRMs. It is currently cooled by a passive AC S1. It idles at around 48C and loads at 70C. While the load may appear to be high, it is well within the card's thermal specs. Also consider that my case has no intake fan and the single exhaust fan is a lowly 800rpm S-Flex. The card recieves very little airflow but still manages to achieve stable temps. I would highly recommend the AC S1 to cool your card because it is cheap, efficient and silent.

Matija · Post by **Matija** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 12:57 pm

Yup, if you have the revised version, all is well.

If you have the stupid VRM design, then you might want to have some tranquilizer pills nearby.

There seems to be dust and cat hair in my card's heatsink, since it often ramps up the fan (I've set it to an audible value when the GPU goes over 55 or 60, can't remember). I don't even want to touch the damn thing, that's how much it frustrated me.

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Wed Aug 27, 2008 9:05 am

Hi, the VF-900 works fine on an X1950pro. I bought a Sapphire model with that cooler factory-fitted.
It's was pretty quiet at minimum speed, needed to reduced with ATITool or the like.
I've since swapped the fan in it and edited the bios for lowest fan speeds. 18% at idle, 45-50Â°C, jumps to 30% at 60Â°C and then stays in low 60s with that fan speed, ~1000rpm. Really quiet, read about it in this thread.
Seb