SPCR

A friend has asked me to help him silence his PC.

We're starting with his graphics card. He has a MSI RX1300 Pro:



This is 2005 hardware and I wasn't interested in PC hardware at the time, so I don't know hot it runs.

I'm on a budget, so I was wondering the Ati X1300 is cool enough to use a Accelero S2 instead of a S1.

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nightmorph wrote: Why settle for lesser of the two coolers?

Because the S2 is cheaper. A X1300 seems to be a low end card, therefore it might run cool. If so, a S2 should suffice and the 6 euro saved can go towards a CPU heatsink. If the X1300 runs hot (or can't confirm it runs cool) then I'll get a S1 for my friend.

Is it really worth putting an aftermarket cooler on an old low-end card (I think it is low-end) when you can get a passively cooled 4350 for less than 50 bucks?

S2 is fine. X1300 is 30-35W tops.
mozartrules has a good point. Could get a newer low end card passive with lower power draw for close to or same price as a cooler.

It would be more cost effective to strap a big, slow fan onto it. Not pretty, but something to consider.

Accelero is wasted on the equivalent of onboard video from 2 generations ago. Find a used or super cheap VF700Alcu or something. Actually, i might have one kicking around...

rei wrote:Accelero is wasted on the equivalent of onboard video from 2 generations ago. Find a used or super cheap VF700Alcu or something.

That wouldn't be THAT quiet though. An X1300 really isn't very highly powered. A passive S2 would be fine however you could as easily on a low powered card as that put an old CPU heatsink on it running passive.

What is the loudest component in the system? Deal with that first. If it's the CPU cooler, replace it with something like a Xigmatek as they're one of the better performing cheap coolers and then mod the old CPU heatsink to sit on the graphics card, either passive or with the old CPU fan running at 5V.

I understand that you must be on a very tight budget here seeing that the Accelero S1 represents that much money, I would stay away from the Zalman VF cooler because it’s a noisy beast and even though (at this time) any other component would make more noise masking the Zalman, the Zalman will present itself the day your friend decides (as his economy allows it) to change, say the fans, all the sudden then he’ll notice the Zalman cooler which he previously couldn’t hear and presto; be looking for another VGA cooler basically having wasted money. I would instead get the quietest component from the get go, even if I’m unable to go the whole “nine yardsâ€

I personally think the card should be thrown away.

agp or pcie?