I just ordered a NV Silencer 5 Rev.3...

They make noise, too.

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warriorpoet
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I just ordered a NV Silencer 5 Rev.3...

Post by warriorpoet » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:36 pm

So if anyone wants to hear my impressions, I'll be happy to post them in about a week. I was torn between this and the Fatal1ty version of the Zalman VF700 series, but decided for the AC because of the price (cheaper by eight dollars), and impressions I've received from a week's worth of forum hopping (quieter, cooler). It, along with the Vantec rheobus I just ordered, should help lower the noise coming from my machine.

Current specs:

Case: Antec SLK3000B
PSU: Antec Neo HE500
Mobo: Abit AN8 Ultra (Silent OTES)
CPU: AMD Athlon64 3200+ (301 FSB x 8.5 mult.= 2558.5 MHz)
Heatsink: Thermalright SI-120
Video: Leadtek 6800 GT (single slot with the rattley fan @ 410 MHz core/ 1.2GHz Mem.)
Fans: 1 Antec Tri-Cool on Med. (heatsink/PWM/passive northbridge fan); 1 Nexus "Real Silent" 120mm System fan @12v (soon to be 5-7v)

Obviously, I'm hoping it is as fast as it is quiet... :wink:
Last edited by warriorpoet on Mon Oct 17, 2005 3:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

thetoad30
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Post by thetoad30 » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:44 pm

Why would you have gone with the Fatal1ty version? It's basically the Copper LED version painted red and marked up in price...

Does your case have a window or something that the flashiness would have looked ok?

I don't know about the NV's... but I thought they were supposed to be worse than the Zalman.

james111
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Post by james111 » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:54 pm

I would have gone zalman... the only reason is because all the ACs i've used all have a fan clicking sound, even at low speeds :(

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Sun Oct 16, 2005 7:59 pm

The Fatal1ty is a higher performance version (higher fan speed = higher noise/heat disipation), and since I overclock my stuff as far as I can, this is the only version I considered. It also matches my (red) Abit board, although that's about the furthest thing from my mind (enough red LED is enough already)

I went with the AC for two reasons: first it will most likely be quieter (I am at SPCR, right? ;) ); second, I like the idea of exhausting all the heat from my smokin' 6800 GT outside (my system is reporting 30 degrees C right now with the window open and a cool breeze wafting over the case).

Also, the sleeved fan power connector is designed to work with my automatic fan control, and will hopefully keep the innards of my case a litle neater. Yes, I'm a PC fetishist, what can I say? You caught me. :)

noac
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Post by noac » Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:46 pm

warriorpoet wrote:The Fatal1ty is a higher performance version (higher fan speed = higher noise/heat disipation), and since I overclock my stuff as far as I can, this is the only version I considered. It also matches my (red) Abit board, although that's about the furthest thing from my mind (enough red LED is enough already)

I went with the AC for two reasons: first it will most likely be quieter (I am at SPCR, right? ;) ); second, I like the idea of exhausting all the heat from my smokin' 6800 GT outside (my system is reporting 30 degrees C right now with the window open and a cool breeze wafting over the case).

Also, the sleeved fan power connector is designed to work with my automatic fan control, and will hopefully keep the innards of my case a litle neater. Yes, I'm a PC fetishist, what can I say? You caught me. :)
Please give us your temps and impressions when you get it. Im somewhat in the same position of deciding rev3 or vf700cu. If there is no clicking sound, the mems are cooler with rev3 than earlier editions and the cpu, mobo is much cooler it might be enough for me to make the same decision you made.

Tzupy
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Post by Tzupy » Mon Oct 17, 2005 9:16 am

warriorpoet, could you please share your experiences with the mobo? I have read conflicting reports about this Abit mobo, some say it is a fine overclocker, others say it sucks (unstable even without overclocking).
I'd like to know in order to recommend it (or not) for a new PC in an office.
For the Silencer Rev.3, I have read that it has problems cooling the memory, apparently the thermal pads don't work?

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Mon Oct 17, 2005 12:32 pm

Tzupy wrote:warriorpoet, could you please share your experiences with the mobo? I have read conflicting reports about this Abit mobo, some say it is a fine overclocker, others say it sucks (unstable even without overclocking).
I'd like to know in order to recommend it (or not) for a new PC in an office.
For the Silencer Rev.3, I have read that it has problems cooling the memory, apparently the thermal pads don't work?
Here are my thoughts on the board/system setup I'm running now.

..."One final note to others who are considering a similar setup, with the Abit Q-OTES boards in particular: make sure your passive heatpipe cooler is assembled correctly. My heatpiped northbridge cooler did not initially conduct heat to the radiator. When the cooler was disassembled, I found the thermal interface pad in the right place, but with the non-conductive blue plastic protective label (commonly used to protect thermal pads during shipment/storage) in place between the pad and the chipset. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy. But, as is usually the case, AS5 did the trick. ;) "

As far as the ABit board is concerned, you really just have to work with it more than you would an Asus board, for instance. I have had the FSB up to 301 day-to-day stable, so OCing is certainly not an issue. It is really just more a question of patience setting it up. Stability with this board is made more difficult not by design, but by the enormous amount of options in the BIOS. In other words, make sure you know what you're doing before buying this board.

If you are considering it for an office environment, make sure that you include adequate cooling and a stable PSU. As with most NForce4 motherboards, choose quality components equal to the quality of the board. A marginal PSU, GPU or RAM will cause greater risk of instability.

The reviews I've read that refer to the board's lack of stability all use earlier BIOS revisions (1.5 and older). In my experience, these are much less stable than 1.6 and 1.7, both of which are rock-solid with proper setup.

Despite all of the above (and the issue noted in the linked post), there is, in my opinion, no better alternative on the market for quiet OCing. Properly ventilated the heatpiped NB heatsink is a Godsend, and I fully recommend it for the skilled user. Newbies should probably look elsewhere, however.

NV Silencer 5 rev. 3 reviews:
3dxtreme
3dGameman Forum Review
PCModdingMalaysia

You can see why I chose it...

Tzupy
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Post by Tzupy » Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:53 am

Thank you, warriorpoet, for the info. My other choice for the mobo is the Asus Premium, but that's more expensive. It's good to know the newer BIOSes have sorted out the problems of the Abit.

warriorpoet
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Post by warriorpoet » Tue Oct 18, 2005 12:22 pm

My pleasure. If you still want the ABit, here's where I got it: ABit AN8 Ultra.

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