HSI heatsinks and coolers for 7600GT AGP

doveman · Post by **doveman** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:26 am

I've just bought an XFX 7600GT AGP and the fan's well too noisy for me. I know generally the available after-market coolers don't fit the 7600GT AGP cards, although I think the VF700 does (but I don't really want that as the fan's still not great) and also the Zalman ZM80D-HP.

What I really wanted to ask is if one make of 7600GT AGP is any better for aftermarket coolers than the others. My XFX has the HSI bridge heatsink at a funny angle like this:

whereas other makes have it straight:
xpertvision/peak:

Galaxy:

Also, I quite like Krusty's idea of having a large fan blowing from below onto the card if I can think of a way to make non vibration transmitting legs for it:
http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... fanzw8.gif

Do you think it would be enough to just disconnect the existing fan for this to work, or would I need to fit a new heatsink first?

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 4:59 am

You'd need new sink first. If you try to disconnect fan, you'll just end up frying your GPU. I agree that Zalman's integrated fan's are not that good. But I have had VF-700 CU and its fan was better quality than my later VF-900 CU.

You probably could mount Accelero S2 safely. And that would be enough to cool your card. If you want to be on safe side, just zip tie 92mm silent or silent 120mm fan on S2 and you're ready.

I think Accelero S2 is even cheaper than Zalman VF-700/900...

doveman · Post by **doveman** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 5:40 am

I like the idea of the Accelero S2 and it is cheap. I've already got a few Nexus 120mm fans, so I could use one of those if necessary.

I'm a bit cautious about whether it would fit or not though, as it isn't clear to me exactly how much of a height restriction applies around the GPU area, so if anyone's actually fitted one of these to an XFX 7600GT AGP it would be great to hear about it. Although I guess if it's known to have more clearance than the ZM80D-HP, which we know fits, and it only requires two mounting holes, then it should be OK.

doveman · Post by **doveman** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 10:57 am

I'm wondering whether the VM-103 would fit as I like the idea of having the heatsink above the card.
http://www.aerocool.com.tw/cooler/vm-103/vm-103.htm

Or would a cooler where the heatpipes go over the end of the card, rather than the side, avoid any clashes with the HSI? I don't think these are available anymore but are the sort of thing I'm thinking of.

BeQuiet Polar-Freezer
http://www.tweakers4u.de/artikel/vga_he ... htm?page=2

NorthQ 3801
http://www.tweakers4u.de/artikel/vga_he ... htm?page=7

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:37 pm

I don't know about VM-103. It looks promising and its not that expensive, but I am worried about torque the VGA card will get if you mount that with 120mm fan.

The Be Quiet Polar Freeze could be very good possibility, although avaibelity is questionable. And both are more expensive than Arctic cooling.

I think mounting down the structure when you use fan is better, because then fan blows towards the HSI bridge aswell.

doveman · Post by **doveman** » Fri Sep 28, 2007 1:38 am

Hmm, I was forgetting about the need to cool the HSI bridge. I guess I could always bungie an extra fan on the end of the card blowing along it, that should keep it cool.

Perhaps to keep the torque down with the VM-103, I could hang a fan from the top of the case so that it's just in front of the heatsink rather than actually attached to it. If I then tie the bottom of the fan to the heatsink with elastic, it should keep it steady without the heatsink having to take it's weight.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sat Oct 13, 2007 8:07 am

What did you end up doing, doveman?

doveman · Post by **doveman** » Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:35 am

Unfortunately, I had to return the 7600GT as it was faulty, so I never got as far as replacing the stock cooler.

I did get some replies about coolers though, which you might find of interest:

Aerocool said:
"Thanks for your interest in VM-103, due to the flexible mounting design of VM-103, as long as there are two mounting holes within 84mm spacing. It should fit on XFX 7600GT AGP card."

and Artic Cooling said:
"the 7600 GT AGP-Version has a completely different mounting-hole-system, so Accelero S2 doesn't fit. On the PCI-E-boards it should fit. You can also recheck this with our hight construction-drawing:http://www.arctic-cooling.com/downloads ... clros2.pdf"

I'm actually considering buying an Asrock P4VM890/900 motherboard, which has a PCI-E slot and will take my existing CPU and RAM, so that I can just buy a passively cooled card or failing that, at least I'll find it a lot easier getting a third-party cooler that will fit.

I need to look into that option a bit more though, because the CPU bracket is orientated differently on the Asrock and I'm not sure if that will affect what CPU coolers I can use. I've also been told that S3 standby doesn't work properly on that board, which would make it pretty useless for use in an HTPC, although Asrock have told me:
"This motherboard can support S3 mode. Please set the â€œSuspend to RAMâ€

routerjock · Post by **routerjock** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 11:12 am

Hey,

I'm looking to replace mine too. It seems to be hard to find a good aftermarket cooler for this card.
(I keep hearing that the Zalman vf700 should work, but have yet to see someone stating that they have actually done it with a picture showing how the mounting worked out).

I actually prefer a VGA cooler that directly vents the warm air out the back of the case. I've used the NV Arctic Cooling VGA silencers in the past on my previous Geforce 6800nu , and on a Geforce3 ti200, and have been very pleased with them.

I'm interested in the Vantec Iceberq 6 since it's design is similar to the legacy Arctic Cooling silencers. I've also seen that Thermaltake now has a design that direct-vents warm air out the back of the case, but so far
only for the higher end cards.

Has anyone tried these or a similar air-cooled VGA fan on their XFX 7600GT AGP and had success?
If the Zalman vf700cu is my only option, I'll go with that one... let me know if there are any other after-market fans working out for you
if you have the AGP version of the 7600GT!

My rig:
-------
Prescott P4 3.0Ghz cpu
Thermalright XP 90 HS w/Nexus 80mm fan
2 Gig Crucial DDR400 RAM
MSI 865PE NEO2-P Platinum Edition MOBO
XFX Geforce 7600 GT 256MB AGP
Creative labs Audigy 2 ZS
Maxtor 100GB SATA 150 HD
Antec Sonata Case with 380W PS (soon to replace the only case fan with a Nexus 120mm!!!! in the mail, I can't wait!!)
Logitech MX518 gaming mouse
Samsung 940B 19inch LCD

routerjock · Post by **routerjock** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:18 am

I just received a response from Vantec technical support regarding the Iceberq 6. They say it won't work on the XFX 7600 GT AGP...

--------
Hi,

The Iceberq 6 is actually not compatible with the XFX card because of the
serial tap on the PCI slot bracket. The serial tap prevent the GPU cooler
to sit properly on the video card. If you have any further question, please
don't hesitate to ask and we will do our best to answer them.

Regards,

Technical Support
Vantec Thermal Technologies
Tel: 510-668-0368
Fax: 510-668-0367
www.vantecusa.com

Delta_42 · Post by **Delta_42** » Wed Dec 12, 2007 9:47 am

Try e-mailling NorthQ, they make an excellent cooler that looks like the Zalmans, but with a quiet fan. I have two, one on a 7600GT and one on an 8600GTS.

According to their website all of their GPU coolers fit the Nvidia 7600 range, but they may know of any exceptions

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:50 am

My solution was to sell the 7600GT and get an ATI X1950Pro instead

HSI heatsinks and coolers for 7600GT AGP

HSI heatsinks and coolers for 7600GT AGP

Trying to replace the stock cooler on my xfx 7600gt agp too!