Silent video cards

Stryder57 · Post by **Stryder57** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 8:48 am

Hello,

I was wondering which video card is silent (20dB at 1m) and has the best speed.
I have a radeon 9000 with just a heat sink. It does pretty good but I'm curious if there is a better video card out there.
I'm not so sure about the Zalman video card cooler. After reading the review on this site , I'm a little worried about damage a expensive video card when I move my computer .
What is your guys opinion on the Zalman cooler and is there a better solution for a silent video card than the Radeon 9000.

Thanks
Scott

Beyonder · Post by **Beyonder** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 7:42 pm

If you're not going to modify the card, your best bet is by far the Radeon 9000. Next up would probably be a GF4 MX card, which also doesn't have a fan.

If you're really interested in silence AND speed you're going to have to go the Zalman route, or put on your own HSF combo with an undervolted fan (perhaps at 7, or maybe even 5 volts). I know people run those Radeon 9700's and GF4 4X00 with just a zalman and get away with it (a bit hot, but not out of spec), but to be on the safe side I'd add in an undervolted fan.

Alicey · Post by **Alicey** » Thu Jan 30, 2003 8:00 pm

As long as you don't move the computer every day or so you can always remove the graphics card before moving it. I'd recommend adding another silent/slow fan to the case as even the smallest amount of extra airflow is appreciated by the Zalman, or so I've read.

Firm vote for Zalman!

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Fri Jan 31, 2003 9:21 am

Stryder57,

I'm in about the same boat as you. I want to build a new system but haven't completely decided on the video card yet. For no modification or extra help for a video card, I would get the Ati 9000 (which you already have). Does this perform decently for the current crop of 3D games?

Another route I'm looking at is getting the LeadTek Ti4200 card. At newegg, the exact description is "LEADTEK WINFAST A280 GEFORCE4 TI 4200 128MB VGA & TV-OUT, DVI-OUT AGP 8X RETAIL BOX Model#: A280 LE TD " which sells right now at newegg.com for $155. It's a newer model because it supports AGP 8x. Here's a picture of the card at newegg.com. AFAIK, this card has the biggest stock HS on the card in its range. If I were to buy this card, I would do one of the following:

(1) If the stock fan runs at 12V, I will undervolt it (anyone know the stock voltage?)
(2) Disconnect the stock fan (let HS work by itself and be dependent on case airflow)
(3) #2 above and run a Panaflo above the card at 5V or 7V using a Zalman bracket (fan+bracket clearance might be an issue)

shunx · Post by **shunx** » Sat Feb 01, 2003 4:24 pm

So the only two fanless cards out there at the moment are:

Radeon 9000
GF4 MX

That's all?

SilentButDeadly · Post by **SilentButDeadly** » Sat Feb 01, 2003 4:50 pm

Dru,
I read a review on the net about that card and the huge heatsink. It was the quietest 4200 and they took the fan off and screwed on an 80mm one. It cooled great and was basically almost silent.

Take one of those 18dB/18CFM fans and screw it on. Quiet and cool.

Herb W. · Post by **Herb W.** » Sat Feb 01, 2003 5:08 pm

Sapphire will soon be shipping a 9700 Pro with a passive Zalman cooler and big RAM heatsinks - it's been reviewed somewhere on the Web. Also coming - an ultraquiet Geforce Fx from Gainward (or so they claim).

Stryder57 · Post by **Stryder57** » Sun Feb 02, 2003 1:37 am

The Radeon 9000 preforms decsent in the rescent crop of games. I had to turn down a little bit of the detail on a few of them to get a reaonable frame rate in the game.
I would like to make my system a little more future proof. I think I will start having trouble on the next genreation of games.

From the loooks of it. I either stick with the Radeon 9000 or modify a Radeon 9700 with the zalman heat pipe.

Maybe I willl wait for Sapphire Heat pipe version to come out.

Scott

schnee · Post by **schnee** » Mon Feb 03, 2003 3:04 pm

The Zalman heat pipe isn't that fragile. I've taken my computer several places with it and it's fine... just don't *ship* the box or drop-kick it

and you'll be fine.

My Radeon 9000 is fine with it. Temps are lower than stock HSF.

Lt. Dan · Post by **Lt. Dan** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 11:15 am

Stryder57 wrote:Maybe I willl wait for Sapphire Heat pipe version to come out.

Has anyone heard any news about Sapphire's ultimate Radeon 9700 atlantis pro? Mainly, does anyone have any idea when these are supposed to be released?

It has been featured on their website for some time. They show pictures of the box and of the card. It seems like eveything is basically done, hopefully they are just being manufactured at the moment. Their PDF brochure seems to be from November of 2002.

jamoore9 · Post by **jamoore9** » Mon Feb 10, 2003 12:17 pm

I would wait it out for the Gigabyte Radeon 9500 Pro. Its supposedly being released by the end of the month (there is a review of it over at http://www.ocworkbench.com) and offers some perks over the ATI-made 9500 Pro.

It outperforms or performs just as well as the GF4 Ti4600 and costs as much as the Ti4200. You can also fit a Zalman heat-pipe to it and use the Zalman FB123 fan bracket with a 5V fan to keep it cool (doesn't run as hot as the 9700 or 9700 Pro).

I'm waiting for it myself. Gigabyte parts rock.

bobkoure · Post by **bobkoure** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 5:55 am

It might be time to at least think about water cooling.
I've a very-quiet water cooled PC (no TEC) and, now that I'm thinking about a new graphics card, I realize that my only silence/cooling issue would be making sure I have a water block with mounting holes in the right locations.
I'm not a gamer (2D image quality is paramount to me) so we're likely not looking at the same cards, but, IMHO it's pretty cool removing the "no noisy fan" factor from he graphics card decision process.
Oh - and if you were thinking of a Zalman heat-pipe heatsink, you could subtract the cost of that from your water cooling gear to help justify it. Heat pipes are neat - but this one is heavy, and still leaves the heat inside your case when IMO you want it out.

jpsa · Post by **jpsa** » Tue Feb 11, 2003 6:23 am

check out at tha akasa site http://www.akasa.com.tw the low profile cooler ak350. with the voltage set to 5v it should work ok... what do you think?

laiti · Post by **laiti** » Sun Feb 16, 2003 9:03 am

Lt. Dan wrote:Has anyone heard any news about Sapphire's ultimate Radeon 9700 atlantis pro? Mainly, does anyone have any idea when these are supposed to be released?

Seems like they are going to be available here in Finland in few weeks, if they are not already.

Unfortunately I have a Micro-ATX-board and that Zalman would take one PCI slot? Well I have one free, but I may need that if I buy a real sound card

Post by **Rusty075** » Sun Feb 16, 2003 6:06 pm

laiti wrote:Unfortunately I have a Micro-ATX-board and that Zalman would take one PCI slot? Well I have one free, but I may need that if I buy a real sound card

It depends, some motherboards have enough space between the AGP and the first PCI to still put a card in there. You'll probably have to measure to be sure.

slippy · Post by **slippy** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:00 pm

can a radeon 9500 pro go fanless?

or with a north bridge heatsink on it?

Dru · Post by **Dru** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:38 pm

I haven't tried it but will give me opinion.

Without doubt, I would not just disconnect the fan and see what happens. I would even be afraid to do that and add a fan above the card. The reason being is I have a Zalman ZM80A-HP installed on my 9500 Pro. While in Windows running just 2D, both the front/back heatsink plates run very warm to hot. After about 5 seconds, I have to remove my hand. I haven't tried 3D gaming yet. Also, the ZM80A-HP is a good magnitude bigger than the stock HS.

Maybe someone has dared do what you suggested?

attnet · Post by **attnet** » Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:49 pm

Well, I unplugged the fan a few weeks ago on my Radeon 8500 and have been running it that way since, with no artifacts in Morrowind or 3Dmark. It receives a bit of air from the diffused exhaust air so that might be helping a bit. Any way to monitor the core temps just to make sure?

Bigg · Post by **Bigg** » Sun Mar 02, 2003 10:16 am

stick with the radeon 9000.

Silent video cards

Silent video cards

water cool?

akasa ak350