Did the tension bracket of your VGA Silencer break?

Gnerma · Post by **Gnerma** » Sun Feb 15, 2004 12:55 am

I've seen 3 cases of the tension bracket on VGA Silencers breaking during install so I thought I'd post a poll to see just how frequently it happens.

The break happens when the screws are being tightened. You'll hear a crack sound as the metal splits from top to bottom near the center of the bracket. This relaxes tension on one side of the GPU and the mating surface will be at a noticeable angle on the GPU.

If yours broke then please post the story and how you dealt with it. If your unit installed fine just a vote is enough

Thanks for reading and voting

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Mon Feb 16, 2004 2:05 pm

Hi, don’t know which revision mine is, doesn't say on it anywhere so I guess rev 1. I didn't tighten the screws all the way up as it seamed very tight and there is no shim on my card, just the bare core.
I installed it on a Sapphire 9600pro and, initially, it didn't fit. There is a lip all along the bottom that came down on the PCI slot. It doesn't do anything so I cut it off and now it fits. Also there is no gap between the bracket and the end of the cooler.
Seb

Rod M · Post by **Rod M** » Wed Feb 18, 2004 5:26 am

I am a retailer for Arctic Cooling based in Sydney Australia,

I have sold nearly 100 "rev 1" units here and never heard of the tension bracket breaking,

Michael_qrt · Post by **Michael_qrt** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 3:08 am

I dunno if its worth reviving this thread from the dead but mine broke. The U shaped bit of meatal inside the blue clip had the two walls snap as I tightened the screws. Since my 9800 has a shim I just tightened it up a bit more and left it on since there still semed to be a lot of pressure on the core. My only concearn is that with time the rest of the metal bit could break causing the sink to drop off the core, killing my card.

Actually Rod I got mine from you guys, since it still seemed to be held on ok I really didn't want to have to send it back because I'd have had to put the stock cooler on again or be without it for a while and I didn't think the stock cooler would be held on very well by those brass spring clips.

Great shop BTW Rod!

Gnerma · Post by **Gnerma** » Sun Feb 29, 2004 11:36 am

Michael_qrt wrote:I dunno if its worth reviving this thread from the dead but mine broke.

Heh its only two weeks old

Thanks for the report Michael.

manc · Post by **manc** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 1:11 am

yes

Anyone found a source for replacements in the UK?

pocketmoon · Post by **pocketmoon** » Tue Mar 02, 2004 6:16 am

In the UK ebuyer have them on special for about 7 quid.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products ... _uid=58506

Amazing concidering some UK online stores flog them at close to 20.

Mine didn't break but fitting in into a sonata case was a PITA!

Had to remove the toggle switch because the PCI cutout on the back of the sonata wasn't long enough to allow the card to fully push home. Also the sonata has tiny guide rails' on the metal PCI back place which I supposed is designed to align the pci cards perfectly - doesn't work with a two slot design though! (snip snip)

Made a big difference to the noise coming from my case though. This was with a 9800Pro

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:33 pm

Just like "pocketmoon" I have an Antec Sonata case and a 9800Pro.

Not only did the tension bracket on mine break, but I also snapped off one of the mounting screws in the heatsink while attempting to remove the screw afterwards. The hole in the heatsink was not tapped deep enough to install the product as described in the included instructions and the screw really got tight.

So I bought another one to try. No response yet form the place I bought the first one about being able to replace it.

As for mounting this product on ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe motherboard with my above mentioned components I ran into the same problems as "pocketmoon". And then some. The fan speed switch on the product had to be moved because it hits an electrolytic cap on the motherboard. And I had to nibble off some of the metal on the top of the mounting bracket near where the screw that holds the bracket to the case because the bracket hit a pop-rivet. By the way.. I beat the tiny guide rails flat with a small jeweler's hammer and a heavy block of metal held on the backside of the metal.

Anyhow I finally got the thing installed. I sure didn't take any "15 minutes" like it does for some people. It sure is nice and quiet. That little screamer that came with my 9800Pro was the loudest thing in my case. Not any more.

I'm sure the bracket would have snapped on the second one too, if I had tightened it as shown in the instructions.

m2 · Post by m2 » Sat Mar 06, 2004 3:53 pm

i had to do that to mine to get it to fit with that capacitor there

so it took a while

also the dvi vga grounding plate and new pci bracket didn't fit as my card had the dvi vga in the other order and the other way up, so i used the original with a small part of the grounding sheet which i snipped off.

nice and quiet, etc, i like it, doesn't even get warm at all

my card is a 9600pro by powercolor..

this along with my new globalwin SAF-520, 7V papst 8412ngl exhaust, and globalwin fan molex controlled front fans, has made my computer very quiet indeed!

waiting on delivery of a zalman 7000 alcu to replace my coolermaster silent copper heatpipe, which is making most of the noise that is left. (25dbA to 20dbA and probably better cooling, with the heatsink shift..)

got the vga silencer from tekheads for a tenner btw

jojocat · Post by **jojocat** » Tue Apr 06, 2004 11:56 am

My advise would be to _not_ follow the directions to tighten the bracket down to the rubber washers. There was a good amount of tension there, and I wish I would have stopped. I wrote to their support email twice and received no response at all, so probably no replacement going that route. I'm actually in the process of replacing the cheap metal piece inside the bracket with a custom drilled piece of spring steel from a heat sinc off some junk that I can find here at work.

Overall, the design idea of this thing seems pretty darn good, but the build quality is pretty horrible. I will have rebuilt the bracket, lapped the mating surface (the machining was the worst I've seen on a heatsink) and tightened the fragile screws connecting the fan, before I have a decent piece of hardware. Strangly, I still like it.

Creeky · Post by **Creeky** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 7:58 am

I coulnt even put the bracket on as it was so tight it kept ripping the screws out of the alu heatsink so i used some old springs and nylon washers from a waterchill kit to secure it in place

jojocat · Post by **jojocat** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 11:23 am

Creeky wrote:I coulnt even put the bracket on as it was so tight it kept ripping the screws out of the alu heatsink so i used some old springs and nylon washers from a waterchill kit to secure it in place

Wierd. You should look at the first issue on this FAQ page at arctic cooling (vga silencer clip problem) - I could see that causing a problem getting the screws to reach:

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/en/support/faq/

It would also be nasty on the PCB of the card if the edge got screwed down into it. OUCH!

On a positive note, I finally got a reponse back from Arctic Cooling about a replacement for the broken clip, and they said they ship extra clips to their dealers. I relayed that response to SVC , and they immediately promised to ship out a replacement in the mail. SVC has been super cool in my short experience...

Gnerma · Post by **Gnerma** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 11:50 am

jojocat wrote:I relayed that response to SVC , and they immediately promised to ship out a replacement in the mail. SVC has been super cool in my short experience...

Ya know you describe my experience exactly minus the whole SVC getting back to me after I emailed them part. What SVC email address did you send your request to and who responded?

jojocat · Post by **jojocat** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 12:31 pm

Gnerma wrote:Ya know you describe my experience exactly minus the whole SVC getting back to me after I emailed them part. What SVC email address did you send your request to and who responded?

I mailed to [email protected] - response came within a day...

Did the tension bracket of your VGA Silencer break?

How did the installation of your VGA silencer go?

Did the tension bracket of your VGA Silencer break?