A minor problem with my vga silencer

kye · Post by **kye** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 6:05 pm

Hi, i got myself an arctic cooling vga silencer for myself today.
I installed it w/o any problems (glad that the removal of the shim was not need). After installation of the vga silencer, it makes a huge difference as before, the loudest component in my case is my radeon.

However, if i put my ear right up to the silencer, i can hear a rapid "tick"ing sound. Is anyone experiencing this? I can barely hear it from the desk as it idaytime, however, i am quite sure it will be audible during night time. Is anyone besides me experiencing this?

thanks in advance!

btw, this is a REV3

thatguyX · Post by **thatguyX** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 8:20 pm

i dont mean to thread jack, but also how loud is the fan on high? I'm thinking about putting one of these one my 9800xt, but I hear that it needs to be kept on high. Would this be a good silent solution? I want to keep it on high if that's what's necessary and I dont want to have to reach behind the computer to play games.

kye · Post by **kye** » Sun Apr 25, 2004 11:39 pm

i leave my 9700 on low without problems even when overclocked

I can't realy tell you the noise because i am not sure if my fan is defective.
the loudest component in my computer is the vga silencer on low, with the ticking sound.

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:34 am

kye, if at low setting, the VGA Silencer is your loudest component I'd really like to know your setup. That cooler is very quiet.

For comparison, I run it at low on my Radeon 9700 nonpro. With the stock HSF, the core didn't go above 285Mhz. With the silencer on LOW, I got all the way to 305 MHz (didn't try anything above as the rams are junk and the radeon has a bad habit of quickly getting permenantly damaged on too much overclocking). This is on low, mind you and I didn't remove the shim. I have a feeling I'd get better cooling with the shim removed.

Noisewise, at low, the VGA Silencer has the same noise as the Zalman 7000A @5V, maybe is even quieter.

This is a rev.1 I'm talking about.

SebRad · Post by **SebRad** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:30 pm

I have a VGA Silencer on My Radeon 9600pro. (Modified revision 1 or 2). On low it adds a low pitched rumble to my PC, probably not helped by the fact I have an aluminium case. I now have it connected to a Zalman MFC1 so I can feed 12V or 5V to it. 12V "Low" and 5V "High" seam about the same. 12V High is too loud for me, 12V Low would be tolerable but 5V Low is more to my liking. The fan won’t start on it but will keep running once started on 12V Low. It spins very slowly and can’t move much air but is fine for the cool running 9600. In fact 2D seams fine with the fan off, not tried 3D with the fan off. The Radeon 9700/9800s are much hotter chips so this probably isn’t an option for them. For volume reference the loudest thing in my system is the 80GB Barracuda IV in an FEK Pro, followed by the Panaflo 80mm L1A exhaust at 7-8V and the Zalaman 7000a @ 4-5V.
In summary you’re not imagining the noise but a different case and/or damping may cure it. Another possibility is taking the end bracket off the card so it doesn’t contact the case directly.
Seb

kye · Post by **kye** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 4:18 pm

I am quite sure the ticking noise is whats making the vga silencer the loudest component in my system.

My system is as follows
Abit NF7-s
- North: Zalman NB32J
Barton 2500+ @ 1.9ghz 1.65v
- SLK900a w/ Chiense branded HIGH cfm fan throttled to 5 w/ fanspeed
Maxtor DM9+ SATA 120GB
- seated on a foam , only audible when seeking
Aspire x-pider super mid tower case (chieftec clone)
- rear stamped grills cut out
- 2x 80mm exhaust at 5v
- no fans at the front
Vantec ION psu
- on low setting with stock fans
Liteon- LDW-401s flashed to 811s (VERY QUIET drive)
Liteon- LTR-40125s flashed to 48125w (I rarely use this cuz it's so loud)
Radeon 9700 non-pro
- Arctic Cooling VGA silencer rev3 cooled

thats basically it, with some other stuff that doesn't make noise

Now, I just want to ask those of you who have the arctic cooling vga silencer, DOES yours make a quiet ticking noise?, Please tell me cuz if it's not supose to, then i'm going to RMA it. It's not that the ticking noise is distrubing as it is barely audible, the box said it's SILENT at low, and i want it that way.

MonsterMac · Post by **MonsterMac** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:15 pm

I just got mine today and threw her on and if there's any ticking; I sure don't notice it. When I put mine on high and had my case door open, I could hear some ticking; but that's true with most fans now a days; when it's on low (which I keep it on all the time; except when I go to LAN's) I dont even hear anything at all. BTW mine is on a Powercolor 9700pro; it was kind of a pain to put on because it was hard to get the old sink off, and it was stuck together with some epoxy which i had to heat up; then rub it with a Q-tip w/ alcohol on it, then use a plastic spoon to scrape it off the core. Other than that installation was a breeze; I highly recommend it. BTW relating to your ticking on low question; it could be that everything else in my case is too loud for me ot hear it on low? I'm not sure how quiet your case is, but maybe that's the reason I don't hear it. However; I don't consider my case loud. Anyways, good luck trying to fix it.

kye · Post by **kye** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 5:25 pm

well, my little digital camera can record video clips
i did a little recording and got rid of the video. If you have time, please take a listen at this. This is the camera hold right below the vga silencer. You can hear the ticking.

http://xevin.net/tmp/vgasilencer.wav
it's a 20kb wav file encoded in LAME mp3

looks like i'll hav to RMA it

MonsterMac · Post by **MonsterMac** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 6:22 pm

Mine sure doesnt do that. you better RMA it; that doesnt sound near rightl. BUT before you RMA It make SURE there are no wires or anything else that the fan could be coming in contact with to make the noise.

thatguyX · Post by **thatguyX** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 10:13 pm

so how does the the vga silencer's fan on high rate in terms of quiet on an SPCR scale?

Michael_qrt · Post by **Michael_qrt** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 5:10 am

OK, that noise is definatly not right, mine dosn't make any such noise. That's a real pain, I don't know what you're going to do while you RMA it, I meanwill you put the stock sink back on? it was annoying enough to get off the first time and I would be a little dubious of being able to put the pushpins back on properly or that they could hold the sink in good contact.

Anyway unless you have another sink to put on you may be without your card for a while, very annoying.

thatguyX

On high the vga silencer's fan is not too bad, the noise is more woooosh, less whine than the stock fan and it's a bit quieter too but its not really SPCR standards. On low however you'll be doing well to get it to be your loudest component.

Quite frankly I would just set it to low and forget it if I were you. On low it cools better than the stock 9800pro HSF and I have run my 9800np for extended periods of gaming and benchmarks at 436mhz core speed without trouble (436 is the highest that rage3D tweak will go to, so the chip may go higher). This was tested during the Australian summer where ambient temps were in the low to mid 30s. Anyway I'm sure the card got rediculously hot but since ATi don't have a temp probe on the non XT 9800s I don't have to worry about that

.

kye · Post by **kye** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:29 am

actually it's not really a pain, as the ticking sound is inaudible outside the case, at least not during the daytime. I guess i'll have to RMA it. I wonder if they can give me a replacement the same day, cuz i really don't want to put back the stock hsf....

dis · Post by **dis** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 10:36 am

When i got my silencer it didn't tick, 2 weeks later it did (still not audible outside the case) another month on and i'm ready to rip out the fan and try some daft papst 80mm mod due to the noise level.

It looks like the fans wear out within a few months and start to grind/tick, i could have just got unlucky but i'm not the only one whos had problems after breaking the 2 month barrier. At least it only cost a tenner

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Thu Apr 29, 2004 12:48 pm

kye that noise is definitely wrong. I have a very similar setup as yours, including the Vantec ion. The ion at low is several times louder than the clicking on my silencer. The only thing MY silencer is louder than is the suspended barracuda 7200.7 on "idle" - and that with your head inside the case.

Ps: I've been using it for two months now, with no change in sound. Maybe quality has gone down with rev3 ?

SkoRneD · Post by **SkoRneD** » Sun May 09, 2004 7:05 pm

I've been using mine for a few days now and though I haven't heard any ticking noises, I still don't think mine is working right. I don't feel any air coming out of the back exhaust-even when the fan is on high. I stopped the fan and started it again to see what direction it's going and it's going counter-clockwise. Is it just messed up logic to think that it should be going clockwise and "scooping" the air? Does anyone else have this problem? What direction is your fan running and can you feel air coming out of the exhaust?

thanks guys

bigred · Post by **bigred** » Mon May 10, 2004 10:03 pm

Yeah I noticed some ticking noises on my Rev2. As far as I can tell I can't hear them when the fan is in "HI" mode.
On "Low" the ticking isn't noticeable out side of the case for me. It seems the sound dampening material I have installed blocks it.