Hi guys - I am hoping I will find some like-minded people here (some of the people on other forums don't care about noise) in terms of wanting a VERY quiet computer, even if it means spending some cash or doing otherwise more involved stuff.
Quick story: Bought a Sapphire 4850 with a Zalman, way too loud and no fan control. Bought a VisionTek 4850 with stock cooler and its way too hot and way too loud, even with fan speed hacks. Sick of messing around and want to do an aftermarket cooler that will be VERY quiet like the rest of my computer (the sound of my inhaling or exhaling quickly will overpower the computer in 2D stuff). I had a GeForce 6600GT with a Zalman on it (did it myself) and it was great.
Saw a few articles on the Accelero S1 (this site and hardwarecanucks or something) and it looks like a winner.
Here is my plan, will it work?
-VisionTek 4850 (stock cooler, already own it)
-AC5 (already have some)
-Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev. 2 (2nd revision, has the voltage regulator coolers) - http://www.coolerguys.com/840556081043.html
-Arctic Cooling 120mm fan - http://www.coolerguys.com/840556081081.html
-Zalman Fan Mate 2 (I will keep it inside the case) - http://www.coolerguys.com/840556016564.html
-2 packs of thermal pads, not sure how well the ones included with the cooler work - http://www.coolerguys.com/840556020769.html
Should all these parts work together? Is it possible with the good airflow in my Lian-Li case, I could even get away with NO FAN?
I really appreciate your help, if you can let me know if this stuff will work well, I will get things ordered.
Thanks!!!
Ken
1st post - want to mod my 4850 with an Accelero S1...
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Yes. All those parts/plans should work OK.
I think its a little ambitous to go fanless on the 4850 though.
Try the AC fan you have now, if still too noisy, the Sycthe Slipstream or S-Flex fans are great options. Though I can't imagine either would be significantly better than the AC.
Not sure how well those thermal pads work. I myself prefer 'frag tape' by 3M. It sticks really, really well and does a rally good job passing heat to the sinks.
http://2cooltek.com/thermal-tape-frag-tape-frg6-5m.html
check ebay. I got 12" via postal mail for cheap a few months back.
Good luck!
I think its a little ambitous to go fanless on the 4850 though.
Try the AC fan you have now, if still too noisy, the Sycthe Slipstream or S-Flex fans are great options. Though I can't imagine either would be significantly better than the AC.
Not sure how well those thermal pads work. I myself prefer 'frag tape' by 3M. It sticks really, really well and does a rally good job passing heat to the sinks.
http://2cooltek.com/thermal-tape-frag-tape-frg6-5m.html
check ebay. I got 12" via postal mail for cheap a few months back.
Good luck!
Thanks for the reply.
If the pads that come on the RAM coolers work, I will not mess with it.
One of the sites showed good temps running the card fully-passive, but not sure how that would work in reality. I have no problem using a quiet fan on it. FWIW, the fans on my Lian-Li are running at 800-1000+ RPM's and they are out in the open and I can barely hear them, so inside the case, something running at 800-1200 RPM's should not add to the noise.
Oh, I DO NOT have that AC fan, I can buy anything. I figure I want a quality fan that will run at ~1200 RPM's at 12 volts, and I can scale it back as needed.
If the pads that come on the RAM coolers work, I will not mess with it.
One of the sites showed good temps running the card fully-passive, but not sure how that would work in reality. I have no problem using a quiet fan on it. FWIW, the fans on my Lian-Li are running at 800-1000+ RPM's and they are out in the open and I can barely hear them, so inside the case, something running at 800-1200 RPM's should not add to the noise.
Oh, I DO NOT have that AC fan, I can buy anything. I figure I want a quality fan that will run at ~1200 RPM's at 12 volts, and I can scale it back as needed.
My 4850 would run absolutely fanless w/o any problems. I just installed a Scythe S-Flex 500rpm for peace of mind, and it keeps my 4850 under 50~55°C (hot days) when playing Crysis.
To conclude, it's OK to run the S1 fanless on the 4850. But if you add any 120mm fan, be it as slow as it gets, you get even greater results.
Btw. I have zip-tied the fan to the S1. You can see the result in my sig.
To conclude, it's OK to run the S1 fanless on the 4850. But if you add any 120mm fan, be it as slow as it gets, you get even greater results.
Btw. I have zip-tied the fan to the S1. You can see the result in my sig.
I just did up my 4850 last night with an S1, so I have a few observations:
1) I couldn't figure out how to get AC's VRM heatsinks to fit over all the little power FET chips on the end of the card. There are 8 of them arranged in 2 squares of 4 chips each, while the included heatsinks seem more appropriate for chips that are arranged in long rows. So I used a pair of leftover ramsinks from a Zalman VF700 cooler. Each of these was just big enough to cover an entire square block of 4 FETs. I used the AC sinks to cover the 4 choke coils to the left of the FETs (this left some parts of the chokes uncovered, but I'm hoping that these don't get as hot as the FETs.
2) Regarding your thermal pad selection. I could be wrong, but I don't believe thermal pads and thermal tape are the same thing. Thermal pads don't necessarily have adhesive properties and aren't designed to hold a heatsink on by themselves. Rather, they're meant to be used in place of thermal grease (like your AS5) on a heatsink that is held on by other means (screws, clips). Some pads are tacky enough that you might think they're adhesive tape when they really aren't, so keep that in mind. I don't know anything about the specific ones you linked to though.
From what I've read about the thermal tape on the Accelero sinks, it will work okay, as long as you make sure to thoroughly clean all the chips, and also press them down firmly for at least 30 seconds (some people recommend preheating the chips with a hair dryer. I used a little heat and they seemed to stick well enough (knock on wood). For the Zalman heatsinks I replaced the Zalman tape with Chomerics Thermattach T411 (T412 would probably have been better in this application but Sidewinder Computers was out of stock).
3) Size. With a 120mm fan attached, this thing is a monster. You will need at least 3 free slots next to the card, not including the 4850 itself (so 4 slots total). Crossfire is out of the question without some creative fan mounting/ducting. Thankfully my motherboard also has a PCIe 1x slot on the other side of the graphics card slot, so I at least have one accessible PCIe slot for my eSATA controller.
1) I couldn't figure out how to get AC's VRM heatsinks to fit over all the little power FET chips on the end of the card. There are 8 of them arranged in 2 squares of 4 chips each, while the included heatsinks seem more appropriate for chips that are arranged in long rows. So I used a pair of leftover ramsinks from a Zalman VF700 cooler. Each of these was just big enough to cover an entire square block of 4 FETs. I used the AC sinks to cover the 4 choke coils to the left of the FETs (this left some parts of the chokes uncovered, but I'm hoping that these don't get as hot as the FETs.
2) Regarding your thermal pad selection. I could be wrong, but I don't believe thermal pads and thermal tape are the same thing. Thermal pads don't necessarily have adhesive properties and aren't designed to hold a heatsink on by themselves. Rather, they're meant to be used in place of thermal grease (like your AS5) on a heatsink that is held on by other means (screws, clips). Some pads are tacky enough that you might think they're adhesive tape when they really aren't, so keep that in mind. I don't know anything about the specific ones you linked to though.
From what I've read about the thermal tape on the Accelero sinks, it will work okay, as long as you make sure to thoroughly clean all the chips, and also press them down firmly for at least 30 seconds (some people recommend preheating the chips with a hair dryer. I used a little heat and they seemed to stick well enough (knock on wood). For the Zalman heatsinks I replaced the Zalman tape with Chomerics Thermattach T411 (T412 would probably have been better in this application but Sidewinder Computers was out of stock).
3) Size. With a 120mm fan attached, this thing is a monster. You will need at least 3 free slots next to the card, not including the 4850 itself (so 4 slots total). Crossfire is out of the question without some creative fan mounting/ducting. Thankfully my motherboard also has a PCIe 1x slot on the other side of the graphics card slot, so I at least have one accessible PCIe slot for my eSATA controller.
Awesome! So should I just get this maybe:mexell wrote:My 4850 would run absolutely fanless w/o any problems. I just installed a Scythe S-Flex 500rpm for peace of mind, and it keeps my 4850 under 50~55°C (hot days) when playing Crysis.
To conclude, it's OK to run the S1 fanless on the 4850. But if you add any 120mm fan, be it as slow as it gets, you get even greater results.
Btw. I have zip-tied the fan to the S1. You can see the result in my sig.
http://www.coolerguys.com/slipstream120.html
I figure I might as well get the 800 RPM version. 10 vs. 7 db. I am not a freaking <insert animal with elite hearing>.
Thank you for the feedback, that is very valuable to know I do not need a fast fan.
w00t!mexell wrote:Btw. (if no one else did it):
Welcome to SPCR!
All the other kids on the 'mainstream' forums were telling me I was wasting my money getting an aftermarket cooler, but even the stock cooler on my 4850 is the loudest thing in my system at 30% (hot as hell even at idle). So I said:
And came here, you guys rock.
Great info!Metaluna wrote:I just did up my 4850 last night with an S1, so I have a few observations:
1) I couldn't figure out how to get AC's VRM heatsinks to fit over all the little power FET chips on the end of the card. There are 8 of them arranged in 2 squares of 4 chips each, while the included heatsinks seem more appropriate for chips that are arranged in long rows. So I used a pair of leftover ramsinks from a Zalman VF700 cooler. Each of these was just big enough to cover an entire square block of 4 FETs. I used the AC sinks to cover the 4 choke coils to the left of the FETs (this left some parts of the chokes uncovered, but I'm hoping that these don't get as hot as the FETs.
2) Regarding your thermal pad selection. I could be wrong, but I don't believe thermal pads and thermal tape are the same thing. Thermal pads don't necessarily have adhesive properties and aren't designed to hold a heatsink on by themselves. Rather, they're meant to be used in place of thermal grease (like your AS5) on a heatsink that is held on by other means (screws, clips). Some pads are tacky enough that you might think they're adhesive tape when they really aren't, so keep that in mind. I don't know anything about the specific ones you linked to though.
From what I've read about the thermal tape on the Accelero sinks, it will work okay, as long as you make sure to thoroughly clean all the chips, and also press them down firmly for at least 30 seconds (some people recommend preheating the chips with a hair dryer. I used a little heat and they seemed to stick well enough (knock on wood). For the Zalman heatsinks I replaced the Zalman tape with Chomerics Thermattach T411 (T412 would probably have been better in this application but Sidewinder Computers was out of stock).
3) Size. With a 120mm fan attached, this thing is a monster. You will need at least 3 free slots next to the card, not including the 4850 itself (so 4 slots total). Crossfire is out of the question without some creative fan mounting/ducting. Thankfully my motherboard also has a PCIe 1x slot on the other side of the graphics card slot, so I at least have one accessible PCIe slot for my eSATA controller.
Hmmmm, maybe I should pick up a pack of the Zalman heatsink coolers for the RAM, and then use the rest for the other bits.
The Asus card not only has no cooling on the rear components, but not even RAM coolers!? Actually, a lot of the cards are like this.
I guess I will just skip the thermal pads.
The 4850 is the only card I have, and despite having a P45 Gigabyte board, not really interested in doing SLI, so I should be good.
-
shleepy
- Friend of SPCR
- Posts: 454
- Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2005 3:32 am
- Location: SF Bay Area, California
What I did (on a couple of visiontek cards):
Used low-profile Zalman RAM-sinks (around $7, shipped, for a pack of low and normal ones) where needed and partially the standard AC ones that came with the Accelero. I read somewhere that the new batches of Acceleros (post-May or something) come with RAM-sinks that actually fit, as well.
As for the tiny chips on the end of the card, I just put a couple of normal-sized RAM-sinks on each set of four.
With a 120mm Nexus fan on the bottom of the case, blowing up, I managed to keep a pair of HD4850's (in crossfire) at reasonable temperatures. I didn't have fans strapped on to either of them, so before I put the fan on the bottom of my Antec Solo, the temperatures were very high.
Used low-profile Zalman RAM-sinks (around $7, shipped, for a pack of low and normal ones) where needed and partially the standard AC ones that came with the Accelero. I read somewhere that the new batches of Acceleros (post-May or something) come with RAM-sinks that actually fit, as well.
As for the tiny chips on the end of the card, I just put a couple of normal-sized RAM-sinks on each set of four.
With a 120mm Nexus fan on the bottom of the case, blowing up, I managed to keep a pair of HD4850's (in crossfire) at reasonable temperatures. I didn't have fans strapped on to either of them, so before I put the fan on the bottom of my Antec Solo, the temperatures were very high.