Aftermarket GPU Cooling, Zalman v. Arctic Cooling

They make noise, too.

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Choose the appropriate option for your (owned and used) VGA cooler

My Zalman VF700 is cool and quiet (stock)
6
26%
My Zalman VF700 is cool, but not as quiet as I'd like (explain)
3
13%
My Zalman VF700 is quiet, but not as cool as I'd like (explain)
0
No votes
My AC Silencer is cool and quiet (settings, model please)
3
13%
My AC Silencer is cool, but not as quiet as I'd like (explain)
4
17%
My AC Silencer is quiet, but not as cool as I'd like (explain)
0
No votes
I'm passive (air or water). I'm more hardcore than you, so there!
4
17%
My cooler is not listed (post which and impressions)
3
13%
 
Total votes: 23

warriorpoet
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Aftermarket GPU Cooling, Zalman v. Arctic Cooling

Post by warriorpoet » Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:22 pm

I thought this might be a useful community resource. Please no flaming, keep things on topic, and for gosh sakes, please explain your answers.

If your Zalman is too loud, please be specific, say why, what kind of noise it makes at what voltage, and whether or not you've subsequently swapped the fan. If your AC Silencer (specify model please) bakes your card like a burnt lasagna, please explain your system setup, and at what settings you're running the card (is it overclocked?, what fan speed?, etc.). If you're passive, congratulations, you're more hardcore than me ;)

Also, if you use third-party software or other fan/heat control gizmos to tweak your settings, please post which. The whole idea of this excersize is to compact all of the ranting/opinions in one convenient post.

Please, if you do not own one of these coolers, do not vote on your perception. There is enough unfounded homerism floating around the internet as it is.

Happy Voting!
Last edited by warriorpoet on Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

warriorpoet
Posts: 323
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 10:56 am
Location: USA

Post by warriorpoet » Wed Nov 02, 2005 6:32 pm

Just for fun, here's mine:

AC NV Silencer 5 Rev.3
Cool and Quiet
I use RivaTuner to tweak all of my fan settings, and love the fact that the Silencer exhausts hot air from the case.
Fan Settings: 30% desktop; 35% 3D; 75% Performance 3D (gaming)
I use RivaTuner because the fan is loud at stock settings, partially because the standard (1slot cooler) Leadtek fan controler overvolts (bad) the fan to 18v at startup/performance 3D (source: Leadtek customer support).
I'm currently running my 6800 GT at 421 core; 1167 memory

Cyco-Dude
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Post by Cyco-Dude » Wed Nov 02, 2005 9:40 pm

i'm using a zalman vf700-cu on an ati x700 pro. fan voltage is motherboard controlled (set at the minimum of 8 volts on abit an8-ultra). i have no idea about the card's temperature, but i can overclock to at least x700 xt speeds and there are no artifacts after several hours of gaming (with fan still at 8 volts).

cooler is what i would consider to be very quiet at this reduced voltage. no annoying fan rattles, whirs or whines so far.

thetoad30
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Post by thetoad30 » Thu Nov 10, 2005 5:17 pm

You forgot an option for both sets... Neither cool or quiet!!!

I had my Zalman for my X700Pro, and let me tell you, it was as quiet as it was cool. I loved it. I could game and the GPU wouldn't top 60C with the fan at low.

Last month, I upgraded my video card to the new Sapphire X800GTO^2 and flashed it to 16 pipes and overclocked it to XTPE settings.

The Zalman is now required to run at full fan setting just to keep the thing idle at 44C at STOCK speeds with 16 pipes (I have ATI TOOL loading the OC'ed settings ONLY when I play 3d intensive games and apps).

The Zalman is a wonderful product, but I think that it doesn't move the heat away from the video card like it needs. If you look at the stock heatsink, while not a good performer, it moves the heat to the back of the card where it clears the "hood" effect and allows the heat to move up instead of being recycled right back into the fan like the Zalman.

The Zalman does do a good job when there are no obstructions in the way such as other PCI cards like I have, but in close proximities of other cards and in cramped spaces, it doesn't perform up to my expectations.

Because I have to run it on high just to keep the card performing normally at stock speeds, I can hear it clearly through my P180 case.

I am still debating whether to just live with it, or to get the Silencer. I like the fact that I can use the card to control the fan speed on the Silencer, but I'm nervous about spending another 40 bucks on a cooler in case it doesn't fit my card, as the X800GTO^2 cards and GTO cards are relatively new. I'm also worried that it has a 72mm fan where the Zalman has an 80 mm fan.

Therefore, I cannot answer your query as I don't think my Zalman performs as well on the very high output cards in an average-to-"high-power" user's case.

theyangster
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Location: Somewhere over the rainbow....

Post by theyangster » Thu Nov 10, 2005 6:52 pm

I have an Aerocool Vm-101 on my ati 9800 pro 128
mostly painless installation

first put it in, ran on the warm side
then did a series of "mods"/guides
http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=26327
now it's cooler

I'd say I Like either aerocool's or artic cooling's design
The Zalman design, while cool, is just more of "upgrade" over stock cooling
whereas Artic Cooling directly exhuasts the hot air out
the only con I can think of to this design is the propertiery? fan that must be used which is acceptable silent (from what i've heard)
Aerocool's fanless design is very effective with it's heatpipes (though i think they should be closer to the die itself)
For me it allowed me to considate all the cooling in one area(upper motherboard) which made the one 120 exhuast fan very effective
also seperation of the GPU and CPU with a plastic divider lowered my temps by one or two degree :) (not like my system is hot anyway)

my thoughts

dfrost
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Post by dfrost » Fri Nov 11, 2005 12:25 pm

Another vote for the Aerocool VM-101, although I have not delved into theyangster's depth of ducting. My mods consisted of GPU memory heatsinks (cut from an old HS) that don't do anything for performance, but nicely support the VM-101 fin section.

Games that happen in our household have yet to tax the modest capabilities of the 9600 Pro, but loads like RTHDRIBL haven't overheated this card (measured with an infrared thermometer).

rich
Posts: 19
Joined: Mon Oct 17, 2005 11:45 am

Post by rich » Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:37 am

I have a thermalright V1 on my XFX 7800GT (with arctic silver paste). This cooler allows all 8 cm fans, so I replaced the standard fan for one that I cannot hear in my current config. Installation of the V1 was quite easy.

Temps haven't gone beyond 55 degrees celcius (and that was after two hours of playing F.E.A.R.) The only problem is that two memorychips are located under the heatpipes of the heatsink, so memoryheatsinks cannot be placed on these two. But since the GPU temps have dropped significantly in comparison with the stock cooler, I believe the this solution is fine. (note: I did not install the protective pads between the memory and the heatpipes to avoid heat buildup).

SenDog
Posts: 10
Joined: Tue Aug 23, 2005 3:07 am

Post by SenDog » Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:20 pm

2 x Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 (Rev 3) on 2 x XFX 7800 GTX 256MB (SLI mode)

Likes: Approx 10 degrees (C) cooler on idle, approx 15-20 degrees (C) cooler on load, exhaust venting OUT of the case (has reduced case / cpu temps down dramatically as a result), easy to install, high quality build and finish, 6 year warranty, slightly quieter than stock coolers

Dislikes: Noise both on idle and under load, by far the loudest fan noise in the case (3 x 120mm fans in the case are far quieter), awaiting Rivatuner 15.8 to be released to allow functioning fan control for the 7800 GTX

Thumbs up!

thetoad30
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Post by thetoad30 » Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:21 pm

SenDog,

If you could control the fans to a lower level, would that help you out a lot?

What are your current temps, and if you lowered the fan what do you think you would get for the temps if you guesstimated?

Thank you

wim
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Location: canberra, australia

Post by wim » Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:24 pm

1 x original Arctic Cooling Silencer Revision 3 (looks like this). it came stock on the HIS radeon9800 pro. fan switch is kept on low setting all the time, and cooling is sufficient. noise is bad, loudest fan in there (2 others are a deeply undervolted evercool Al and a panaflo blowing over HDs). actually, perhaps similar volume to the evercool, but the sound character is less smooth. it has degraded to a more rattly sound with age. i will get rid of this fan eventually (i keep saying that.... :roll: )

Tephras
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Post by Tephras » Sat Nov 12, 2005 6:49 pm

wim wrote:it has degraded to a more rattly sound with age.
For how long have your card been in use?

ryboto
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Post by ryboto » Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:20 pm

i've got the ati silencer 4, running at 1200rpm with the other hardware in my sig...though, even before the lian li case, this thing keeps my x800pro at around 33-36C at idle, and never more than 50C under load. If i up the speed of the fan, it's even cooler. I don't actually hear the thing until around 1700rpm.

SenDog
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Post by SenDog » Sat Nov 12, 2005 7:42 pm

thetoad30 wrote:SenDog,

If you could control the fans to a lower level, would that help you out a lot?

What are your current temps, and if you lowered the fan what do you think you would get for the temps if you guesstimated?

Thank you
It would definitely help alot, but so far in my searching I haven't found any way to do it (except for the unreleased Rivatuner 15.8). As for temps wise (for 1 video card, the other one is about 2-3 degrees lower than the other on all counts):

Stock Cooler - 51 idle / 82 load
AC NV5 Rev3 - 40 idle / 62 load

Hard to estimate what it'll be with the fan turned down, but due to the better design of the heatsink (the stock cooler is hardly precision engineering IMHO), it should still be well under the stock cooler temperatures (especially since it's drawing in fresh air from the front of the case instead of hot air).

As long as it's the same or cooler than stock, then that's enough for me, as the main reason I bought the AC items was to keep the noise down (which at the moment is not the case).

thetoad30
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Post by thetoad30 » Sat Nov 12, 2005 8:21 pm

SenDog,

Thank you. The reason I'm asking is because I was looking at the ATI Silencer 5.2 because I have an ATI x800GTO^2 flashed to 16 pipes and OC'ed to 576/591 currently with the Zalman cooler.

I am able to control the fan via ATI Tool so that is why I wanted to know what the speed control would do for you.

I, also, am not too worried about idle temps, but load temps are what I want to lower. Currently I am using the Zalman on high with an idle of 45C and a load that can get up to 75C+. This isn't a concern per se for the GPU, but it causes artifacts in my games.

And, the Zalman on high is more than noticeable in my P180, even with the sophisticated dampening this case has.

Thank you for your help!

wim
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Location: canberra, australia

Post by wim » Sat Nov 12, 2005 11:27 pm

Tephras wrote:For how long have your card been in use?
hm, i got it..Sat Oct 16, 2004. so just over 1 year

Klaatu
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Post by Klaatu » Sun Nov 13, 2005 11:41 am

My Arctic Silencer developed a click after about a month and a half and now is a resident of my parts box. I replaced it with a vf700AlCu and it's been fine for almost a year.

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