Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X

JamieG · Post by **JamieG** » Mon Apr 12, 2010 3:35 pm

Moffasin wrote:I'm getting around 43c idle and 80c load during which the fan spins like crazy, I think it might be because my Asus Xonar D2X is 0.5 cm below it.

I'm thinking I might replace the stock fan with a
Noctua NF-B9 fan or maybe that doesn't have enough air throughput?

What sort of GPU loads are you talking about? In a GPU-only load test using FurMark, my 5870 Vapor-X gets to about 78-80C, vs about 72C in combined GPU/CPU load testing using FurMark and Prime95 (I think Prime95 starves FurMark of some necessary CPU cycles to really run full out - I intend on re-trying the CPU/GPU loads with one less Prime95 thread to see if this makes a difference). For normal gaming, I don't think it gets much above 70C, if at all.

The Vapor-X fan is a PWM 4-pin fan, so the Noctua will not easily work as a fan swap unless you connect it to your motherboard instead.

Check what rpm your stock Vapor-X fan is producing. Like WR304 said, my Vapor-X seems to idle at lower rpm than his (1,050rpm vs 1,455rpm), despite being the same Rev 2 blue PCB card with identical BIOS numbers. From memory, around 2,200rpm is my fan speed at full FurMark GPU load. If your fan speed is much above WR304's at idle and too much above 2,200rpm at load, it's likely that your soundcard is too close and limiting air intake to your GPU.

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Fri Apr 16, 2010 1:55 am

The PowerColor 5850 PCS+ might be a good alternative
24+ idle, 32+ under load in a passive system and open case. 5870 PCS+ is at 26.7 idle, and 31.6 load

Shut the case and it's going to be a lot quieter.

As a point of reference, they also reviewed the HIS HD Radeon 5870 iCooler V Turbo and had it at 33dba idle vs 21dba for the SPCR review

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powe ... us/28.html

The tested graphics card is installed in a system that is completely passively cooled. That is passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, passive cooling on the motherboard and Solid-State HDD.
This setup allows us to eliminate secondary noise sources and test only the video card. To be more compliant with standards like DIN 45635 (we are not claiming to be fully DIN 45635 certified) the measurement is conducted at 100 cm distance and 160 cm over the floor. The ambient background noise level in the room is well below 20 dbA for all measurements. Please note that the dbA scale is not linear, it is logarithmic. 40 dbA is not twice as loud as 20 dbA. A 3 dbA increase results in double the sound pressure. The human hearing is a bit different and it is generally accepted that a 10 dbA increase doubles the perceived sound level.

Finally! Powercolor has managed to engineer a card that is substantially quieter than the reference design version. It is amazing how much of a difference can be achieved with sensible fan setting tuning and the right cooler. In idle the card is almost inaudible while the noise under load is very bearable. If you are looking for the quietest, fast card on the market, this is the one you will want to get.

and for 5870 PCS+
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powe ... us/28.html

It is amazing what PowerColor managed to achieve with their cooling solution. The HD 5870 PCS+ is so much quieter than the AMD reference design. The card offers so much performance and is still whisper quiet in idle and barely audible under load. Personally I am very concerned with fan noise in my PC and after doing this testing I can't wait to ask PowerColor if they would let me keep their card for my work PC.

chode · Post by **chode** » Mon May 10, 2010 7:31 pm

Wow, I was about to get a 5870 vapor-x 2gb, but it looks like the powercolor 5870 is much, much quieter? I can handle losing vram for significant noise reduction

lb_felipe · Post by **lb_felipe** » Tue May 11, 2010 12:21 am

Can a T-Rad 2 with a S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) cool a HD 5850 inside a P183 at 30 Â°C or more of ambient temperature?

The HD 5850 has a TDP of 151W.

The P183 would have another S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) in its front blowing air toward the power connectors of HD 5850.

A VRM-R4 would be used.

chode · Post by **chode** » Tue May 11, 2010 8:37 pm

I wish there was a hardware guru that could answer any possibly question about components without waiting 3 days hoping for an answer. People have tested the vapor-x and the PCS+, but since they are different reviewers they used different methods so you can't compare their results.

CoolColJ · Post by **CoolColJ** » Tue May 11, 2010 10:19 pm

well if a PCS is quiet in a passive system, then it is quiet period

The Vapor-x is an overclocked version of the Toxic, so it won't be quiet
The site above has a review of the 5850 toxic
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapp ... ic/25.html

chode · Post by **chode** » Wed May 12, 2010 11:51 am

CoolColJ wrote:well if a PCS is quiet in a passive system, then it is quiet period

The Vapor-x is an overclocked version of the Toxic, so it won't be quiet
The site above has a review of the 5850 toxic
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapp ... ic/25.html

Pretty sure its the other way around. The Toxic is an overclocked version of the vapor-x.

grizzly · Post by **grizzly** » Wed May 12, 2010 11:32 pm

Is there a chance that Vapor-X 5850 runs quieter than the Vapor-X 5870?

I'll try to build a silent PC (at least, if it's idling), thinking on buying an Antec P183, if that helps, but I don't want my vidcard ruin everything (no need for dead silence, but it should be as close as possible...)

Unfortunately they don't sell powercolor ones here, ordering it abroad would be much more expensive.

grizzly · Post by **grizzly** » Wed May 12, 2010 11:58 pm

JamieG wrote:From memory, my 58070 Vapor-X idles at around 1,050rpm at a 21% fan duty cycle according to GPU-Z, although I'm not at home to confirm this at the moment.

(...)

As for noise, my rig seems just a little noisier on idle (compared to with the 8800GTX with Zalman GV1000 at about 3.5-4V). I also haven't had time to tweak my new case fan set up yet with my new Scythe Kaze Server, so most of the case fans are sitting on around 800rpm (compared to about 500-600rpm when idling previously).
(...)
If anyone wants to know anything in particular, let me know and I'll try to accommodate any requests.

Could you please confirm that it's 1050 RPM? And what revision is that card? Also, how would you describe overall the noise of your gaming pc (I see you have a P182), as you've just compared it to your former VGA.

Thanks!

JamieG · Post by **JamieG** » Thu May 13, 2010 3:03 am

grizzly wrote:
JamieG wrote:From memory, my 58070 Vapor-X idles at around 1,050rpm at a 21% fan duty cycle according to GPU-Z, although I'm not at home to confirm this at the moment.

(...)

As for noise, my rig seems just a little noisier on idle (compared to with the 8800GTX with Zalman GV1000 at about 3.5-4V). I also haven't had time to tweak my new case fan set up yet with my new Scythe Kaze Server, so most of the case fans are sitting on around 800rpm (compared to about 500-600rpm when idling previously).
(...)
If anyone wants to know anything in particular, let me know and I'll try to accommodate any requests.
Could you please confirm that it's 1050 RPM? And what revision is that card? Also, how would you describe overall the noise of your gaming pc (I see you have a P182), as you've just compared it to your former VGA.

See my posts and those of WR304 in this thread. My card appears to be a blue PCB Rev 2 5870 Vapor-X but the fan speed is lower than WR304's card, which is the same model, revision number and BIOS version as far as we could tell. It could be a bit of a lottery.

My P182 has changed a bit since I last updated my PC systems thread here.

In addition to adding the 5870 Vapor-X, I've made the following changes:
- Front middle intake fan is now a Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1,150rpm
- Rear exhaust fan is now a Scythe Kama PWM
- Scythe Kaze Server installed for fan control

CPU fan (still the 92mm Nexus) is 650rpm idle / 1,600rpm load
Front intake fan is 500rpm idle / 1,000rpm load
Top exhaust fan (still the S-Flex E) is 500rpm idle / 1,000rpm load
Rear exhaust fan (PWM) is about 400rpm idle / 900rpm load

Load speed for the 3 non-PWM fans hooked up to the Kaze Server is when temperature probes pushed between the heatsink and PCB on my 5870 Vapor-X reaches over 50C.

My PC is very quiet when idle and any noise while gaming is drowned out by any game sounds.

echn111 · Post by **echn111** » Sat May 15, 2010 8:17 pm

I don't know about everyone else but I found the 5870 Vapor-X noise unacceptable. Yes it's more quiet compared to the reference cooler or the GTX480, but it's a lot louder than SPCR standards.

I ended up replacing the cooling with a T-Rad2 with a Nexus 120mm fan running at 750rpm (on idle as well as load). Now it's acceptable. But probably should have bought the cheaper reference model and done that.

echn111 · Post by **echn111** » Sat May 15, 2010 8:21 pm

lb_felipe wrote:Can a T-Rad 2 with a S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) cool a HD 5850 inside a P183 at 30 Â°C or more of ambient temperature?

The HD 5850 has a TDP of 151W.

The P183 would have another S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) in its front blowing air toward the power connectors of HD 5850.

A VRM-R4 would be used.

Yes if you have efficient case cooling.

shleepy · Post by **shleepy** » Wed Jun 02, 2010 2:21 pm

EDIT #2 - oh, woops... I misread a post up there. Never mind!

shleepy · Post by **shleepy** » Sun Jun 13, 2010 12:06 am

Thought I'd share my thoughts on the HD 5870 PCS+:
It sucks.

I just received it the other day and have been playing around with the fan using MSI Afterburner (thanks for the advice, whoever mentioned it higher in this thread).

When the fan is under 50%, and especially under 40%, it's a fairly quiet card. I can't say too much beyond that, since the PC I'm using it with isn't especially quiet (per SPCR standards). However, above the 50% mark or so, it becomes very noticeable. My problem with it is that it's a higher-pitched noise than stock coolers. I was using a stock HD 5850 on this PC before I switched it out... That card could get pretty loud, but it was mostly just the "woosh" of a lot of air being pushed. The PCS+ might not reach the same dB-level, but its fan certainly has annoying sound characteristics.

The other big problem is that the cooler really doesn't seem to cool well! It's been a warm day (~80 to 85 F), but yesterday was cooler; I'm pretty sure the ambient temperature isn't a big problem. But regardless of the speed to which I set the fan, the temperature doesn't go more than a couple degrees under 50C at idle. And I mean "really" idle: Aero disabled, nothing going on at all, just coming back to the PC after 15 minutes of having the fan speed near 100% and no applications running.

Tonight, the card actually shut down on me a couple of times, when playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Fan speed was at or near max for a while (past 65C, I think, per my custom settings), but I noticed that the temperatures were steadily climbing. I assume the card hit roughly 100C at one point.

I guess I might keep the card when it gets put in my newer build, but I might throw on aftermarket cooling.

lb_felipe · Post by **lb_felipe** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 1:23 am

echn111 wrote:
lb_felipe wrote:Can a T-Rad 2 with a S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) cool a HD 5850 inside a P183 at 30 Â°C or more of ambient temperature?

The HD 5850 has a TDP of 151W.

The P183 would have another S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) in its front blowing air toward the power connectors of HD 5850.

A VRM-R4 would be used.
Yes if you have efficient case cooling.

Oh thanks for reply.

So now I have another almost identical question:

can a Thermalright T-Rad2 with a Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) cool a Radeon HD 5850 inside a Antec SOLO at 30 Â°C or more of ambient temperature?

A Thermalright VRM-R4 would be used.

Notice that I plan to use only one S-FLEX D (800 rpm) as exhaust fan.

Will it run with no problems??

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:38 am

lb_felipe wrote:Oh thanks for reply.

So now I have another almost identical question:

can a Thermalright T-Rad2 with a Scythe S-FLEX SFF21D (800 rpm) cool a Radeon HD 5850 inside a Antec SOLO at 30 Â°C or more of ambient temperature?

A Thermalright VRM-R4 would be used.

Notice that I plan to use only one S-FLEX D (800 rpm) as exhaust fan.

Will it run with no problems??

This would surely depend on the CPU and its cooling as well, as you will be relying on that single exhaust fan to move all the heated air out at an adequate rate. A front intake fan might be necessary, imo.

lb_felipe · Post by **lb_felipe** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:19 am

Mike, thanks.

Unfortunately the Antec Solo does not support 120 mm fan in its front.

mrc11 · Post by **mrc11** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 10:29 pm

shleepy wrote:Thought I'd share my thoughts on the HD 5870 PCS+:
It sucks.

To give another pov on this card: I outright love it !

on a 24" monitor, playing games like crysis, napoleon:total war (battles),... on max detail for hours (in a room where temps were about 30Â° yesterday thanks to the summer), the fan never went above 35-40% fanspeed, while temps of the card also remained very good.

the card is mounted in a silverstond ft-02, and the 180mm fan below it was at it's 800rpm speed the whole time (this fan is linked to a scythe case server on semi-mode, while the temp node is placed on the gpu)

When idl'ing, the fanspeed is at 20% (I think lower is possible, but I'd have to use something else than Ati overdrive) and temps remain low.

Exel · Post by **Exel** » Tue Jul 13, 2010 11:53 pm

mrc11 wrote:
shleepy wrote: When idl'ing, the fanspeed is at 20% (I think lower is possible, but I'd have to use something else than Ati overdrive) and temps remain low.

How is the idle noise? If it's audible, what are the noise characteristics like (high pitch, rattle, smooth)?

Jaws · Post by **Jaws** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 12:16 pm

Hopefully you havnt seen 2 comparisons reviews betwen pcs+ and vapor-x but I found betwen vapor-x 2gb and pcs+
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3290/s ... dex16.html
Load 60,6 decibels 2 cm away from the fan in 100 fan

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3134/p ... dex14.html
53,4 decibel in 100% fan/load