Quietest effective Radeon 9800Pro cooler?

[BenW]

First off i currently have an Arctic Cooling ATI1 and its the loudest component by far. Secondly im in the UK so it never gets really hot but sometimes it gets reasonably hot. Gets upto about 38C/100F on a really hot day

So i asume something with a fan would be best....zalman VF700?

But, would fanless be an option? I plan to run the system with 1 80mm silentx in the psu, 1*5v nexus front and 1* 5v or 7v nexus on rear (Both 120mm fans). Just wondering if fanless would make it too hot in there.

Is the thermaltake schooner the best fanless at the moment?

[Mikael]

I would think that passive cooling would make the card far too hot with such weak case cooling. I have a similar setup myself. Case cooling is handled by two Papst 80mm fans on 7V (1000 RPM?) and the graphicscard is cooled by Zalman's ZM80D-HP. It gets too hot during passive operation, though, so I've added a Papst 120mm fan below it. It's spinning at approximately 1000 RPM and is basically quiet.

Well, that's one possible way of getting a 9800 Pro cool and quiet.

[BenW]

Forgot to add the size of my case fans (Now added). They're 120mm

Don't really want to get into the business of adding more fans into the case. Is the schooner an option or do i need to look at the zalman fanned cooler?

[Mats]

I've used my 9800 Pro with a Zalman 80C without a fan, it worked perfectly until I started Doom 3, then I sometimes got some small white dots on the screen. The slightest airflow would probably make it perfect. I had only two fans in the case, a 120 mm PSU and a CNPS 7000A AlCu at min speed. I guess the VF 700 is pretty good but it still dumps all the heat in the case just like th ZM 80. I will mount a duct around the card with a fan in the front. This fan will exhaust all the heat from the 9800 and the chipset (using a Zalman NB47). My 9800 Pro raises the CPU temp with 5° C when the case is open, lying horizontal on the floor.

In short, my opinion is that a VF700 is a better solution out of the box, but a ZM80 is better for ducting.

You may also want to have a look at the upcoming Thermalright V1.

[ultraboy]

You probably can run 9800 fanless with Zalman 80D with your 2 Nexus 120mm. as case fans. I said probably as it would depend on the following:

1. General airflow - I mean how easy for the air to flow through case, any obstacle?
2. Location of front fan - it would help if you can put front fan after Hdd and put it at angle pointing to VGA direction. This will help cooling down ZM80D - almost like it has its own fan.
3. I would recommend using AtiTools to underclock 9800 in 2D mode and goes to default setting only in 3D application/gaming. AtiTools can handle that automatically. This will help lower you VGA temp by approx 5°C in 2D.
4. Given the low CFM of Nexus, and depending on conditions #1 and #2, I think you'll need some kind of fan control to ensure that you can go to higher speed when needed.

I'm not sure about summer effect though, 38°C is high for room temp even for my standard. How about adding a fan for summer .

Here's a pic of my set up similar to what I described above. Granted, these 2x120 mm fans are not Nexus but Globe fans which give stronger CFM at 12v. (approx 1800 rpm). However with T-Balancer control, both fans normally run at 25% duty cycle for idle (that's about 500 rpm according to T-Ban) and move to about 40% (about 700 rpm) when gaming. At that kind of fan speed, CFM shouldn't be too much different from Nexus.



I've seen other example of people here putting front 120 mm fan at angle without the birdhouse in this pic. I just can't find that thread right now.

Two things to note:
1. I keep my room temp stable at 26°C (air conditioned).
2. PSU has its own air channel, so it doesn't recirculate warm air.

Cheers.

[BenW]

By 38C i meant outside, doesn't get that hot near the comp. Not sure how hot it gets by the comp

Not too keen on the idea of ducting, i have my hard drive suspended where you've got your duct so unless i had the hard drive in the duct?

I looked in ati tool for the 2d and 3d adjustments, couldnt see them before but just found them! Didn't know the my radeon 9800 Pro supported mem and core temp monitoring!

How do these clocks look:

2D
Mem: 300
Core: 300

3D
Mem: 351
Core: 380

Should i go lower for 2D?

Thanks
Ben

[mellon]

I'm running my 9800Pro totally fanless with a ZM80C-HP. I have an old Antec 1030 case with 2 80mm Nexus fans at 7V as rear exhaust, the only other exhaust being the Nexus NX-3000 power supply. Not much airflow.

Overall the system temps are a bit high but I haven't had any problems, maybe partially because I have two PCI slots open below the video card. The Alpha PAL8045 cooler might also cause some airflow for the VGA heatsink. The Radeon is quite a sturdy beast, it is too hot to touch at all times but exhibits no graphics / other stability problems even after hours of playing Half-Life 2.

[BenW]

Thanks Melon, anybody got experience with the thermaltake schooner?

Just found out that ATI Tool can take Radeon 9800Pro temperatures.

Idle when underclocked is currently 59C and load was about 70C

Seems reasonable. Thats with ATI1 cooler, not sure on fan speed

[jjm052]

I also have 2 nexus 120mm case fans and use a passive zalman zm80d on my 6600gt (pci-e). It doesn't go beyond 60c with case fans on full and stays below 70C will them undervolted. I'm sure it'd work no probs. I'm don't know what the recommended temps are for your particular card but the throttle temp on mine is 127C!!

BTW the highest recorded temp ever in the UK is 35C, so you don't really need to be concerned by ambient temps!

James

[Dane]

BTW the highest recorded temp ever in the UK is 35C, so you don't really need to be concerned by ambient temps!

nah - we hit 38 (100F) in the south a couple of summers ago

(It made the evening news everywhere!)

[slashdotcomma]

You might want to take a look at the new Thermalright V1. It sounds like it might be able to cool your 9800 pro fanlessly (if it will fit). Here's a review for it.

[Bitter Jitter]

Here might be a cheap option to consider: Coolermaster CoolViva.

I was considering a swap from an Arctic Silencer rev 3 but i'm not sure its as loud as i first thought. The hard drive and Nexus NX-3000 seem louder, but at £12 delivered, that Coolermaster is cheap. Of course you will want the fan off but you could have it as a backup in hot weather?
Like we usually get it!

[Baloubic]

I'd go with a fanless heat pipe sink, it'd surely be sufficient 90% of the time.

The rest of the time, just up the intake/exhaust fan speeds..! No reason to have quiet, slow moving fans when bombs and grenades deafens your ears anyway. Or do you perhaps need heavy graphics for work or sumthin?

[BenW]

Welcome to the Forum!

I only need the card for games.

So looks like fanless will do. But obviously its still safer to go fanned but quiet ie vf700.

Will have a look around

[ultraboy]

.....
How do these clocks look:

2D
Mem: 300
Core: 300

3D
Mem: 351
Core: 380

Should i go lower for 2D?

You'll just have to play around with it a bit to find your sweet spot. For my above system I set my 2D at 60% of default for both mem/core, simply because I got 5°C lower temp at that setting. I can set it lower without any artifact but temp doesn't really reduce in any meaningful way any more. So I settle with that and be happy

[alglove]

I have a Thermaltake Schooner on my 9800XT, and it works quite well. My computer also has an Athlon XP 3000+ (with a Spire WhisperRock IV cooler), an Enermax Noisetaker power supply (set to "low"), and an 80mm Enermax adjustable case fan in the back (also set to "low"), with the case fan grille cut off. Not exactly a wind tunnel in there. 9800XT idle temp is in the low 70's, load temp about 80 degC. That is actually a little bit *better* than the stock 9800XT cooler.

That having been said, the computer is inside an air conditioned apartment, where the summer room temp is about 25 degC. Outside right now it is about 36 degC, but I do not have long enough cords to put my computer on the balcony. (I am also too lazy. )