NVSilencer5 Rev3 vs VF700

matva · Post by **matva** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:12 pm

owwwwwwwwwwww my ears! help! This evga 7800 gt is killing my ears.. i need a solution besides removal. From what i've read, these are my two options. Has anyone had any experience with either? I've heard that both have their share of problems, so i ask, which is better?
pls quick..a man can only bear so much of this madness!

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:24 pm

from the reviews ive read, the nvsilencer will probably give you lower temps, but will be a little louder than the zalman.

also you can replace the stock fan on the zalman with your own 80x15mm fan to further decrease noise. its not quite as easy as a normal fan swap, but its do-able.

also if you have adequt case ventilation and enough room around the video card you could probably get away with the passive zalman zm80d-hp. temps would probably be a little high, but you wouldnt have to worry about noise at all.

NextGen_Gamer · Post by **NextGen_Gamer** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:27 pm

Well, I have used Arctic Cooling's ATI Silencer 4 Rev. 2 in the past. The fan made a horrible bearing-grinding sound at all levels other than 0% (fan turned off obviously) or 100%. At 100%, it was remarkably still quieter than the defaul Radeon X800 XT fan, but a tad too loud for idling in Windows XP. So, what I did was set up temperatues using ATITool: at anything below 50° C the fan was set to 0% (the card still ran at 44° C at the this setting, compared to 47° with the default cooler running at 66%!), anything above the fan rose to 100%.

Anyway, I have looked around, and it seems that the grinding noise the fan makes is actually a problem with ATI's Radeon cards and the way they deliver power to the fan. So, if this grinding noise is not present on the NVIDIA versions, I say get that. If it is, well, you have been warned.

matva · Post by **matva** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 3:55 pm

ahh! well, i'm not looking to spend to much, so i dont think ill be switching out any fans. I downloaded rivatuner to adjust fan speeds, but it won't let me below 25%. is there any way to unlock this? Also, what are some good temps? I idle at 48c currently.
btw, welcome to spcr Nextgen! I'm sure someone else will give you a proper welcome..* i don't know how to do that.

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 4:00 pm

"good temps" is a little subjective, and you'll hear alot of varying "preferences" on what is good and what isnt

if its stable, and you dont get any artifacts, and your not exceeding the maxium manufacturers thermal limits, then your fine.

zikje · Post by **zikje** » Mon Oct 10, 2005 10:36 pm

Aris wrote:from the reviews ive read, the nvsilencer will probably give you lower temps, but will be a little louder than the zalman.

also if you have adequt case ventilation and enough room around the video card you could probably get away with the passive zalman zm80d-hp. temps would probably be a little high, but you wouldnt have to worry about noise at all.

Which reviews have you seen comparing VF700 to AC Silencer?

http://tweakers.net/reviews/546

This review shows the Zalman is both cooler and more quiet. I also read on forums that it's easier to remove the dust of the Zalman then the AC. I will buy VF700 for my new PC.

Tzeb · Post by **Tzeb** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 12:28 am

matva wrote:I downloaded rivatuner to adjust fan speeds, but it won't let me below 25%. is there any way to unlock this?

I made a screen just for you

matva · Post by **matva** » Tue Oct 11, 2005 5:50 am

thanks! i tried putting it down to 10% but temps jump to 67c. This is for the 2d setting btw.

I definitely like the fact that the zalman is easily cleaned. While dust isn't a major problem, i have a artic silencer for my 9800 pro and it is near impossible to clean. The other thing that i think someone mentioned is that unlike the zalman, the silencer disspates outside of the case. This probably does a lot for temps.

NoNameFace · Post by **NoNameFace** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:26 am

Yeah, that's the main reason I would always pick an Arctic Silencer over anything else. It does the only sensible thing: extract the heat out of the case. Plus, I have a dislike for anything Zalman.

Mystr_Byrnz · Post by **Mystr_Byrnz** » Fri Oct 14, 2005 5:42 pm

I'm currently in a struggle between which of these coolers will get to stay on my 7800GTX.

I've had the Zalman since I got my rig built along with a 7000ALcu for the CPU. They both have done a decent job for me, but I've always suffered from a higher SYS and PWM temp than I would like.(I don't know what is considered high for these, but they get up around the low 40s while I'm gaming)

I recently bought a CNPS9500 for my CPU, because, well it's just cool

I figured that along with the Rev3. NVSilencer would lower my SYS and PWM temps, since the heat from the vid card would be expelled from the case and the CNPS would help get the CPU heat out ASAP. I was wrong. The temps have actually gone up somewhat, by a few degrees.

More to the original topic though. With the AC Silencer my vid card GPU averages about 10c lower than with the Zalman, but I'm concerned when it comes to the RAM on the card. How hot can/should this stuff get? After a decent amount of gaming, the video ram gets hot enough to where it is quite uncomfortable to hold my finger to for very long. This doesn't happen with the Zalman; I'm guessing because of the airflow around the card that isn't present with the AC Silencer.

One thing I noticed while installing the Silencer, was the total lack of contact/pressure between the cooler and the RAM. It comes with these thick thermal pads that, one would think, provide protection from being dmged from pressure. But with the Cooler installed and the screws as tight as they'll go, there is barely any contact with the Ram on the Bottom side of the card(side with GPU). When I pulled the cooler off to switch back to my Zalman, the pads were barely indented, showing the lack of good contact. Should I be worried? I know I installed the thing right, because, well it's totally easy to install and would be very hard to mess up.

Oh. One more thing. If you get the Silencer, make sure your wires are in the correct orientation. If you're like me, you'll get a bad product and you'll need to swap the black and red wires, otherwise the fan won't spin.

http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=acnvsilencer5rev35

This thread shows what I'm talking about.

EDIT: Sorry for the long post, but some things require a good amount of words.

zikje · Post by **zikje** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 12:51 am

Zalman cools the ram much better. They provide heatsinks for it and the cooler blows the air over the heatsinks.

In dutch hardware forums I'm hearing not so positive things about AC. In the beginning they're quite, but after some time the fan starts making noise. And removing dust from it is much more difficult.

According to the review I mentioned before, Zalman should be both quiter and cooler. But that's the only review I've seen comparing AC to Zalman. I do not understand why there are so little reviews of this comparison.

For CPU I will use the Ninja. Currently the best heatsink so far I know. Some people on this forum use it fanless. Only the back case fan is in place. So that seems really great.

Long posts are not annoying

. A forum is for discussion and information so, keeping it short wouldn't make a forum good imho.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 3:01 am

http://legionhardware.com/document.php?id=466

Actually, I think that the AC Silencer cools better. The new models all come with a backplate which cools the RAM sinks too.

As for what's quieter at idle (I don't mind if the fan is a audible when at load, as I'm usually playing an intensive game when I am) I'm not sure. It depends on how you control the fan speed (something which I like very much about ATI Tray Tools, what's the Nvidia equivalent?)

zikje · Post by **zikje** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 5:50 am

Rivatuner can do that I think (a lot of options). Maybe Powerstrip also. http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Vide ... Vmax.shtml shows NVMax. Don't know it but is has a lot of options. Maybe you should take a look here: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=13. NTune is another tool from NVidia.

As for the review: stock coolers for 7800 cards give 75° C stress temp in reviews I read. So 49 or 55 is pretty good.

To bad they didn't do Noise test. The review at Tweakers did and Zalman was the best in the round-up. Another + is that they can be easily installed also on other graphic cards.

Most positive for AC is that it's removes the heat outside the case.

Maybe somebody should found Artic Zalman company

.

Mystr_Byrnz · Post by **Mystr_Byrnz** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 8:39 am

Maybe it's through fault of my own that my RAM is hotter with the AC than the Zalman, but I wouldn't think so.

You see, I installed the AC cooler properly on the underside of the card, but left the RAM sinks on the top side from the Zalman cooler. The flimsy, aluminum(looks/feels like) RAM sink from AC just didn't seem like it would do as good a job as the Zalman sinks. The Zalmans at lesat look like they have more surface area, so I kept them in place. The big difference between the two coolers' ability to cool the ram is the airflow around the card.

Perhaps if I had the dreaded cooling duct in my P180, the airflow would be better over the RAM sinks. Hmm. something new to try.

As for sound level. I'd say the AC is quieter than the Zalman right now. I have my Zalman ramp up to full based on CPU temp, which goes up in gaming. The AC stays a constant speed no matter what is being done. Even at the 2000RPM, the AC is barely audible and cools better than the Zalman at 12v. Remember though, that's only GPU cooling. RAM is better with Zalman.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Sat Oct 15, 2005 10:28 am

With the Arctic Cooling Silencer ATI 5.2, I was able to get my core speed at 470 Mhz stabe, which is huge for an X800XL. I managed to get the RAM to 560, which is good also. I leave the fan on 15% when at idle temps (34C-36C), but let it go to 100% when at load (~52C). I play my games with sound, so the noise doesn't worry me too much when it's in a game.

There are low level motor noise (light clicking) when the fan's at a low speed, audible if you put your ear close to the fan, but it's drowned out completely by my other fans (4 Nexus 120 mm fans). But 2 of them seem louder than usual, and I haven't really gotten close to where I want to get my system yet in terms of noise.

I'm considering a switch from the X800XL to a 7800GT, because I'm in Australia, but will have family travelling to the US where they can pick up a cheap 7800GT.

jermaink · Post by **jermaink** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:44 am

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article19-4.html

Some discussion about the noise characteristics. I'm presuing that with good software controlling, you can get this thing to be almost silent if you run it at 10-15%.

What's the best software controller for nVidia GPU's? I'm currentlying using ATI Tray Tools on my X800XL and I think it's damn great. So much control over fan speed, allowing me to put the fan up only when it gets hot.

zikje · Post by **zikje** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:47 am

jermaink wrote:http://www.pureoverclock.com/article19-4.html

Some discussion about the noise characteristics. I'm presuing that with good software controlling, you can get this thing to be almost silent if you run it at 10-15%.

What's the best software controller for nVidia GPU's? I'm currentlying using ATI Tray Tools on my X800XL and I think it's damn great. So much control over fan speed, allowing me to put the fan up only when it gets hot.

Look a few posts above this one: I noted some links to interesting tools.

SaSH · Post by **SaSH** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 9:48 pm

zikje wrote: Which reviews have you seen comparing VF700 to AC Silencer?

http://tweakers.net/reviews/546

This review shows the Zalman is both cooler and more quiet. I also read on forums that it's easier to remove the dust of the Zalman then the AC. I will buy VF700 for my new PC.

I don't speak Dutch so I cannot read the review, but I noticed they are comparing the VF700 to the older ATi Silencer 4. I'm curious as to why they chose the older version of the AC to compare with the VF700.

zikje · Post by **zikje** » Fri Oct 21, 2005 11:31 pm

I don't think it was available at that time (23-12-2004). The review is not that recent. Anyway, the AC Silencer NV 5 Rev 3 seems to be recalled by AC. Could indicate some problems.

Mystr_Byrnz · Post by **Mystr_Byrnz** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 4:31 pm

^^^ Where did you get that news? Dammit, and I just reinstalled mine.

I bet it's a problem with the fan cabling being wrong. I fixed that easily enough.

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 9:19 pm

Mystr_Byrnz wrote:^^^ Where did you get that news? Dammit, and I just reinstalled mine.

It was mentioned here.

zikje · Post by **zikje** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:28 pm

I saw it there. The picture had the letters "recalled" in red over it. Now it's gone. Maybe it's fixed?

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 11:40 am

zikje wrote:I saw it there. The picture had the letters "recalled" in red over it. Now it's gone. Maybe it's fixed?

There's a note over at www.case-mod.com that says "Currently, all NV Silencer 5 Revision 3 coolers are facing recall in USA due to defective 4 pin power cable." It's also mentioned in several Internet forums, but most of them are referring to Coolerguys and since they have the cooler "Back in stock!" I suppose vendors already got shipments with replacement coolers from Arctic Cooling.

rich · Post by **rich** » Mon Oct 24, 2005 12:50 pm

I recently was also unpleasantly confronted with the horrible noise coming from my XFX 7800GT card. I considered the zalman or the Silencer. But reviews on the noise were not convincing. At the end I decided to take a chance and buy the Thermalright V1. I know it is not suppose to be compatible, but it mounted without any problems (well the CPU cooler was in the way, but I found another solution for that problem). After changing the fan for a more silent one, the card could not be noticed any more. Temps haven't gone over 60 degrees even after two hours of doom3. Idle state is about 37-40 degrees. So I guess at the end I was succesfull.

Mystr_Byrnz · Post by **Mystr_Byrnz** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 6:47 am

Is the RAM cooling good with the thermalrite?

Also. Do you think that cooler would fit the 7800GTX? I'm not sure how similar its build is to the GT model.

Thanks.

rich · Post by **rich** » Thu Oct 27, 2005 9:03 am

Mystr_Byrnz wrote:Is the RAM cooling good with the thermalrite?

Also. Do you think that cooler would fit the 7800GTX? I'm not sure how similar its build is to the GT model.

Thanks.

I use the zalman ram coolers on the card. Only two ram modules cannot take the coolers since the heatpipes are in the way. I have not used that protective pad that thermalright advises since it (according to me) just leads to heat build up in the memory. the heatpipes do not touch the memorymodules by a long shot. So I don't think i'm in trouble, actually originally the GPU and memory are both cooled by the one and the same heatsink and I imagine that the GPU gets alot hotter than the memory, so there is a good chance (again according to my opinion) that the memory is actualy cooler than before. But I must say I have a good cooled system with more than adequate airflow.

I don't know if the GT and GTX have the same layout.

hope that helps

francois.lelievre · Post by **francois.lelievre** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:26 am

Mystr_Byrnz wrote: One thing I noticed while installing the Silencer, was the total lack of contact/pressure between the cooler and the RAM. It comes with these thick thermal pads that, one would think, provide protection from being dmged from pressure. But with the Cooler installed and the screws as tight as they'll go, there is barely any contact with the Ram on the Bottom side of the card(side with GPU). When I pulled the cooler off to switch back to my Zalman, the pads were barely indented, showing the lack of good contact. Should I be worried? I know I installed the thing right, because, well it's totally easy to install and would be very hard to mess up.

AC acknowledge the problem with the ram tape with the NV5 rev3 and thats why they backordered all the stock and the release date was reschedule and its being re-worked. ETA is Nov. 15

biodome · Post by **biodome** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:39 am

rich wrote:I recently was also unpleasantly confronted with the horrible noise coming from my XFX 7800GT card. I considered the zalman or the Silencer. But reviews on the noise were not convincing. At the end I decided to take a chance and buy the Thermalright V1. I know it is not suppose to be compatible, but it mounted without any problems (well the CPU cooler was in the way, but I found another solution for that problem).

I'm about to get an Albatron 7800GT "Super High" card soon, and i already know im not gonna like the noise.

I was very pleased when i saw the Thermalright cooling solution, but disappointed to find out it doesn't fit the 7800 family.
If as you say it might actually fit, i guess there's still hope, and im probably gonna try and get one of my own.

I don't really like the Zalman or AC solutions because you can't just fit 'em any fan you wish (well not easily anyhow).

I'll wait for my 7800GT to arrive first (tomorrow probably), and see how noisey it actually is.
I guess it won't be long till i order a V1 cooler as well..

rich, can you tell by the picture of the Albatron if it's similar in layout to your XFX card?

Tzeb · Post by **Tzeb** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:46 am

francois.lelievre wrote:AC acknowledge the problem with the ram tape with the NV5 rev3 and thats why they backordered all the stock and the release date was reschedule and its being re-worked. ETA is Nov. 15

Well, what was it? The "3 pin" or the "ram tape"? Coolguys says "Back in stock!" http://www.coolerguys.com/840556035411.html and it's not 15 nov yet. Have they fixed both problems or what we have here is just the ones with the 3 pin fix and from 15 nov ram tape is Ok too?

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 11:32 am

Tzeb wrote:Well, what was it? The "3 pin" or the "ram tape"? Coolguys says "Back in stock!" http://www.coolerguys.com/840556035411.html and it's not 15 nov yet. Have they fixed both problems or what we have here is just the ones with the 3 pin fix and from 15 nov ram tape is Ok too?

As always with Arctic Cooling the info on their site is somewhat confusing, in "News" it's stated that "The compatibility of the NV Silencer 5 in Rev.3 has been extended to NVIDIA's 7800 series VGA Boards. Available from October 15", however, on the NV Silencer 5 (rev.2) page there's a note that says "Rev.3: additionally compatible to 7800 series available from November 15" and if you go to "Compatibility" it's stated that "The NV Silencer 5 is basically compatible to the NVIDIA 7800 series boards except the power plug."