So How High Dare One Go?

krille · Post by **krille** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:30 am

How high-end dare one go while still cooling the card quietly using an Arctic-Cooling Accelero S1 with a low-rpm 120mm fan? In a P182B with a low-rpm exhaust fan and a low-rpm fan on the CPU heatsink?

HD 4850, GTX 260, HD 4870 or GTX 280? Or nah, GTX 280 is a bit too expensive. The HD 4850 is dirt cheap however, the HD 4870 is acceptable value too while the GTX 260 is slightly more expensive (but still within budget). The only reason to go GTX 260 over HD 4870 would be the extra memory I guess (and I think it draws slightly less juice too). I fear 512MB may be a bit low for 1920x1200 (my future resolution). I heard 1GB ATI cards are coming, but they'll only be GDDR3 though (AFAIK) and I'm not sure that trade-off is worth it (is it?).

I highly doubt I'll go SLI/CF. It's for an E8400/P45 setup.

Anyway, the 4850 draws about as much as a 9800GTX. GTX 260 more, HD 4870 even more and GTX 280 substantially more. How high dare one go?

I'm completely lost here. I want maximum gaming performance while still maintaining audial peace in the room.

Thanks.

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:01 am

I was asking myself a similar question.

My spec is in my Sig, and i was thinking about getting an HD4850 and running it with an S1 passively withougt adding another case fan, or speeding up my casefan.

I think that it can be done with the 4850, but maybe not anything hotter.! does anyone have any first hand experience with an ultra low airlow/hot graphics card setup.

I'm not sure of the overall setup used by hardwarecannucks, but a passive S1 looks possible - but at what airflow, and where.?

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... ew-24.html

Andy

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 5:31 pm

The SPCR review showed that with a slow 120mm fan, the S1 could happily cool even a 125-watt x1950XTX. A much bigger concern is that with no rear exhaust, the card will still be dumping 125 watts inside your case, which your case fans will have to deal with.

lemonparty · Post by **lemonparty** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:20 am

With a 120mm fan it can cool anything it fits on (which physically excludes nVidia 260/280 and GX2 cards). On an Ati HD4850 works great, way lower temperatures than stock even at passive, and HD4870 would also be just fine.

krille · Post by **krille** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 12:59 am

So I can get a 4870 while still cooling it quietly? Because that'd be great.

Now the next question is of course: Buy 512 MB version now or wait for 1024 MB? Will there be a 1024 MB GDDR5 version? Or will it be limited to GDDR3 (which is much slower)?

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 9:29 am

Well if you want to wait a week I can tell you my results with the 4850 I have just ordered (an S1 to go with as well).

Andy

krille · Post by **krille** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 11:31 am

andyb wrote:Well if you want to wait a week I can tell you my results with the 4850 I have just ordered (an S1 to go with as well).

Andy

I just might.

On a side note, I wonder why people are so nice over here? That's a really nice thing.

FartingBob · Post by **FartingBob** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 1:08 pm

krille wrote:
On a side note, I wonder why people are so nice over here? That's a really nice thing.

Because we can all hear ourselves think, unlike Thermaltake users.

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Fri Jul 04, 2008 3:59 pm

krille wrote:On a side note, I wonder why people are so nice over here? That's a really nice thing.

Most of us are from Sweden, that's why.

Aelek · Post by **Aelek** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:08 am

the correct question should be:

Why are there so many other places where the people are so unfriendly

Nobody asks a question only to be noobed, STFUn-and-RTFM and all those other really helpful asnwers you get everywhere.

@andy
looking forward to your post-operation report.

thinking of upgrading to a passive 4870 myself in my coming build

Wibla · Post by **Wibla** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:36 am

I'm going for a HD4850 with a HR-03GT, passive... will be much the same as my current rig (7950GT with HR-03)

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:05 pm

Still looks like my stuff wont turn up until thursday, I will assemble and test the card actually works whislt at work, and then bring it home to test in a much quieter environment. 8-10pm GMT.

Andy

krille · Post by **krille** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 3:54 pm

Got any update for us, Andy?

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 5:36 pm

Sorry guys and girls, it seems that SPCR's forums dont include "Article Discussions" forum entries under the "SPCR Forums" section which includes all of the latest forum posts (except for these ones).

Here is a load of info, including the slightly bumpy ride I have encountered along the way, and something that I hadent read in any reviews before about the original HD4850 cooler as well. Enjoy

viewtopic.php?t=49003&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

Andy

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:45 am

Useful stuff here from "mkk".

viewtopic.php?p=422139#422139

Andy

Tzupy · Post by **Tzupy** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:30 am

@Wibla: IMO with the passive HR-03GT on the 4850 you are going to fry the card.
The 4850 draws almost double the power of your 7950GT. People with AC S1 on 4850 found it difficult to run passive.
And the AC S1 is much better in passive mode than the TR HR-03GT. If you can set up a fan to blow on the HR-03GT, it would do better though.