Gainward 7600GT

Exel · Post by **Exel** » Thu Jun 29, 2006 5:24 am

The Gainward card seems to be the only other 7600GT with non-reference cooler aside from the MSI NX7600GT. I only found one decent review of it on the net, and not so surprisingly the review didn't mention the cooler's loudness with a single word.

So does anyone know how effective the cooler is in actually cooling the card, and how its noise levels are compared to the nVidia reference cooler seen on most other fanned 7600GTs?

DrCR · Post by **DrCR** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 4:03 am

I have an MSI NX7600GT VT2D256E (like this).

I don't know how much of a spcr, quiet/silent geek you are, but to me my MSI cooler is loud. Two YL D12SL-12 @ 5v + Seasonic S12-430 is OK to me right now, to give you an idea of where I'm coming from, though that quiet/silent bug is starting to get active again. I'm thinking about watercooling my next rig...with the pump and radiator in another room...

So sure, go ahead and get the Gainward, a solid brand, but make sure you get a Zalman VF900 to go with it.

DrCR

___________

JVM · Post by **JVM** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 3:37 pm

Why even bother with a fanned version when you can have a fanless version like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125025

I have that card and it idles at 45C at room temperature of around 73F

burebista · Post by **burebista** » Tue Jul 04, 2006 11:14 pm

I can't tell you about 7600GT noise, but 7600GS is quieter than nVidia reference cooler. Anyway, for silence seekers cooling must be changed.
BTW a Gainward 7600GS with DDR3 and voltmods (Vgpu, Vdd) it's a very interesting option. Link in Romanian, but there are some pictures...

DrCR · Post by **DrCR** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:19 pm

If you want a turnkey solution, that Gainward JVM linked looks like a winner.

Exel · Post by **Exel** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:45 pm

I'm not exactly building a silent PC, just a quiet one. The case will be the P180 and while other coolers in the case will be silent I'm not expecting perfection from the VGA as long as it isn't disturbingly loud. I'm prepared to get an aftermarket cooler for it, but first I'd like to try with the quietest "stock" cooler available - since I have the choice.

JonV · Post by **JonV** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:33 am

But why not choose a stock cooler that happens to be fanless? That certainly guarantees silence, and I fail to see the downside.

Exel · Post by **Exel** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:25 am

JonV wrote:But why not choose a stock cooler that happens to be fanless? That certainly guarantees silence, and I fail to see the downside.

I find a cooler with a fan a better option for cooling performance if it is fairly quiet. Of course if none of the 7600GT coolers are quiet then a passive solution is better. But that's the reason I asked about the alternative non-stock coolers provided by at least MSI, Gainward and eVGA.

nina · Post by **nina** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 11:54 am

My XFX 7600GT XXX is silent at 25%, quiet at 40%, too loud at 100%.
But the 100% is only done with 3D gaming.
Putting a VF900 on it, will make it absolute quiet at all settings (I hope).

roadie · Post by **roadie** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 5:38 am

Leadtek do a 7600GT with a non reference cooler. However, it is probably cheaper to get the most inexpensive 7600GT and put an Accelero on it.

DrCR · Post by **DrCR** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 7:43 am

I doubt anyone at spcr would be happy with an Accelero...

$34 shipped from newegg for a VF900 is worth every cent in my opinion anyway.

nina · Post by **nina** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:11 pm

Well, I finally did the fan swap on the XFX 7600GT XXX (standard max overclocked), in fact very easy to do, I used arctic silver 5.
At 100% the zalman VF900 is louder than the XFX stock cooler.
At minimum setting of the fanmate (I guess 5V), it is inaudible in my case.
But temps are fantastic, at lowest settings and heavy gaming, I don't get over 48Â°C GPU core temp. Idle (2D) it's only 37Â°C GPU core.
The stock fan was idle 51Â°C, max 65Â°C.
I also tried without fanmate doing the settings with Rivatuner.
It worked fine, but when booting the fan went to 100%, till the drivers
were loaded. I don't like that, so I will continue with the VF900 with fanmate.
Conclusion : the stock fan on the XFX is doing a good job, ain't that loud, specially in combo with rivatuner. The VF900 is doing a better job, as temps are much lower with the same loudness. With the fanmate on minimum it still cools very well, but inaudible.

Exel · Post by **Exel** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 6:47 am

I was very interested in the non-stock Leadtek version of 7600GT but unfortunately it turned out that it is not available in Finland. I'm still lacking decent reviews mentioning the noise levels of the Gainward card so I'm currently leaning towards the passively cooled Asus EN7600GT.

DrCR · Post by **DrCR** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 8:37 am

Asus is a solid brand as well. Not sure the premium you're going to have to pay to get the passive version. May be cheaper just go for the normal Asus version and get a VF900.