Passive PowerColor SCS3 HD5750 Vs. SAPPHIRE Vapor-X HD5750

They make noise, too.

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pelpet
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Passive PowerColor SCS3 HD5750 Vs. SAPPHIRE Vapor-X HD5750

Post by pelpet » Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:02 am

Time to build a new, silent, fast and responsive PC for normal home use (Web/mail, watching movies, playing music, filesharing and maybe some occasional gaming). The computer should be always on but will idle most of the time.

Priorites:
1. Noise level when idle
2. Responsive windows/applications
3. Power comsumption when idle
4. Upgradebility
5. Price
6. Gaming performance
7. Fast booting


Component choice so far:

Antec Solo Chassis (P180 chassis ruled out - too large for computer cabinet)
Nexus Real Silent 120m PWM Chassis fan (to replace Tricool fan)
Nexus Value 430W PSU
Asrock P55 Extreme motherboard
Intel Core i5 Cpu
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 CPU Cooler
Corsair XMS3 DHX TwinX DDR3 PC12800/1600MHz CL9 2x2GB
Intel X25-M G2 80GB SSD Drive [OS/Cache/Programs disk]
LG GGC-H20L (Blu-ray /DVDR)
Deltaco UCR-114 (Memory card reader)


Seagate Barracuda 1,5 TB SATA ST31500341AS (Salvaged from current PC) [Media/large programs disk]
250 GB IDE (PATA) Disk (Salvaged from broken USB disk chassis)*
PCI 802.11b/g Wireless NIC (Passive, salvaged from current PC)
PCI Analog/DVB-T/FM radio card (Passive, salvaged from current PC)
HP Personal media Drive (Salvaged from current PC)*

* Will mostly be powered down


The choice left to make is graphics card. It has boiled down to PowerColor SCS3 HD5750 and SAPPHIRE Vapor-X HD5750

Price is almost the same for the cards. The Sapphire card should be able to push better performance and I guess I could also overclock it if I would need more performance, but the noise level is my primary concern.

Since the Powercolor is passive, it should be inaudible, but on the other hand it will generate more heat inside the chassis, thus requireing the chassis fan to increase speed (and noise). The Sapphire card's active cooling on the other hand will produce more noise, but it will also exhaust hot air from the chassis by itself. Passive card plus another Nexus fan is also an option.


Which card would you choose, and why? (other comments on this build are also welcome).

pelpet
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Links to product specifications

Post by pelpet » Sun Nov 15, 2009 5:12 am


~El~Jefe~
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Post by ~El~Jefe~ » Sun Nov 15, 2009 8:21 am

the vaporx is by FAR

by far

The best card. It actually uses higher quality components on it to reduce wattage. It overclocks like a champ too. It even has a little bump in speed over reference as its standard. Too bad no one seemed to sell it when I was buying as I might have just gone for that vs this xfx 5770 that I have now

It isnt available in the US of f'in A

However, that passive card is sweet. It just doesnt have the jazz of a vaporx board. The board is different, this is the first non reference BOARD. I hate how no one has made a non reference board for the 5770 yet. Realistically, you will have the same heat in the system from either setup. None evacuate themselves. You can spin down the fan on the vaporx card.

Personally? I would buy the vaporx and then get a passive heatsink. reason is that the board runs cooler than other 5750's. I would use the vaporx for its board vs its great cooler. That is being very obsessive, but I am that way. I like to watercool, so I try and get better vrm's and power management as they arent air cooled after I rip off the fans.

pelpet
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How quiet is quiet

Post by pelpet » Sun Nov 15, 2009 2:51 pm

Here is the manual link for the vapor-x card. Here is also a video review from motherboards.org. According to the review, operation noise should be <25 db.

Hightech Legion says:"The fan noise generated by the Vapor-X heatsinks were quiet, even though they ran at higher speeds, and at times, almost inaudible from less than 10 feet away."

pelpet
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Post by pelpet » Sun Nov 15, 2009 3:38 pm

The problem expressed in terms of dBa of non-passive components. The GPU should preferrably stay under 21 dBa in idle.

Idle/ Full Load [Component]

11 dBA/19 dBA [Nexus Value 430]
12,6 dBa/19,8 dBa [Noctua NH-U12P SE2]
15,5 dBa/26,9 dBa [Nexus Real Silent 120mm PWM]
<19 dBa/21 dBa [Nexus Real Silent 92mm]

(unknown)/<25 dBa [Sapphire 5750 Vapor-X]

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:05 pm

I am weighing the same issues.

In my case upgrading from a 7600GT with ZM80.

However I am leaning towards the Sapphire for quality reasons. I suppose some additional fan noise is a price I'll have to pay.....

pelpet
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Powercolor idle power consumption

Post by pelpet » Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:25 am

This thread discusses power consumption problems with Powercolor cards. I problems discussed the Powercolor card with active cooling but are there any differance between the card on the SCS3 and card on other Powercolor 5750:s? Even if the SCS3 has passive cooling, that could be 17 extra watts to blow out of the box and pay for on the electric bill.

The ability to use lower the fan speed with CCC will probably lower the fan noise too, but how much under 25 dBa? That's an open question.

With overclocking-friendly components like the Core i5, the Vapor-X card and the P55 Extreme motherboard combined with silent + effective coolers (Noctua + Vapor-X cooler + an extra 92mm case fan) this machine would be very dynamic.

I am currently leaning towards the Sapphire card.

Cistron
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Post by Cistron » Wed Nov 18, 2009 7:49 am

If it helps, I have the HD3870 version of the PowerColor card. According to the CCC it underclocks and temperatures are very low indeed with a fan blowing onto it from the front (~35°C idle, ~65°C at load). The cooler design is different though, as fins are on both sides of the PCB.

I doubt that minor performance differences between makers should be of concern. Anything less than a 10% increase will hardly be noticable.

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Sat Nov 21, 2009 6:01 pm

I ended up deciding on the Sapphire HD 5750 card from Newegg. I will run it with stock cooler at first. It looks to me like the SCS3 card is using the Arctic Cooling S1. Perhaps in a few weeks I will order that and equip with the "turbo cooling" fans.

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Mon Nov 30, 2009 4:27 pm

Just received my Sapphire Vapor-X 5750.

Overall I'm impressed.

Pros:
Delivers on performance versus 7600GT

Cons:
Fan is audible but pretty quiet.
Curiously the video connectors are unlabelled (no 1 or 2)
ATI driver weirdness (9.11 CCC sometimes uses 50% CPU until I kill it?)

I have a pretty quiet system, and with the cover off the "growl" of the Sapphire cooling at idle was noticably louder than anything else in the system. Perhaps it would be better described as a rattle noise.

But with cover back on and system under my desk the difference compared to prior passive-7600GT setup is hardly noticeable to me.

I haven't noticed the fan noise ramping up when playing L4D 2 for about 15 minutes.

On balance I'm pleased with card, keeping it the way it is for now, shop for a passive mod to it down the road.
Last edited by vincentfox on Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

Parappaman
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Post by Parappaman » Tue Dec 01, 2009 1:12 am

I would rather recommend you to take some time and explore BIOS fan settings: you're likely to go down a LOT with the fan speed without sacrificing much in temperatures. Still, you would retain the flexibility to overclock the card to levels unarchivable by passive coolers.

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Tue Dec 01, 2009 8:58 am

I played around with CCC fan-settings.

If I set it to manual, and start cranking up the speeds the 100% is certainly quite loud!

The default automatic settings seems to run it at 40% which is not loud, but is noticably louder to me than the Antec Solo chassis fan is on low setting.

If I manually set it to lowest setting of 20% it is very quiet and indistinguishable from the chassis fan, and temp is at 36C just in 2D desktop.

Will have to do some testing with games. Too bad I cannot see a way to keep "automatic" mode for fan control but tune it so that the low-end is shifted down to 20% RPM.

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Tue Dec 01, 2009 12:20 pm

Parappaman wrote:I would rather recommend you to take some time and explore BIOS fan settings:
What do you mean by "BIOS fan settings"?

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Wed Dec 02, 2009 11:58 am

Ah I see.

I found Radeon Bios Editor (RBE) but it doesn't seem to support 5750 as yet.

I have noticed the Sapphire spinning the fan a bit faster and the noise ramping up after playing L4D2 at 1680x1050 with all settings maxed for a while. Tolerable but does need improvement IMO.

DarkKnight
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Post by DarkKnight » Wed Dec 02, 2009 1:49 pm

Hi,

Just wondering how easy it is to change the heatsink and fan on a 5750 Vapor-X.

I assume the whole Vapor-X concept is thrown out if the Sapphire Heatsink is changed ?

Or can the Vapour cooling chamber still be used along side my own sourced heatink and fan ?

Keep the 5750 feedback coming... It's all useful

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:08 pm

Well I suppose one thing you could do to make use of existing Vapor-X heatsink is just take something like old Zalman FB123 and bend it. Have the large fan at low RPM blowing over the card and just disable the existing fan.

_MarcoM_
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Post by _MarcoM_ » Thu Dec 03, 2009 7:09 am

Nice thread. My rig is similaro to your, vincentfox, so if vapor-x work for you, it will work for me i hope :)

What's your fans configuration?

vincentfox
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Post by vincentfox » Thu Dec 03, 2009 8:48 am

_MarcoM_ wrote: What's your fans configuration?
I only have 2 fans. The Corsair PSU fan is fairly quiet. And the Antec Solo chassis fan which is pulling air over the Ninja on the CPU. Chassis fan is the one provided with the case and has that 3-position switch that dangles out of the rear of the case. Unless it's dead of summer and very warm in the house I leave it on lowest setting.

With the Sapphire at 40% and the system under my desk yes this card raised my "noise floor" but it's not intolerable to me. I would like to improve it but it can wait a few months unless I get bored.

_MarcoM_
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Post by _MarcoM_ » Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:41 pm

Today my shiny new Sapphire 5750 Vapor-X is arrived, it work, but the fan is fixed at 40%, no way to change the speed setting with catalyst 9.12 and 10.1 under Win7 HP 64bit.

Temperatures are ok, gaming is ok, too. But the fan setting don't work. Suggestions?

Dr. Jim Pomatter
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Replace the fan, keep the heatsink?

Post by Dr. Jim Pomatter » Thu Feb 04, 2010 5:22 pm

_MarcoM_ wrote:Today my shiny new Sapphire 5750 Vapor-X is arrived, it work, but the fan is fixed at 40%, no way to change the speed setting with catalyst 9.12 and 10.1 under Win7 HP 64bit.

Temperatures are ok, gaming is ok, too. But the fan setting don't work. Suggestions?
The fastest thing to do is to take the fan off...

You should be able to get away with this, as Saphire put the fan on from the top of the card. They did not attach the fan from the back/bottom of the heat-sink -- forcing disassembly. Removing the fan has one big downside, as your card will die in 2-20 minutes of gaming.

As that is not likely to be an OK option in your eyes, perhaps you can add a new fan without voiding your warranty with Saphire.

You can remove the old fan by loosening the screws that you can see between the fan blades in the following image/pages.

Image
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/sapphire_r ... index5.php
http://www.techpowerup.com/106903/Sapph ... tured.html

Scythe makes the "Stay" and it comes with a single thin 120mm fan that is silent at the bottom-end of the included rheostat (800-1000 rpm). I bet if you centred that fan over the spiral bifurcated-fin heat-sink on the Saphire HD 5750 Vapor-X, you would be able to cool the card.



Image
http://www.pctoys.com/840556090793.html

Image
Image


This guy on the boards bought one, but never installed it.
viewtopic.php?t=55531
profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1658

kater
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Post by kater » Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:03 am

_MarcoM_ wrote:Today my shiny new Sapphire 5750 Vapor-X is arrived, it work, but the fan is fixed at 40%, no way to change the speed setting with catalyst 9.12 and 10.1 under Win7 HP 64bit.

Temperatures are ok, gaming is ok, too. But the fan setting don't work. Suggestions?
Have you tried RivaTuner or, better yet, MSI Afterburner? At least one of them should do the trick.

TrekNW
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enable manual fan control in ATI overdrive

Post by TrekNW » Wed Feb 10, 2010 10:53 pm

_MarcoM_ wrote:Today my shiny new Sapphire 5750 Vapor-X is arrived, it work, but the fan is fixed at 40%, no way to change the speed setting with catalyst 9.12 and 10.1 under Win7 HP 64bit.

Temperatures are ok, gaming is ok, too. But the fan setting don't work. Suggestions?
Marco,
In Catalyst Control Center (CCC), open the ATI overdrive tab, and click on the padlock on the top left corner. This will "unlock" the automatic fan speed setting and enable manual fan control. Set it to 20% and select "Apply"

I leave mine on 20% all the time and haven't seen temps over 60 deg yet.

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