best/quietest cooler for X1800XT

martin2006

after 2 days ive had enough of the noise already lol..

i like the look of the arctic silencer series as they exhaust the heat out of the case

but i've also heard good things about zalman coolers, to me tho they look really small plus the fan just works in the hot case.

anyone got any recommendations on whats best.

03-27-2006, 15:51 | posts: n/a | User is

Well, yes i would have to agree, the fan on this thing was about as quiet as a lawnmower! But seriously you could mount the Zalman vf700u on it and that should do the trick. Or you could go the other rout and water cool it.

foey · 03-27-2006, 16:18 | posts: 31 | Location: Essex | User is Offline

Im thinking about doing the same,

Although do your X1800XT Fans spin up on full speed like when you turn the PC on?

Mine never seems to go above a mid range hum and ive got a pretty quiet rig.

03-27-2006, 16:27 | posts: n/a | User is

Well, it didn't go to 100% under normal operating conditions, but still even at it's normal 56% duty cycle it was still pretty loud. And that's to say nothing of when you OC the card and force a higher fan speed, and that is where it became intollerable, now with water cooling, everything is silent. I had the zalman on it before I put the water cooling on it, but I decided that I wanted to really push the boundaries of this card with some more OC'ing, currently I've got it to 790/1820, and am awating a version of ATT or Riva Tuner that offers full support so I can really see what this thing is made of......

kwak

wait a bit untill you can find the vf-900, it seems to beat all the other coolers around, except for modded cpu coolers of course.

martin2006 · 03-27-2006, 23:41 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

and they remove heat fine do they? even though the fan just works in the case..

looks a nice cooler anyway, i'll wait till i can find one in stock somewhere

martin2006 · 03-27-2006, 23:56 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

okay i've found a plcae with them in stock

i just have a question regarding the fan mate 2 controller for anyone who has one.. do i have to use the controller or can i just plug the fan directly into the graphics card like the stock one is.

double_cut · 03-28-2006, 00:21 | posts: 2,150 | User is Offline

I must admit the stock fan hasnt been too bad for me as yet. I did force 100% on the fan from Rivatuner, but in games it never gets much past 35% even while in the high 70's. I think I will swap it out for a Zalman jobbie art some point still, ever since I got the Fatal1ty cpu cooler iv been *very* impressed with their products.

raging_dragon · 03-28-2006, 01:24 | posts: 441 | Location: UK | User is Offline

The fan header for the Zalman is the 3 pin one which is the same as the one on a CPU fan.

martin2006 · 03-28-2006, 02:57 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

oh, well i dont know how many of those i have on my MB, i better open it up and have a look

martin2006 · 03-28-2006, 04:17 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

i had a look in my pc and i only have one 3 pin plug for the fan to connect to.

shown here

i could well have missed one i dont know tho, my MB is a msi RS480m2

does the zalman one piggy back it or is it possible to run from a molex as i have plenty spare.

if someone could give me a hand in the next 2 hours id be really grateful as i need to order before 3.30 for next day shipping.

foey · 03-28-2006, 06:23 | posts: 31 | Location: Essex | User is Offline

Anyone changed there stock cooler on their X1800XT/1900XT ???

If so you got any pics?

martin2006 · *Last edited by martin2006; 03-28-2006 at 06:38.*

ordered this its is coming tomorrow morning,

i'll take a load of pics and let you know.

looks pretty sweet from the official pics anyway

double_cut · 03-28-2006, 06:56 | posts: 2,150 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by martin2006

ordered this its is coming tomorrow morning,

i'll take a load of pics and let you know.

looks pretty sweet from the official pics anyway

Now that looks sweet! Please do report back with feedback and pics, im thinking one of these badboys might be on my shopping list too.

03-28-2006, 09:03 | posts: n/a | User is

Hey DC, so how do you like your new card?

double_cut · 03-28-2006, 09:28 | posts: 2,150 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by CraptacularOne

Hey DC, so how do you like your new card?

Bloody happy tbh.

The only game Im not seeing a decent improvement in is COD2, it almost seems slower then the 7800GS/P4 combo. I need to do a bit more playing around with it I think, prolly my fault.

Im loving the HQ AF mode, AVIVO does a good job of replacing Digital Vibrance (one of the reasons I went with the 7800GS in my main over the X800) and video playback is still excellent. I have never seen FEAR run so fast, simple as. NFS MW runs very well, although I still get the shadow bug. Oblivion looks great and runs very well and that is one demanding game. The benchies are a mixed bag, 9.2k in 3D Mark 2005, nearly 17k in 2003, and just over 4k in 2006. Aquamark just wont complete, runs all the way through then bails before the score comes up, but I dont think ~80k is expecting too much. Overclocks to 690/800 (thats what the benchies were at iirc) without issue and thats the limit of the Overdrive software.

Overall im very, very pleased.

03-28-2006, 09:54 | posts: n/a | User is

Quote:

Originally Posted by double_cut

Bloody happy tbh.

The only game Im not seeing a decent improvement in is COD2, it almost seems slower then the 7800GS/P4 combo. I need to do a bit more playing around with it I think, prolly my fault.

Im loving the HQ AF mode, AVIVO does a good job of replacing Digital Vibrance (one of the reasons I went with the 7800GS in my main over the X800) and video playback is still excellent. I have never seen FEAR run so fast, simple as. NFS MW runs very well, although I still get the shadow bug. Oblivion looks great and runs very well and that is one demanding game. The benchies are a mixed bag, 9.2k in 3D Mark 2005, nearly 17k in 2003, and just over 4k in 2006. Aquamark just wont complete, runs all the way through then bails before the score comes up, but I dont think ~80k is expecting too much. Overclocks to 690/800 (thats what the benchies were at iirc) without issue and thats the limit of the Overdrive software.

Overall im very, very pleased.

When I had my X1800XT, I could clock the thing to 725/1700 and get pretty close to 10k! Don't use CCC man it's garbage! Use the "overclocker.exe" tool to set the clocks with this thing, just remember to TYPE the clocks you want instead of using the up and down arrows in the 3D clocks tab.

hkcadcam · 03-29-2006, 05:18 | posts: 85 | User is Offline

I just reviewed and tested VF900 on X1900XT yesterday. The cooler is very nice and well engineered.
but... the result is not so good, Max temp 75C in 3D marks06 recorded by riva tuner...
While the Accelero X2 is 65-66C, (Update:ATI Stock Cooler 69-70C)
I would do the test again becasue I don't want to believe this is the real performance of VF900Cu. hope that it is just the quality problem only. Becasue the GPU/copper base contact is perfect, it connected to the motherboard 3pin fan sockect directly, the motherboard monitioring software shown the fan speed is 2650RPM.
So, I cannot post the review result yet, otherwise I will receive a lot of emails from readers....
If anyone in here had done similar test by use of same method but got a better result, please reply to me, then I will send it back to zalman and get a new one for test. thx~

http://forums.guru3d.com/attachment....5&d=1143597753
http://forums.guru3d.com/attachment....6&d=1143597753
http://forums.guru3d.com/attachment....7&d=1143597753
http://forums.guru3d.com/attachment....8&d=1143597777

martin2006 · 03-29-2006, 11:13 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

mine came today, but the fan was catching on the fins so i must wait till friday for the replacement. i'll be sure to post my findings. The cards are not that different so it should be a similar test.

i hope its not like you found though, otherwise i have wasted my money as thats no better than stock

hkcadcam · 03-29-2006, 17:06 | posts: 85 | User is Offline

Thx! martin~ The re-tested result is almost the same.....
I was comparing those coolers at full speed of fan using Rivatuner V2 rc15.8 fan control and run 3D marks 2006 to determine the max temp in the saved temp monitoring chart.
You can try the ATI stock hair dryer(damn.more than 5000RPM, its killing my ear) to see the max temperature of X1800XT first and then compare with my result~
I'm also analysing the problem, the first finding is VF900Cu has 2 copper pipes and AcceleroX2 has 3 copper pipes.... Is that more copper pipes can cool the GPU faster and even better than pure copper like VF700Cu?
I think I need to go back to university library to check the thermal book to get the answer some day... sooner or later...

martin2006 · 03-30-2006, 00:57 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

ive took the temp of the card and surrounding area just after start up, after idling for an hour and then right after a 3d mark 06 run. so it should give me a good comparison

hkcadcam · 03-30-2006, 01:37 | posts: 85 | User is Offline

Hey, martin, here is the VF900CU temp log file recorded by Riva tuner, it is for your reference and comparsion.
you can see that the fan speed is 0rpm, becasue it connected to the motherboard but not the VGA card.

double_cut · 03-30-2006, 02:02 | posts: 2,150 | User is Offline

Im tempted to go for the Zalman FS-V7 Fatal1ty instead tbh. That looks badass.

Hinryu · 03-30-2006, 04:59 | posts: 290 | Location: London | User is Offline

get some good cooling on your stock by lapping it, when I turn the comp on it idles at about 37c for awhilebut the contact just isnt very good on my heatsink, so after awhile it messes up.

martin2006 · 03-31-2006, 07:38 | posts: 724 | Location: solihull, GB | User is Offline

finally got one that isnt broken today, fitted it fine

at stock cooling a 3d mark 06 run gave a core temp of: 77.13 and an ambient temp of 6106.

with the zalman i get 69 after 3d mark and 53.06 ambient after 3d mark. So it is making a difference.

i have also added a fan to the side to extract air, and run it at 5v as seen here

but those runs are without the fan as it wouldnt be a fair test otherwise