Cooling Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB

[Tiamat]

I believe i will need ramsinks. Which should I buy, they are kinda pricy...

I have seen:

Zalman ones (24$ for 2 kits)
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ram-21.html

Frozencpu ones (26$ for 2 kits)
http://www.frozencpu.com/cgi-bin/frozencpu/ram-19.html

Random OCZ ones on the frozencpu site,

Tweakmonster ones ($25)
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/twbgara16.html

Or I can make my own for free:
I have an old P2? Slot heatsink (Black aluminum). So far, the bottom is milled flat, and I've lapped a shiny
surface. Its a 2.5"x2.5"x.75" (lxwxh) piece. I can cut it into 3pinx3pin mini heatsinks and then thermal epoxy them onto my ramsinks. Will this work? Or is it worth the 25ish$ to buy professionally made stuff.

Thanks for additional thoughts.



I have a 9800Pro 256MB and the fan is very noisy.

What is the best method that I can obtain optimal cooling for possible OC of the card, but not have my ear drums tear due to the nasty whine of fans (or clicks for that matter).

I found these but am not sure which would suit me better:

Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3 (22$)
Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 3 (30$)

Aerocool VM-101 ($26)
Zalman ZM80D-HP (32$)

Any opinions?

 

[orion446]

Artic Cooling ATI Silencer 3, I use the Zalman and it is overly large and according to reviews I have read the ATI silencer 3 may be a better choice.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Im gonna buy a 9800Pro 256MB from microcenter today...

this is it: http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0172940

and I read that the fan is very noisy.

What is the best method that I can obtain optimal cooling for possible OC of the card, but not have my ear drums tear due to the nasty whine of fans (or clicks for that matter).

I found these but am not sure which would suit me better:

Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3 (22$)
Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 3 (30$)

Aerocool VM-101 ($26)
Zalman ZM80D-HP (32$)

Any opinions?
I dont know anything about the aerocool's performance, but it seems people like the zalman and the arctic cooling vga silencer...

How quiet is the rest of your system?

The stock fan isn't really that loud.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: Operandi

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Im gonna buy a 9800Pro 256MB from microcenter today...

this is it: http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0172940

and I read that the fan is very noisy.

What is the best method that I can obtain optimal cooling for possible OC of the card, but not have my ear drums tear due to the nasty whine of fans (or clicks for that matter).

I found these but am not sure which would suit me better:

Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3 (22$)
Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 3 (30$)

Aerocool VM-101 ($26)
Zalman ZM80D-HP (32$)

Any opinions?
I dont know anything about the aerocool's performance, but it seems people like the zalman and the arctic cooling vga silencer...

How quiet is the rest of your system?

The stock fan isn't really that loud.

I just hooked it up. Its loud

The second loudest is my Antec 480Blue PSU 80mm fan in the back. My 120mm fans are at 5 V, and my Panaflo92mm on cpu is at 7V.

So... rest of system is "reasonably quiet". My HDDs are suspended for no vibration noise.


OK, so one vote for Artic Cooling ATI Silencer 3. Any word on the Aerocool? I saw it at Microcenter and it was really lightweight. In my Superlanboy, it would line up decently with my 120mm exhaust to draw heat from it - however, im not sure if it will conflict with my Blue Zalman heatsink on my NB...

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Tiamat

Originally posted by: Operandi

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Im gonna buy a 9800Pro 256MB from microcenter today...

this is it: http://www.microcenter.com/sin...tml?product_id=0172940

and I read that the fan is very noisy.

What is the best method that I can obtain optimal cooling for possible OC of the card, but not have my ear drums tear due to the nasty whine of fans (or clicks for that matter).

I found these but am not sure which would suit me better:

Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3 (22$)
Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 3 (30$)

Aerocool VM-101 ($26)
Zalman ZM80D-HP (32$)

Any opinions?
I dont know anything about the aerocool's performance, but it seems people like the zalman and the arctic cooling vga silencer...

How quiet is the rest of your system?

The stock fan isn't really that loud.

I just hooked it up. Its loud

The second loudest is my Antec 480Blue PSU 80mm fan in the back. My 120mm fans are at 5 V, and my Panaflo92mm on cpu is at 7V.

So... rest of system is "reasonably quiet". My HDDs are suspended for no vibration noise.


OK, so one vote for Artic Cooling ATI Silencer 3. Any word on the Aerocool? I saw it at Microcenter and it was really lightweight. In my Superlanboy, it would line up decently with my 120mm exhaust to draw heat from it - however, im not sure if it will conflict with my Blue Zalman heatsink on my NB...

Ok, sounds like you have a very quiet system already so I can see where your coming from.

The Aerocool is a good passive cooler and if it would get good air flow from one of your 120mm fans I'd prolly go that way.

As far as Zalman goes I have the ZM80C-HP, esensualy the same thing, just with one heat pipe. The quality of the passive Zalman coolers is a amazing, and if your 120mm exhaust is relatively close you should be able to run with the ZM80D-HP passive as well.

 

[DTreadway3568]

I have the ZM80D-HP zalman cooler and I love it. The extra ramsinks really help for an overclock. I would recommend it to anyone. Depending on wich voltage you set the fan up on the zalman coolers ( if you get the optional fan) are not very loud. I have my card running at an impressive 450/750 overclock, in a warm room. I have a visiontek Xtasy 9800 pro 128 MB card. I love it. Just do not try the new thermaltake giant 3 cooler if you are worried about noise. I did a review on that and the little blower on the side of the heatsink is unbarable.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: DTreadway3568
I have the ZM80D-HP zalman cooler and I love it. The extra ramsinks really help for an overclock. I would recommend it to anyone. Depending on wich voltage you set the fan up on the zalman coolers ( if you get the optional fan) are not very loud. I have my card running at an impressive 450/750 overclock, in a warm room. I have a visiontek Xtasy 9800 pro 128 MB card. I love it. Just do not try the new thermaltake giant 3 cooler if you are worried about noise. I did a review on that and the little blower on the side of the heatsink is unbarable.

Mmm, ill consider it. Is the ZM80D-HP compatible with the 256MB version of the 9800pro? I know my card sticks out like an inch longer than normal 9800pros. Also, how difficult was the Zalman to install? I heard some horror stories a while ago that it was quite difficult.

 

[DTreadway3568]

The Zalman is quiet simple to install. Just don't feal to proud to read the instructions. As far as your other question, YES, it will work on the 256 MB versions of the card. All togeather with the RAM sinks I would say it took me about 30 minutes to put it all togeather and get it in my system.

 

[Engineer]

I'm using the Aerocool on a GF 5900XT card and it's great. Ran both 3DMark 2001 and 2003 for about a half hour and, while getting pretty hot, there were no complications. Sonata case with 120 mm fan. The heatsink is very close to the case fan.

System is MUCH quieter without the GF original fan. I love fanless!

Edit: I did have one problem. The 5900XT had ramsinks. There was no room for the heatpipes to go over the top of the card without cutting a "slot" in the ramsinks. I used a Dremel tool to cut a path through the ramsinks. Took about 15 minutes to cut the slot and install the Aerocool.

 

[Tiamat]

bump for ramsink question at the top of thread

 

[Engineer]

Cutting your own ramsinks will be just fine. Thermal Epoxy would do the trick. I would not spend the money on the other unless you just had a hole burning in your pocket.

 

[MegaWorks]

I have the Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev. 3 and this baby cools like a charm.