9800P silent cooling

[t73]

I want to replace my stock cooling with a quite one which enable me to OC as well.
There are few Passive models around and two AC active models which refer to silent.
My preferring would be passive unless performance differences are significant while the noice is not audible.


Which of the below do you recommend? (~by cost order)

1. AeroCool VM-101 fanless
2. VGA Silencer, Rev.3
3. ThermalTake CL-G0003 Fanless
4. AeroCool VM-102 fanless
5. Silencer 1 REV2
6. Thermaltake Schooner Fanless

Is there a better choice?

One more basic thing- Is the 9800 Pro OC worthy these days? I mean, will I gain noticeable performance?

Thanks
t73

 

[Dman877]

The Arctic Silencer 1 at the low fan setting is practically silent. That would be my recommendation. As to ocing a 9800 Pro, it will make a difference but mostly on older games. It's not like ocing a 9800 Pro to 420/400 (which seems to be a typical oc for those) is gonna let you crank up the AA or res in Fear .

 

[Elcs]

Id like to see you throw in the Zalman VF700Cu into that equation.

Mines running at 12v and I cant hear it over 2 x 120mm and 1 x 92mm Panaflo L1A's @ 7v and Seasonic S12 600W and its one of the best coolers on the market. I think its worth a look.

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: Elcs
Id like to see you throw in the Zalman VF700Cu into that equation.

Mines running at 12v and I cant hear it over 2 x 120mm and 1 x 92mm Panaflo L1A's @ 7v and Seasonic S12 600W and its one of the best coolers on the market. I think its worth a look.

I agree, the VF-700 is defiantly the best choice. For me it's a bit loud at 12v so if you are picky about noise run it at 5v.

 

[t73]

Well, yes, I am picky about noise...

The passive solutions I understand are bad choise so the fight is Silencer against Zalman 700cu?! Is there a comparison?

Dman877
To have no doubts, you are referring to the silencer 1,rev2 (#5 on my list) and not to the silencer rev3 (#2 on my list), right?

 

[Techno Pride]

get the Aerocool VM101 or 102, whichever is cheaper.

 

[t73]

How do the VM101/102 compared to the silencer?

In this review the reviewer mentioned the S1 rev2 is a bit louder than the stuck, I that so?? I want to lower the noise level not increasing it...

 

[letdown427]

might be worth getting a big decent passive heatsink, then mounting a nexus 120mm near it to get the best of both worlds.

 

[t73]

Been reading the SPCR review on the VGA silencer, does it really OC the same at low RPM setting? How do you describe its noise compared with 9800 Pro stock?

letdown427, thanks, it could be a great idea (passive with 5/7v Nexus), if I want to reach a similar OC level of the silencer which passive HS, what do you recommend and what should be the fan blow direction?
I must say that may doubts here is that this fan may disturb the air circulation in the case, but something has to go

 

[essasin]

I have had the artic cooling vga silencer for two years on my 9800pro without any problems and its really cheap at svc 10 bucks

 

[t73]

Is it quieter than stock?
Is there room to place memory HS, which do you recommend?

 

[Tiamat]

Zalman ZM-80D. I have no complaints. I run a Yateloon D12SL at 5V and it is inaudible (my samsung 160GB drive is louder than it)

I have an R350 core OC'd to 420core, 360mem no problem. Gave me about 7fps in 1920x1200 (38 fps average in CS:source).

OC was worth it - was the difference between nonplayable and playable.

 

[t73]

I think mine is R350 as well so - 9800 PRO 128MB 256bit
How do you place the fan, with the same orientation as of the opt fan?

 

[Jeff7]

I personally prefer the VGA Silencer Rev3 over the ATI Silencer, because the latter doesn't fit in my case.
I've got an Antec SLK3700AMB, with the internal hard drive cage completely filled - the ATI Silencer was something like a quarter inch too large - it hit two hard drives in the cage. I had to sell it and get a VGA Silencer Rev3 instead. It has served me well since late 2004, and continues to do so.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Tiamat
Zalman ZM-80D. I have no complaints. I run a Yateloon D12SL at 5V and it is inaudible (my samsung 160GB drive is louder than it)

I have an R350 core OC'd to 420core, 360mem no problem. Gave me about 7fps in 1920x1200 (38 fps average in CS:source).

OC was worth it - was the difference between nonplayable and playable.

Originally posted by: t73
I think mine is R350 as well so - 9800 PRO 128MB 256bit
How do you place the fan, with the same orientation as of the opt fan?

My Sapphire 128mb 256-bit 9800 Pro with Zalman VF700Cu at 12v will do 440/370 stable.

Im ripping my PC apart to install a Zalman HS on my NB, AcoustiPack Deluxe on my case and a few new cables.

 

[WobbleWobble]

The VGA Silencer Rev3 isn't a bad choice because it has a high speed and low speed toggle. The ATI Silencer doesn't, so it's more noisy. The Zalman heatpipes are a pain in the ass to put on compared to the Silencers and VF700.

If price is a concern, you'd probably find the VGA Silencer is cheaper. If you want to attempt overclocking and still want a quiet system, I'd go for the Zalman VF700.

That's an opinion from having had a Zalman heatpipe, VGA Silencer, NV Silencer (pretty much the same thing as an ATI Silencer) and the Zalman VF700.

There's a mod to flash your Pro into an XT. Adrian's Rojak Pot has a good guide on how to do so.

 

[Shadowknight]

For my x800 xt pe, I use the ZM80C, with an undervolted 92mm Nexus cooling it off. Quiet, cools great. Even a 9800 pro is going to need active cooling. Not much, but I wouldn't do it fanless. Killed a card that way

 

[t73]

So if I want max OCing then it is vf700 vs silencer, but is there room for mem HS in the Silencer? It is that all reviews showing the VF to be loud on 12V.

Maybe the TT schooner or VM-102 would work better than ZM-80D with a 120MM fan, but like the Silencer I do not know if there's room for MHS.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: t73
I think mine is R350 as well so - 9800 PRO 128MB 256bit
How do you place the fan, with the same orientation as of the opt fan?

Went to the hardware store and found screws that were long enough to bolt the fan into the Zm80D. Yes same way as the Optional fan. I had to machine the bolt heads down though so that it could fit inside the little rail.

If you want ultimate Quietness, ZM80D with Nexus 120 is very tough to beat at low voltage.

At this point in time, I would recommend the copper Zalman VF simply because it is way easier to install, and you can get away with running it on the low setting no problem with minimal noise. If you are extremely picky about the noise, you will have to get a passive solution and a 120mm fan known to be very quiet.

 

[ElFenix]

the vga silencer set to low speed is very quiet and provides perfectly reasonable airflow.

 

[t73]

Most of you vote here for vf700cu or the Silencer, and correct me if I'm wrong the VF should be slightly better for OC (using R350)?
Now since silent is a factor for me, there?s two more thing I need to know, first when using ATI Tool and changing fan speed to high, when gaming, to raise OC level, will this operation (changing OC levels frequently) harm GPU/Memory? Should I OC only when gaming? I'm lack of that basic knowledge. Second, how noisy the VF is on 12v, and is it quite as the Silencer on 5V?

I also read this review on the VM-102 which looks nice, unlike the passive Zalman it handles heat fanless. But they haven?t checked it w/fan. Do you think it can compete with VF or Silencer when a 120mm fan is connected or to forget about it??

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: t73
Most of you vote here for vf700cu or the Silencer, and correct me if I'm wrong the VF should be slightly better for OC (using R350)?
Now since silent is a factor for me, there?s two more thing I need to know, first when using ATI Tool and changing fan speed to high, when gaming, to raise OC level, will this operation (changing OC levels frequently) harm GPU/Memory? Should I OC only when gaming? I'm lack of that basic knowledge. Second, how noisy the VF is on 12v, and is it quite as the Silencer on 5V?

I also read this review on the VM-102 which looks nice, unlike the passive Zalman it handles heat fanless. But they haven?t checked it w/fan. Do you think it can compete with VF or Silencer when a 120mm fan is connected or to forget about it??

Which Silencer? VGA Silencer or ATI Silencer? The VGA Silencer can be noticably quieter than the ATI Silencer because it has a fan speed switch. Why they removed that from the ATI Silencer, I don't know.

 

[t73]

Originally posted by: WobbleWobble

Originally posted by: t73
Most of you vote here for vf700cu or the Silencer, and correct me if I'm wrong the VF should be slightly better for OC (using R350)?
Now since silent is a factor for me, there?s two more thing I need to know, first when using ATI Tool and changing fan speed to high, when gaming, to raise OC level, will this operation (changing OC levels frequently) harm GPU/Memory? Should I OC only when gaming? I'm lack of that basic knowledge. Second, how noisy the VF is on 12v, and is it quite as the Silencer on 5V?

I also read this review on the VM-102 which looks nice, unlike the passive Zalman it handles heat fanless. But they haven?t checked it w/fan. Do you think it can compete with VF or Silencer when a 120mm fan is connected or to forget about it??

Which Silencer? VGA Silencer or ATI Silencer? The VGA Silencer can be noticably quieter than the ATI Silencer because it has a fan speed switch. Why they removed that from the ATI Silencer, I don't know.

VGA Silencer since the performance difference is minimal while on the noise side is it preferable due to the reason you have point out.

Notice I had added this link below regarding my original quoted post.

Thanks.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Elcs
Id like to see you throw in the Zalman VF700Cu into that equation.

Mines running at 12v and I cant hear it over 2 x 120mm and 1 x 92mm Panaflo L1A's @ 7v and Seasonic S12 600W and its one of the best coolers on the market. I think its worth a look.

Now that I have all 4 fans hooked up to my Sunbeam, I have to change my comment. Its clearly audible at 12v.... but it seems ok at around 7-8v. Just over 7v seems to be the point at which it is audible over the rest of my system.

 

[l Xes l]

Zalman VF700Cu <- silent