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Aftermarket cooling and the GTO^2

S

Sunrise089

Senior member
As it appears to me, the biggest advantage the GTO^2 has over competing cards is its huge bang-for-the-buck quotient. Compared to a 7800gt the GTO^2 seems about $120 cheaper, but the cost of an aftermarket cooler for the GPU will definately cut into that advantage. For those who have unlocked and overclocked their cards to x850 xt-pe speeds, how many of you have used stock vs aftermarket coolers? What were your results? Dare I hope anyone tested before and after you upgraded the cooling? Finally, does the ATI silencer 5 fit this card? The site for it doesn't specifically mention the GTO or GTO^2. Thanks and hopefully I can understand this before what cards are left are either gone or marked up to Newegg levels.
 
Well, I got the GTO^2 for $200, and sold my X800XL for $190. I already bought a ATI Silencer for my X800XL, so I didn't exactly "buy" a cooler for the GTO. In speaking of price/performance, you can always argue that the next step up seems worthwile. However, there's always a certain price point some people refuse to cross. For me, that was $250, when I bought my X800XL when it came out. There's no way I'm going beyond that point ever again or even near it. As far as cooling goes, getting a aftermarket cooler might help with your overclock of GTO (the main point of the card). The stock GTO's heatsink is quite beefy. It has copper core with a decent fin, however it's still the flawed type of heatsink, where hot exhaust are blown back into the case instead of out. My GTO is running 540/1200 @ ~44*C idle and 63*C on load using the ATI Silencer, w/o ATI silencer, I would guess it would be good 5-10*C higher and perhaps less OC capability. Also, ATI Silencer is really quiet. Even @ 75% fan speed, I can barely hear it and my case is cooled by 120mm Stealth fan.
 
Any idea at to what the "safe" max temp for a gto2 is? Mine should be coming any day now and I'm seriously debating a zalman/silencer. I'm not too worried about the noise, but I would rather like getting it to xtpe speeds. :b
 
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