Artic Cooling NV Silencer: An Amazing Cooler!

[Ketchup]

It seems that it is rare to find an item that works as advertised, but my new NV Silencer is just what I have been looking for: It's not expensive, it is quiet, it has some amazing cooling capacity, and all the heat from the card goes directly outside the case.

In fact, I don't even think my 6800NU is working it hard. Yesterday, out of curiousity, I unplugged the fan on my Silencer. I then fired up some BF2, and checked my temps mid-game. The card was reading 99 C. So I plugged the fan back in, gave the card a couple minutes to cool down, and started BF2 again. Checking temps this time revealed 51 C, and that's with my card overclocked and pipes unlocked!

I just wanted to give a little plug for an item that actually works well, since usually the forums are full of items that do not.

 

[JSLIM]

I was planning on getting one for my ATI, but didn't want to void my warranty on it. Damn thing gets pretty loud at times.

 

[Mrvile]

Nah, water ownz j00 guys 😉

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Nah, water ownz j00 guys 😉

Agreed. 😀

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Nah, water ownz j00 guys 😉

Agreed. 😀

True, BUT,

Silencer = $20-$30

Water Cooling = $160+

When looked at from all aspects, including cost and ease of installation, I think the Silencer is still better, unless you already have a water cooling system. Plus, if you on a 6800, the batch you get seems to have more to do with overclockability than the temps you can run it at.

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

Arctic Cooling makes some fine products. I have never used one of their vid card coolers, but I love the Freezer 64 for my NewCastle, and their case fans are nice too.

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: ketchup79

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Nah, water ownz j00 guys 😉

Agreed. 😀

True, BUT,

Silencer = $20-$30

Water Cooling = $160+

When looked at from all aspects, including cost and ease of installation, I think the Silencer is still better, unless you already have a water cooling system. Plus, if you on a 6800, the batch you get seems to have more to do with overclockability than the temps you can run it at.

Plus, water cooling does NOTHING for your video memory. For my Gainward, that would make it even worse than stock cooling in that respect.

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: ketchup79

Originally posted by: ketchup79

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Nah, water ownz j00 guys 😉

Agreed. 😀

True, BUT,

Silencer = $20-$30

Water Cooling = $160+

When looked at from all aspects, including cost and ease of installation, I think the Silencer is still better, unless you already have a water cooling system. Plus, if you on a 6800, the batch you get seems to have more to do with overclockability than the temps you can run it at.

Plus, water cooling does NOTHING for your video memory. For my Gainward, that would make it even worse than stock cooling in that respect.

Watercooling = 40$ waterblock
You can get waterblocks which flow water over the ram too..

 

[screw3d]

Anyone dealt with their support? I think I have emailed them twice and I haven't received any reply so far. My VGA Silencer on my 9700 Pro was making this really annoying noise and I can't seem to get a hold on anyone to replace it.. :/

 

[Banzai042]

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: ketchup79

Originally posted by: ketchup79

Originally posted by: Kensai

Originally posted by: Mrvile
Nah, water ownz j00 guys 😉

Agreed. 😀

True, BUT,

Silencer = $20-$30

Water Cooling = $160+

When looked at from all aspects, including cost and ease of installation, I think the Silencer is still better, unless you already have a water cooling system. Plus, if you on a 6800, the batch you get seems to have more to do with overclockability than the temps you can run it at.

Plus, water cooling does NOTHING for your video memory. For my Gainward, that would make it even worse than stock cooling in that respect.

Watercooling = 40$ waterblock
You can get waterblocks which flow water over the ram too..

Like this one here, sure it's expensive, but it covers all of the ram as well.

 

[Fistandantilis]

I have had both the NV silencer and the zalman vf700, the silencer did its job and did it well but it took me forever to fit it on my 6800gt, the zalman was super simple to install and it keeps my card a bit cooler, here are the results from my trials and tribulations

stock
~60 idle
~70-80 load

Silencer
~52 idle
~60-65 load

zalman
~46-48 idle
~55-58 load

My coolbits autodetect for overclocking went as follows

stock
core ~375
ram ~1.02

Silencer
core ~390
ram ~1.02

Zalman
core ~410
ram ~1.13

On the core I would go higher, ~420 with all cooling options but the ram I would not get any play...exept with the zalman, I can safely go a bit higher without artifacts.
The one thing that I was worried about with the zalman was the ambient temps, as the zalman just disapates the heat directly in your case but to my amazement my ambient temps are lower with it they are ~33-38.
I have heard and participated in mny threads on a few other forums and the zalman has been revered as the king...and I concure. It is just better than the Silencer, not only in its cooling ability but in the instalation too.
I am glad to hear that you got such a deal with yours, I wish I did but like I said it took forever and well I am glad to be a proud owner of the zalman.

 

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: Fistandantilis
I have had both the NV silencer and the zalman vf700, the silencer did its job and did it well but it took me forever to fit it on my 6800gt, the zalman was super simple to install and it keeps my card a bit cooler, here are the results from my trials and tribulations

stock
~60 idle
~70-80 load

Silencer
~52 idle
~60-65 load

zalman
~46-48 idle
~55-58 load

My coolbits autodetect for overclocking went as follows

stock
core ~375
ram ~1.02

Silencer
core ~390
ram ~1.02

Zalman
core ~410
ram ~1.13

On the core I would go higher, ~420 with all cooling options but the ram I would not get any play...exept with the zalman, I can safely go a bit higher without artifacts.
The one thing that I was worried about with the zalman was the ambient temps, as the zalman just disapates the heat directly in your case but to my amazement my ambient temps are lower with it they are ~33-38.
I have heard and participated in mny threads on a few other forums and the zalman has been revered as the king...and I concure. It is just better than the Silencer, not only in its cooling ability but in the instalation too.
I am glad to hear that you got such a deal with yours, I wish I did but like I said it took forever and well I am glad to be a proud owner of the zalman.

That's great about the Zalman. It is a good cooler as well. You know, every system is different. I get the same temps with my AC as you do with the Zalman, even though I have a 6800 NU that is fully unlocked running at 380/800.

If I ever go water cooling, I will go with it for the video card as well. If you do not have a water cooling setup already, it will cost you more than the price of a water block, Kensai, which was the point I was trying to make.

 

[Fistandantilis]

when I do my next build I will be looking into watercooling and alot of modding, right now though the zalman is doing me some great justice! I am finally happy. all my freids get on my case about me attention to the temps and stuff but I just cant help it.

 

[DJSfurry]

This may be different for the ATi line (versus the Zalman) as ATi has ram on both sides of the card and so the heat is spread on a larger surface, whereas on NV cards the ram is always (im guessing?) on the same side as the core which means with a NV Silencer, theres a lot more heat going into that heatsink. my ATi silencer i just got works amazingly and the backplate for the ram is HUGE. im happy so far. 🙂

 

[CraigRT]

I'm a fan of the AC silencers too. I had a Rev1 NV5 on my 6800GT, it was great.

 

[Spike]

I have used both the VF700cu and the NV silencer 5 and found both to be very good coolers. Like the poster above, the VF700cu does cool a bit better which is why I currently use it on my 6800GT @ 400/1100. My load temps now hit around 62c while they were at ~64 c before.

I plan to put the silencer back on my 6800GT when I get a 7800GTX and see if the VF700cu will work on that as well.

-spike

 

[imported_i2k]

I have the ATI silencer 4, also to the guy who mentioned it voids warranty.. i recently swapped my card for another (RMA) and just put the old hsf back on, they didnt care..(know) 😉

 

[Slickone]

Check your fan often. Several people on here have said their Silencer fan crapped out fairly quickly.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: i2k
I have the ATI silencer 4, also to the guy who mentioned it voids warranty.. i recently swapped my card for another (RMA) and just put the old hsf back on, they didnt care..(know) 😉

Um, but that would be illegal regardless of wether they know or not. It's about your moral standards, if you RMA a vid card that has had the hsf removed then you are breaking the rules of the warranty and you probably know that. If that does not bug you then thats your choice.

 

[imported_i2k]

yeah not really.. i got a new card out of it.. and besides when i bought the card the fan was doa anyhow.. me buying the artic cooler was to trying to fix it.

 

[vanvock]

I don't know what could be difficult about installing an NV, the hardest part for me was getting the stock one off.

 

[VStrom]

I installed this on my eVGA 7800GT CO which is supposed to have good cooling and be fairly quiet to begin with. WOW, what a difference! I can barely hear it! Idle I went from 43c to 38c and load from 68c to 59c. Not only that but the stock cooler threw the exhaust onto my chipset fan (those that have a DFI NF4 board know what I mean), but this one kicks the hot air out the back of the case so my chipset temps went down a few degrees as well. It installed so easy and it is WELL WORTH THE MONEY! If you are considering it, don't wait. I should have used it from day 1.