best aftermarket air cooling for video card?

[poohbear]

hey all,

my vid card fan is making all kinds of wierd noises on my 6800GT OC from BFG, i believe it's gonna die soon and dont wanna take any chances. I also wanna overclock it as far as it'll go and keep it as cool as possible.

what is the best air cooling for my vid card? i'm reading the zalman Fatal1ty vga cooler is prolly the best, but what about thermalright's offerings? any other ones i should be aware of? passive cooling is'nt important to me and the arctic cooling ones performed on par w/ stock cooling on my last vid card.

Thanks in advance for any advice and tips.

 

[Wentelteefje]

What was your last AC cooler? The NV Silencer 5 Rev. 3 for your GT is VERY good and very silent as well... Zalman is about to bring out a VF900 VGA cooler... That one's probably very good as well...

 

[IlllI]

from what i read, the zalman one is good but the fan doesnt plug into the video card (like a stock cooler would) so you only get 2 fan speed settings 12v and a 5v. i think the stock uses some kind of rpm sensor-thingy that lowers the fan rpm when in 2d mode etc.

arctic cooling one performs just as good or better as the stock cooler, but MUCH quieter in doing so. even at max fan setting it doesnt get too loud. its also probably the cheapest one out of the three you listed. around 20-something

i think the thermalright slightly edges the others but if i remember correctly, is the most expensive of the three.

i personally like the arctic cooler ones due to the fact that it exhausts the hot air out of the case.

 

[poohbear]

thanks for the replies. actually, thermalright is the cheapest, but im referring to their V1 cooler which has been on the market for a while. do they have a newer one?

my original cooling was an arctic cooling for the 9800pro, it was'nt much better than stock as i said but i'llr ead some reviews about their newer ones.

Any eta on the new zalman cooler though?(vf900 )

 

[HeroOfPellinor]

Originally posted by: poohbear
thanks for the replies. actually, thermalright is the cheapest, but im referring to their V1 cooler which has been on the market for a while. do they have a newer one?

The V1 Ultra added compatibility with the 7800 line. Wasn't available when I got my NV Silencer a couple months ago though. The Silencer is very quiet and evacs the heat and doesn't require you to add memory heatsinks like the V1 but I haven't read any reviews comparing the two yet.

 

[Munky]

All coolers have their pros and cons. I'm using the zalman vf700cu, because it cools at least as well as the silencer, it's quiet, and it fits almost every Nv and Ati card. The silencer exhausts the hot air out of of your case, so it helps keep other components cool, but chances are it will not fit the next card you buy. The V1 cools better than either the vf700 or the silencer, and fits several different cards, so I'd probably pick that one if the price is reasonable. The new zalman vf900 is not available yet, but zalman always make good quality produts, and since the vf900 uses heatpipes, I expect it to cool very well, better than either the silencer or the vf700.

 

[poohbear]

Thanks again for the feedback. yes i read that the v1 ultra (the updated one w/ 3 heatpipes) is apparently the best cooling solution @ the moment. it beat out the arctic cooling 5 cooler but have'nt seen it compared to the zalman fatal1ty. Is the zalman fatal1ty that much better than the regular vf700cu?

unfortunetly, the vf900 isnt coming out till Q2 2006, my dying fan cant wait that long.

 

[IlllI]

Originally posted by: poohbear
thanks for the replies. actually, thermalright is the cheapest, but im referring to their V1 cooler which has been on the market for a while. do they have a newer one?


i was thinking about the v1 ultra

my original cooling was an arctic cooling for the 9800pro, it was'nt much better than stock as i said but i'llr ead some reviews about their newer ones.

but the difference in noise is huge! i have a 9800 pro and the stock was irritating, when i got the arctic cooler replacement i couldnt hear the thing unless i put my ear directly to it.

 

[IlllI]

oh and the fatal1ty one is nothing more than a few cosmetic changes

 

[Munky]

Looking at the specs, the fatality version has a faster spinning fan, which also means more noise. Overall, it's not worth getting - the regular vf700 should be enough for any current card, unless you do voltmods on it.

 

[ubercaffeinated]

thumbs up for vf700.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thermalright V-1 on 6800GT @ Ultra speeds
V-1 Ultra vs. NV silcencer vs. VF700 CU
V-1 Ultra vs. NV silencer vs. VF700CU on 7800GT

V-1 wins every time...but it's price is a bit hefty.

 

[zagood]

If you have good case airflow, like to control your fans (fan controller, fanmate, whatever), and might want to use your cooler on a different card in the future, then get the vf700.

If you have poor case airflow, want the fan to take care of itself, and don't care about moving it to another card, get the NV silencer.

If you want the best of both worlds and can spend the money, the V1-Ultra.

Other notes:

- The Fatality, as stated before, has a faster fan. Noisier but cooler. The red is sexy though.

- There are some reports of the NV Silencer for the 6800GT being a pain to seat correctly. The metal plate that's supposed to mate up with the ram doesn't always line up exactly and you have to use spacers.

- The V1, as with any other double sided heatpipe VGA cooler, is supposed to be the hardest to install out of all three.

-z

 

[poohbear]

just wanna say thanks all, will look into the V1 ultra then. im guessing that since the fatal1ty does have a stronger fan that'll also cool a lil better? Prolly nothin major but a few degrees yea?

 

[MegaRoll]

VF900

:shocked:

Look at how sexy and thin it is....

Also, Ive heard of Feb '06, Q1 '06, and Q2 '06 release dates...
Anyone know the real one?

 

[A5]

AC is coming out with the "Accelero"

http://www.virtual-hideout.net/reviews/ac_accelero_x1/index.shtml

 

[MegaRoll]

The new KuFormula VF1 beats the "Accelero" in terms of temperatures.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=382&num=1

Im going VF900 all the way unless it provides less than satisfactory cooling results, which is high unlikely however.

 

[RussianSensation]

I dont like the fact that Arctic cooling makes you buy a new cooler for basically every new generation of cards and there is no way the cooler from an Nvidia card will fit an ATI or vice versa.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
I dont like the fact that Arctic cooling makes you buy a new cooler for basically every new generation of cards and there is no way the cooler from an Nvidia card will fit an ATI or vice versa.

Which is one of the reasons I got the zalman instead. And already used it on 3 cards.

 

[poohbear]

Originally posted by: MegaRoll
The new KuFormula VF1 beats the "Accelero" in terms of temperatures.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=382&num=1

i'm sorry, where did it say the VF1+ beats the Accelero in temps? did i miss it? it states it beats the AC silencer rev 1 in their conclusion, but no mention of the accelero.

I'm finding mixed reviews on the web for the AC Accelero, one site shows that it ties the Thermalright V1 ultra for temps, which is very impressive (considering it's virtually silent), while another sites say the AC silencer rev 3 beats out the Accelero.

the first:

http://www.pcmoddingmy.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.351.4

the 2nd:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u...ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=/language_tools

what's confusing is that i've seen reviews where the V1 ultra beat out the AC silencers (dont recall which rev. though), so it seems it's somewhat inconclusive from reading all the reviews as to which is the best cooler.:/

 

[Bobthelost]

I have a silencer (5 rev 3) on my 7800GT it dropped my CPU temps down by 2*C because the air was being exhausted straight out of my case (p180). It's a top notch cooler.

 

[poohbear]

so what's different w/ all the AC silencer revisions? is it just for compatibility or was the design improved to allow for better cooling? i'm not really buying that DHES stuff cause it didnt effect my case temps when i had it for my 9800pro (but i already have good case airflow).

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: poohbear
so what's different w/ all the AC silencer revisions? is it just for compatibility or was the design improved to allow for better cooling? i'm not really buying that DHES stuff cause it didnt effect my case temps when i had it for my 9800pro (but i already have good case airflow).

I'll be darned if I know. Plus, half the versions of the silencer are priced at $10 and the rest at $30. Why can't the one for my videocard ever be priced at the $10 range? :laugh:

My videocard runs hot but stable and exhausts out to the room. I imagine once it gets warm outside I will want to upgrade the stock cooling.