Death of an NV Silencer...

[Hauk]

Two months ago I was feelin large, mounting an NV Silencer 5 rev3 to an EVGA 7800GT OC. Then came the 7900GT and a chance to use EVGA's Step-Up program. For next to nothing, I could get the latest card. I just had to remove the NV Silencer and reattach the stock cooler.

I hoped to salvage the NV Silencer, but had concerns about the memory pads. Surgery didn't go well...

Those sticky memory pads woudn't give! I had to cut through them to get the cooler off. I couldn't get to one with my blade due to capacitors blocking my way. And that little bastard put up a fight. I had to pray and push. I got the cooler off, but the lone memory pad put up a fight.

Stock cooler is back on without a hitch. Noisy little bastard. I hope the 7900GT cooler is quieter, cause I'm hesitant to spend more money on another Silencer. Think Arctic Cooling would send me some thermal pads? Any alternatives, please let me know.

Good luck to others. It helps if you place card on a flat surface, screws and back bracket removed, resting on the little bolts. Push gently and rock back and forth until any uncut memory pads give way. They're not gonna come off otherwise. :frown:

Themal pads destroyed

Lone survivor put up a fight

 

[Megatomic]

The stock cooler on the 7900GT I got (XFX Extreme) is noisier than the NV Silencer that was on my 6800GT, but it's bearable if the box is not close to your ears. I'm a quiet computer type of guy so I don't like any noise - I have a Zalman VF700 CU on the way to help me out. The only regret I have is that it doesn't have DHES like the NV Silencer does, as a result my system temp. is about 4C higher than it used to be.

An interesting note for you: the GPU temp. on my 7900GT is 15 to 20C cooler with the stock hsf than my 6800GT was with the NV Silencer 5 R2. Die shrink FTW.

 

[Hauk]

Yea, not much need for a beefy cooler with the 7900GT. Noise and no DHES factor in though. Would have needed to mod the NV 5 anyway to fit the smaller board. Perhaps I'll check out the Zalman. Plenty of air in my case, so DHES isn't a big factor. Liked the noise drop though...

 

[Art Vandaleigh]

The 7900GT does run cooler, but because the fan is so small, it is fairly loud. This is coming from my previous 7800GT's with nv silencers, so they were very quiet. I think im going to get the zalman vf900's when they are released to help with the noise.

 

[Bull Dog]

I keep hearing of issues of people with NV5 silencers having their frag tape growing quite attatched to the memory module. Wierd...because the pads on the ATI Silencers that I've had weren't like that.

 

[Megatomic]

Maybe the memory modules run hotter on the NV cards? If the pads are the same on both styles of Silencer then that is about the only likely solution I can come up with.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Bull Dog
I keep hearing of issues of people with NV5 silencers having their frag tape growing quite attatched to the memory module. Wierd...because the pads on the ATI Silencers that I've had weren't like that.

The ones on my NV5s aren't lke that either. They came right off, and I've used them on more than one card.

 

[Hauk]

Sounds like there's some variance in how frag tape sticks. Mine stuck really good.

I'm gonna wait a month or so after I get my 7900GT to see what happens with coolers. I hope Arctic Cooling comes out with a revision that fits. Zalman has an interesting one:

Zalman VF9000-Cu