Isn't it a weird oversight for the X1900 fan to be so damn loud?

[Polish3d]

By making the stupid fan so loud?

It just strikes me as a totally nonsensical move on ATI's part... I mean, the only complaint I have about the card is the fan noise, I give ita 9.5/10 and the .5 is for fan noise. 10/10 for performance, 10/10 for image quality, 4/10 for fan design because its nosiy but good at venting heat

But say you're ATI:

"Well lets' see guys. We have a brilliantly engineered product that's fast as hell. We need to cool it. Hmm... its very easy to make a quiet fan because our main competitor and all 3rd party fan owners do it... but let's not... let's be lazy/stupid/cheap and slap a really really LOUD fan on there just to give people a reason not to buy it."

 

[Banzai042]

I don't have persional experience with the x1800/1900 HSF but i can say that I believe that the idea of the system is one of the best avalible today. Nobody else has a direct exhaust system that allows you to put any card right by the videocard with no heating issues whatsoever (in theory). The real problem that i see is that there isn't an incredibly efficent way to build a fan inside of a tall narrow duct like that which will keep airflow as high as it needs to be. Perhaps if ATI were to mimic the heatpipe use on the 7900GTX cooler they could get the card cooled just as well with less airflow and reduce the noise the fan makes.

 

[Polish3d]

True if the others dont exhaust heat I think ATI made the best choice. One of the reasons I went XTX instead of GX2 (other is image quality and HDR+AA) is because I dont believe I should have to lower my processor and/or ram OC because I buy a top end card

 

[nullpointerus]

Originally posted by: Banzai042
I don't have persional experience with the x1800/1900 HSF but i can say that I believe that the idea of the system is one of the best avalible today. Nobody else has a direct exhaust system that allows you to put any card right by the videocard with no heating issues whatsoever (in theory). The real problem that i see is that there isn't an incredibly efficent way to build a fan inside of a tall narrow duct like that which will keep airflow as high as it needs to be. Perhaps if ATI were to mimic the heatpipe use on the 7900GTX cooler they could get the card cooled just as well with less airflow and reduce the noise the fan makes.

ATI (and nVidia) should work out some kind of deal with Arctic Cooling. Integrating the cooler design with the board design would probably make the total solution a little thinner, and the end user wouldn't lose anything because the stock cooler would still be specific to that model of card. (That's one of the problems of using a direct heat exhaust cooler for aftermarket cooling - it really lowers compatibility, so it tends to be a one-time investment.)

 

[Bobthelost]

There are some compaines that get AC heatsinks and fit them as stock, Gainwards for one does it every now and again.

Of course the problem is that the coolers on the high end cards are already pretty damned good at keeping the card cooled. Just not always quietly is all. I don't think there really is a solution to this other than to find ways to put larger slower fans in.