My beef with Arctic Cooling Silencers

[glorygunk]

I want to know who else has experienced similarly...

I've had experience with 3 different AC Silencers and my complaint is their longevity. The ones I've used are Arctic Silencer Revision 2 (on ATI 9800 Pro), Arctic Silencer Revision 3 (again on 9800 Pro), and NV Silencer 5 (on nVidia 6800GT).

Get this, ALL THREE, after less than a year, develop very annoying clicking sounds. :| I don't know if this is because the fans sit upside down, but all have "failed" within 6-10 months. Don't get me wrong, when these guys work, they are silent and cool very well. However, such a short lifespan has forced me to start experimenting with the Zalman VGA coolers.

Any thoughts?

 

[aigomorla]

well im on water, but personally i hear the new zalman's are pretty good. If i had to get off water and use one of the aftermarket brands

ZALMAN VF900 ? CU 2 Ball VGA Cooling Fan/Heatsink - Retail

would be my first pick. Tons of good reviews, the only con is its price, but hey, my VGA waterblocks are 220 dollars, (got 2 DD NV78's). So it is technically a cheaper soultion to me. :X

 

[Howard]

If you've got the space, the Thermalright V-1 Ultra is one of the best-performing GPU coolers available.

 

[pkme2]

I tried an AC and switch back to my stock unit. The AC was too large and too noisy as compared to my stock unit.