New X1900AIW fan

[nanaki333]

I got my HTPC together, but I ran into a slight issue. I have an x1900 AIW card in there and that thing is cooking. Just putting my hand on the case it's really hot. I take off the top of the case to let cool air in and the CPU and case temp drops by 10+ degrees celcius.

So yeah, what's a really good cooler for this card? I don't care if it makes this card take up 2 slots, or even 3.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Hm... I know you only said up to 3 extra slots, but if you're willing to take the jump to 4 you could do what I did...



Even with this Zalman 7000ALCU CPU cooler it still reaches 60C load!

 

[nanaki333]

damn! nah.. i can't do that. i only have 3 slots under my card available.

 

[anandtechrocks]

I was just kidding, that is not the best method of cooling your card. It takes up way too much space and is quite loud. From what I've read the AC Accelero X2 doesn't fit without some modding because of that gold thing near the coaxial outputs. Your best bet might be the Thermalright V1 Ultra or the Sytrin VF1 Plus. Some may recommend the Zalman VF900, and it would probably work on the X1900AIW since it is so downclocked, but the above two are better.

 

[nanaki333]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835150072

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835150076

 

[anandtechrocks]

I didn't realize there were two! Personally, I'd go with the cheaper one. The included crossflow fan is very effective but quite loud, so if the cheaper one does not come with the crossflow fan you could easily attach an 80mm fan and get quiter performance.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i recommend vf900, my x1900xt idles at 38C, in 70F room temperature and load at 55c

 

[anandtechrocks]

Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS
i recommend vf900, my x1900xt idles at 38C, in 70F room temperature and load at 55c

Those temps seem too low, I'm not sure I'd trust them:

VGA Heatsink Chart

 

[Zenoth]

My X1800 XL (the X1900 AIW is basically an X1800 XL with extra pixel shaders, and they run at the exact same frequencies) is cooled with VF700 ALCU, it idles at 46º Celcius, and reaches 60ºC to 63ºC at 2 hours load testing.

If your X1900 AIW reaches around 65ºC at load, it's perfectly fine. Those X1800 / X1900 cards can run very hot without showing any signs of degradation due to over-heating. The reference X1800 / X1900 ATi coolers are so poor, yet those cards can function properly at 75ºC load for hours non-stop.