Overclocking a GeForce 4 Ti 4600: Should I use a CPU-cooler, Zalman Heatpipe or conventional cooling?

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
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First I have to say that I am from Austria (Europe), and so my English maybe isnt perfect.





I am interested, w/ which of the following 3 cooling methods I will get the best overclock on my GeForce 4 Ti 4600 w/o having graphical artifacts. The methods I though about are using a CPU-cooler or a Zalman Heatpipe w/ the OP1 fan or w/ a convenmzional cooling. I couldnt overclock at all yet, because my GPU-coller is very week and I dont have any RAM coolers.

I dont care about noise (I have a Volcano 7+ for CPU cooling).

I also dont care if I loose one or two PCI slots.

One thing doesnt depend on what cooling I will use: I will use RAM coolers. If I will use the Zalman Heatpipe, they have enough space under the cooler.




Do you think, I should use a Zalman Heatpipe ZM80C-HP VGA-Cooler + Fan ZM-OP1 (mounted directly on the cooler) or a conventional cooling soltion? What do you think cools the GPU and RAM better?

I have already posted a thread about this cooling method, but not about the CPU-cooler method.




Another possibility would be to mount a CPU cooler. Someone in a different forum gave me that tip. He also posted, that everything which weights less than 300g is isnt dangerous.

The best CPU cooler under 300g I found is the TaiSol CGK760172 (aluminium). It has a weight of 264g. The lightest cooler I found is the rackmount cooler Spire 5R057B3 RackSper II (copper), which has a weight of 181g (Edited because I posted the wrong weight). There is also an aluminium version available (Spire 5R231B1M3 RackSper I), but I dont know the weight of the aluminium version.

If someone has the opinion, that 300g or/and the coolers I suggested are too havvy, please post. Also post, if you found a cooler, that is better (in your opinion) than the ones I suggested.




The third possibility would be a conventional cooler, i.e. the ThermalTake GeForce4 Copper Chipset-Cooler set.




My Graphics card:


Creative 3D Blaster 4 Ti 4800, GeForce4 Ti4600 8X AGP

http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?prod=432




Cooling solution w/ Zalman:


Zalman Heatpipe ZM80C-HP:

http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?prod=432


Fan Zalman ZM-OP1:

http://uk.europe.creative.com/products/product.asp?prod=432




CPU-coolers:


TaiSol CGK760172:

http://www.taisol.com/cgk760172.html


Spire 5R057B3 RackSper II (not available in my area):

http://www.spirecoolers.com/asp/fcc.asp?ProdID=41




Conventional cooling:


Thermaltake GeForce 4 A1349 copper cooling set:

http://www.thermaltake.com/products/chipset/g4.htm




RAM cooling:


20x12.6x8mm Aluminium RAM-coolers (German):

http://www.xtrem.biz/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=537
 

Vonkhan

Diamond Member
Feb 27, 2003
8,198
0
71
your boy is killing my state

therefore, i reccomend tht u run the card without any cooling

and kill it :D


j/k :D


A Zalman with a ZM-OP1 would be better ... it would be even better if u use a more powerful (altho noiser fan) if u have the time to mod it
 

Peter D

Diamond Member
Oct 28, 2002
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Id get the Zalman and optional fan. They cool very well, and are practically inaudible. I know from experience the GF4 fans can be quite annoying
 

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
114
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Originally posted by: Vegetto
Id get the Zalman and optional fan. They cool very well, and are practically inaudible. I know from experience the GF4 fans can be quite annoying

I dont care about noise: I have a Vocano 7+ in my system, which is running at full speed. I just want the best possible cooling for my GPU and RAM.
 

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
114
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Someone in a different forum suggested this cooler (AeroCool Phantom):

http://www.3dcool.com/?module=product&sku=CPUPhantom

What do you think about it?

It weights 385g, but the guy said, that this istn too heavy (he uses this cooler for his Radeon 9800pro), but another guy in the same forum posted, that even 238g is too heavy.

What is the highest weight I can savely stick on the GPU when I use thermal epoxy?
 

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
114
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If I decide to use conventional cooling: someone in a different forum suggested me the Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro cooling kit. I have searched through hundreds of reviews of the Iceberq and the Thermaltake GF4 cooling kit, but in 99%+ of all these reviews they were only compared to the default cooling solutions of the cards they used. I have only found one review, where the Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro and the Thermaltake GF4 cooling kit were directly compared:

http://www.thetechlounge.com/review.php?REVIEWDIR=iceberq4

In this benchmark the Iceberq was about 2-3°C better.

I will also search the other reviews in my history and post the ones I find there.


My question: which of these cooling solutions is better?

I will only buy the Iceberq, if it makes a great difference, because it is only available in an online shop, that has international shipping, but the shipping costs to austria are quite low ($3.75 for everything, which has less than 1/2 pound and a little bit over 4$ for less than 1 pound).

The Thermaltake GF4 cooling kit is also available in normal shops in Vienna, and I like normal shops more than Online shops, because I made bad experiences w/ them (shipping took up to 6 months).
 

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
114
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I have promised you a few reviews of the Thermaltake GeForce 4 Copper cooling set and Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro. I also added a few reviews of the Zalman Heatpipe ZM80C-HP + fan ZM-OP1. In all these reviews the coolers were only compared to the stock coolers. I already postet the only review that is makes exception from that.



Thermaltake GeForce 4 Copper Cooling Set:

Allround-PC.com
AthlonXP.com
Extensiontech.net
Extremeoverclocking.com 1
Extremeoverclocking.com 2
Hardware Accelerated.com
Hardwareluxx.de
moddin'.net
moddinggods.de
Overclocked Cafe.com
ocia.net
octools.com
overclockersclub.com
systemcooling.com
Tweakers Australia
Tweaktown.com
Virtual-Hideout.net



Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro:

GruntvillE.com
Furioustech.com
monster-hardware.com
overclockers.com
8ballshardware.com



Zalman Heatpipe ZM80C-HP + fan ZM-OP1:

Digital-daily.com
3DChip.de
bigbruin.com
bi-tech.net
modthebox.com
 

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
114
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0
Someone in a diffferent forum suggested me another CPU-cooler: the Alpha PAL6035 w/ Copperplate. I have found out the weight of one version of this cooler: it us 275g, but it can vary a little bit because it is sold w/ different fans (the weight w/o fan is 175g). I have looked at the specs of the high end models of all 60x60 fans of all manufacturers that sell them in Austria according to the site www.geizhals.at. I have found out, that these fans have a size of 60x60x20 to 60x60x38 a (thinner fans were available, but they had less cfm). They had cfm between 18 and 50.15 and a weight of 50-106g. So the weight of the Alpha would be 225-281g.For further informations about this cooler see here (They dont sell the model w/ the original fan anymore):

http://www.micforg.co.jp/en/c_pale.html

What do you think about this cooler? How do you think it would perform in comparison w/ the other models?
 

MrBurns

Member
Sep 15, 2003
114
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Someone in a different forum already suggested me the Arctic Cooling VGA-silencer:

http://www.nordichardware.com/reviews/cooling/2003/VGASilencer/

Do you think it could be a good cooler?

The problem is not, that I dont have enough space on my card. The problem is, that the holes on my card dont match w/ them on the cooler and I dont want to drill holes because I am not good at this. I could only use thermal epoxy, but some people in different forums posted, that this wont work on coolers over 180g and the VGA silencer has 273g.

Another thing, that makes me think if I could maybe have problems I found in the installation guide:

As shown in the picture first the grounding metal sheet is put over the VGA exits, afterwards the new bracket is screwed onto the board. Without proper grounding of the heatsink it can come in rare cases to system crashes.
For Nvidia graphic boards, where the provided bracket does not fit, the grounding metal sheet can be shortened in the width accordingly to the VGA exit, so that a connection between the bracket and the heat sink can result.