Silencing 6800

[CharlesMcKinney]

In my never-ending struggle to silence my pc, I've come across another obstacle, my Chaintech AA6800. I installed an NV Silencer 5 about 3 months ago, and while it cools exceptionally, with 41C ambient temps and 60C load, it is now decidedly the noisiest thing in my case. My tower sits on my desk less than 2 feet from my head, so I guess I'm sensitive to any noise it makes. I tried using Gainward's Expertool to slow the fan down, which it did, and works flawlessly in that respect. However, at 50% power, the fan still makes audible motor noise, and is getting more annoying as the days pass.

What I'm wondering is, is there any way to quiet this down further? Possibly a better cooling solution? I am upgrading my mobo and CPU this weekend, so that would probably be a good time to do any necessary work on the card.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Charles

 

[Gamingphreek]

NV5 is as good as it gets unless you go to Exotic COoling, Water Cooling, or Passive Cooling.

If it is that noisy then a bearing might have gone in the NV5. I have heard they are very quiet, you might want to request an RMA for the NV5 (NOT THE VIDEO CARD).

-Kevin

 

[Boobers]

Zalman heat-pipe cooler...

EDIT: OOOPS...can't mount one on a 6800 because it doesn't have 3mm holes near the GPU...

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

Thanks for the replies, I've been considering RMA'ing the NV5 (thanks for the verification not to RMA the 6800, lol). Perusing silentpcreview forums has revealed that most don't believe that the silencer is quiet enough. I have heard of the Aerocool VM-101, but I'm not sure if this will adequately cool a 6800.

 

[ddviper]

i dont think ur getting much quieter than that while getting good cooling. my only advice, get used to the noise and deal with it

 

[MercenaryForHire]

1) Sell current card
2) Buy Gigabyte 6800 that comes passive-cooled from the factory
3) ...
4) Profit!

- M4H

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

Haha, thanks, I would do just that, except for the fact that I love my card currently, and it's running stably with all pipes/vertex shaders unlocked, at 411/865. I wouldn't want to take the chance that my new card wouldn't do that...

Thanks for the replies guys, I guess I'll just deal with it for now...

 

[impemonk]

noise freaks lol. I respect that, it's your money. But I don't mind the noise at all. The college kids outside my dormroom are super loud.

 

[JBDan]

RMA that NV5. I have one and its dead silent.

 

[Navid]

WARNING: Reducing the RPM of a fan reduces its cooling.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

You can reduce the RPM of the fan if you think that it is cooling enough as is, and still have acceptable cooling and no noise.

Go to RadioShack and get a package of 5 47-Ohm 1/2W and a package of 5 33-Ohm 1/2W resistors ($0.99 for each package).

Put two of the 33-Ohm resistors in parallel. That is "connect end A of resistor 1 to end A of resistor 2 and connect end B of resistor 1 to end B of resistor 2". Now, you have a 16.5-Ohm 1W resistor between A and B.

Get a 3-pin to 2-pin fan cable (a 2pin to 2pin is better, but, I don't know if one exists). http://www.buyextras.com/2ty1femaco3c.html
Cut the red wire in the middle. Solder (or just twist) the resistor to the two ends of the red wire where you cut. Now, the 16.5-Ohm resistor is in path of the 12-V line of the extension cable.

Turn off the computer. Remove the card. Disconnect the fan connector of the card. Connect the fan connector to the 3-pin male side of the extension cable making sure to connect red to red. Connect the 2-pin end of the extension cable to the card.

Install the card. Power on the PC. Make sure that the fan starts. Test cooling and noise. If cooling is not acceptable, remove the resistor. Sorry! It is not going to work!
If cooling is acceptable and noise is still too much, change the 2 33 Ohm resistors to 2 47 Ohm resistors and try again.

WARNING: Reducing the RPM of a fan reduces its cooling.
------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[pelikan]

You could mod a large aluminum cpu heatsink for it and put an 80mm panaflo L1A on there at 5V. A while back I put an SVC GC68 on a Ti4600. It worked great, increased the overclock and was silent.

Edit: There's pics of that sort of thing here.

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

Thanks for the replies. I think I'll try running the fan with a fanmate coupled with Expertool to test the cooling/noise properties at lower voltages, then use resistors as Navid suggested if it's cool or quiet enough at lower voltages. If not, I'll be RMA'ing it.

Thanks again,

Charles

 

[slapshot45]

get a passive cooler + 120mm low volt fan on the side panel

 

[CharlesMcKinney]

any passive cooler you recommend? I know Thermaltake and Aerocool each make one, but the TT one has an external heatsink which I don't like, and I'm not sure if the Aerocool dissipates enough heat (it can do 50W, IIRC) to prevent overheating.

 

[Navid]

A passive cooler will increase your case temperature. There is no magic! The heat has to go somewhere. It does not just disappear. A passive cooler would rely on your case fans to get the warm air out of the case.
The NV silencer gets the warm air out itself. So, comparatively speaking, the NV silencer is the most efficient cooler you can find.

If you have a stable graphics card with a passive cooler, that means you have a cool case. In that case, you should be able to reduce the RPM of your NV silencer dramatically and still get superior cooling with respect to the passive cooler (comparing apples with apples).