X800XTPE HSF...Which One - Zalman or Arctic Cooling?

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
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i received my x800xtpe and must say this card kicks a$$ and i am overall very happy with it, especially considering i got it for $233 :D.

the only issue i have is the hsf combo that comes on the ati one. normally i wouldn't care about the fan noise and as you can see from my rig in sig, i am definately not trying to build a quiet machine. the problem i have is that this particular fan on the gpu is a totally different pitch than the other fans in my machine and probably the most annoying part of it is that is speeds up and slows down all the time.

i understand why it needs to do this while gaming, and when gaming i don't even notice it because i am focused on the game, but when surfing or using word, it is quite annoying.

i do not care about o/c, this card works fine for me at stock speeds.

so, my question is what aftermarket gpu cooler - the arctic cooling one or the zalman one?

thanks in advance,
bob
 

Makaveli

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2002
4,884
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Go with the arctic silcener that is what i'm using on my XTPE. with ATI tool, to contrl the Fan speed its awesome, Even without ATI tool its very quiet. I like to run it at 400/400 on the desktop, and back to 520/560 whenever I open anything up that is 3d.
 

bob4432

Lifer
Sep 6, 2003
11,720
44
91
Originally posted by: Makaveli
Go with the arctic silcener that is what i'm using on my XTPE. with ATI tool, to contrl the Fan speed its awesome, Even without ATI tool its very quiet. I like to run it at 400/400 on the desktop, and back to 520/560 whenever I open anything up that is 3d.

how is it at 520? i probably won't use atitool and just always have it running at stock speeds. also, does it constantly change speeds like the oem unit?
 

Makaveli

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2002
4,884
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Yes the silcener changes Fan speed auto if u let it. Its alot quieter than stock fan aswell.
520/560 are the stock clocks!
 

w00t

Diamond Member
Nov 5, 2004
5,545
0
0
hmm the ZALMAN cools better but the heat stays in the case that is one thing i like about the artic cooler it brings the heat out.