Aftermarket cooling suggestions for X1900XTX?

G

Goragoth

Regular
I'm now getting a X1900XTX to replace my broken 7900GTX (same problem with FEAR and 3dmark06 that many people seem to be having). I decided that rather than getting a replacement and living in constant fear of it going bad too to get a X1900XTX instead (although it is somewhat more expensive). Anyway, from the comments I have read it is supposed to be pretty loud and I suspect it will annoy me quite a bit (yes, I understand it only revs up during gaming but I rarely use headphones, often have the sound turned down and will also be using 3d apps) so I will probably drop a new heatsink on it.

To make a long story short, what do people here suggest? I know the Zalman VF900-CU has gotten some praise around here but I would really prefer something that blows the hot air out of my case. So what's good?
 
Accelero X2. I bought it yersterday for my x1900xt and i'm quite pleased. It's almost inaudible and the cooling performance it's nice. The only thing I don't like it's that it doesn't throw the air out of the case. But I can live with it since my main purpose was silence. It's pretty cheap, about 16€.
 
{Sniping}Waste said:
Just get this one if you can find it in your area.
HIS IceQ
http://www.hisdigital.com/html/product_ov.php?id=226&view=yes
Click to expand...

Yeah, this bad boy seems quite nice. :D They even have an XT for the more price conscious. Monarch has them both. If I'd known about the XT before I bought mine, I might have paid the premium (about $40) to get it (tho I still haven't felt compelled to upgrade the cooling on mine by actual use in games).
 
Well, thanks for all the replies but after my new card arrived this morning I don't actually think I will need any different cooling afterall. I tried running both 3dmark05 and then 3dmark06, followed by a quick game of FEAR and I found the fan to be pretty much inaudible over the noise from all the other fans (though I could hear it spinning up when first booting the computer but even that wasn't too bad). My PC is under my desk, out of the way and I have two other computers running in the room as well so I'm probably just used to the noise. From the forum posts on this subject I was really expecting something as bad as the sound a fan makes when the bearing is going bad but its nowhere near that level even when booting.

Anyway, thanks again for all the suggestions but I'm really happy with the new card as it is. Actually I'm more impressed by the ATi card than the NVidia one so far. At least they include all the video decode/encode functionality for free out of the box whereas NVidia wants you to pay for their purevideo codecs.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Geo
I agree. The noise is vastly exaggerated. Yes the cards are loud for a few seconds at post. As far as heat goes with the stock cooler on air I report 45-48C idle and 60-71C load in demanding games. I would only bother replacing the coolers if I were going water. The other alternatives out there are not that much better if at all.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Your computers mus be pretty noisy. Even at 2D i could hear the fan. I had to lower the fan speed to 28% to have a good noise/cooling ratio. When going 3D the noise was horrible. Take in count that when my computer is on the only thing I can hear is the hdd seeking. The rest of the system is inaudible, so any little noise is very noticeable.
 
malficar said:
As far as heat goes with the stock cooler on air I report 45-48C idle and 60-71C load in demanding games.
Click to expand...

Stock fan settings too? I'm finding that hard to believe. I have pretty good cooling in my case, and I find demanding games to hit 88C with stock fan settings. Are you seeing the Overdrive temp while the game is running, or just immediately after you exit the game? If the latter, it drops very fast when exiting a game. I have two monitors so one is runing a game full screen (with "full screen 3D clocks"), and the Overdrive temp/clock tab up on the second monitor.
 
geo said:
Stock fan settings too? I'm finding that hard to believe. I have pretty good cooling in my case, and I find demanding games to hit 88C with stock fan settings. Are you seeing the Overdrive temp while the game is running, or just immediately after you exit the game? If the latter, it drops very fast when exiting a game. I have two monitors so one is runing a game full screen (with "full screen 3D clocks"), and the Overdrive temp/clock tab up on the second monitor.
Click to expand...
i get 88c if my CPU fan is on low..., my 1800xt isnt as hot as a xtx i know,but my fan hits at 37% load, stock highest setting. Same cooler. They cool but they get loud above 37%.. 45% is lame, headphones, you can run that gpu 90c for years, but the ram? Saphire makes a slot cooler. http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/productfiles/143image2.jpg
 
I'm very disappointed in the opinion-making on the aftermarket coolers right now. It's all over the lot, and I don't mean even in a "this is better than that" kind of manner, which is understandable. I mean really all over the lot. My haven't-used-one-but-did -a-good-bit-of-googling read is VF900 is to be preferred to Accelero for X1900.
 
Hector said:
Your computers mus be pretty noisy. Even at 2D i could hear the fan. I had to lower the fan speed to 28% to have a good noise/cooling ratio. When going 3D the noise was horrible. Take in count that when my computer is on the only thing I can hear is the hdd seeking. The rest of the system is inaudible, so any little noise is very noticeable.
Click to expand...
Well no crap. Anything short of a 120mm fan at 1500rpm would be noticable.
 
There are no really good aftermarket cooling for X1900XT(X) besides HIS IceQ3.

All other Aftermarket cooling solutions bascially circulating heat inside the case. This will affect your mobo and other components.
 
Richteralan said:
There are no really good aftermarket cooling for X1900XT(X) besides HIS IceQ3.

All other Aftermarket cooling solutions bascially circulating heat inside the case. This will affect your mobo and other components.
Click to expand...

By this idea alone, all the heatsinks are bad that come with Nvidia based cards? While I really like heatsinks that push air outside the case, just because it doesnt does not make the heatsink bad.
 
Richteralan said:
There are no really good aftermarket cooling for X1900XT(X) besides HIS IceQ3.

All other Aftermarket cooling solutions bascially circulating heat inside the case. This will affect your mobo and other components.
Click to expand...

I certainly admire the HIS IceQ3. In fact, I wrote them and asked if just maybe they'd offer the cooler separately? (Answer: Not so much, thanks for asking).

But it seems to me your conclusion ought to be heavily dependant on just how good the airflow in your case is in the first place, rather than universal. I probably should add that my system isn't all that quiet in the first place --it's really the whine from the X1900XT cooler above 45% rather than the loudness per se that I can't handle. But that has been all theoretical so far, in the sense of forcing the fan. . . I haven't tried a new cooler because in gaming practice I don't actually hear it.
 
Goragoth said:
I'm now getting a X1900XTX to replace my broken 7900GTX (same problem with FEAR and 3dmark06 that many people seem to be having). I decided that rather than getting a replacement and living in constant fear of it going bad too to get a X1900XTX instead (although it is somewhat more expensive). Anyway, from the comments I have read it is supposed to be pretty loud and I suspect it will annoy me quite a bit (yes, I understand it only revs up during gaming but I rarely use headphones, often have the sound turned down and will also be using 3d apps) so I will probably drop a new heatsink on it.

To make a long story short, what do people here suggest? I know the Zalman VF900-CU has gotten some praise around here but I would really prefer something that blows the hot air out of my case. So what's good?
Click to expand...

Enjoy the card; I love mine. I didn't replace the cooler, but I did set the fan speeds in ATT so that the noise doesn't bother me. Good luck with whatever you get. I would suggest either A FV900-CU or that strange one with the blower style fan (supposedly a bit more cumbersome but better performance).
 
geo said:
I certainly admire the HIS IceQ3. In fact, I wrote them and asked if just maybe they'd offer the cooler separately? (Answer: Not so much, thanks for asking).

But it seems to me your conclusion ought to be heavily dependant on just how good the airflow in your case is in the first place, rather than universal. I probably should add that my system isn't all that quiet in the first place --it's really the whine from the X1900XT cooler above 45% rather than the loudness per se that I can't handle. But that has been all theoretical so far, in the sense of forcing the fan. . . I haven't tried a new cooler because in gaming practice I don't actually hear it.
Click to expand...

Of course. If you need good airflow in your case, additional case fans are a must, therefore added noise level.

My ear is very sensitive to constant background noise, especially when I'm listening to music. So the noise level is pretty important to me.

Besides, even if you have good airflow in your case, some heatsinks, i.e. AC Accelero X2, etc. STILL will affect motherboard components, especially some motherboard which chipset located directly beneath first PCIe slot.

That's why I liked AC Silencer and other similar aftermarket cooling solutions. I used zalman, too, and they performed well on open case condition.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

digitalwanderer
Vacation suggestions for the US for Feb 4-10
2
Replies
24
Views
2K
nutball
N
D
Video Game Console Cooling - A Hot Topic (pun kind of intended).
Replies
12
Views
2K
arandomguy
A
digitalwanderer
Renegade repair thread
4 5 6
Replies
104
Views
8K
digitalwanderer
digitalwanderer
digitalwanderer
Change in upgrade plans for my son's PC for xmas, help please!
2 3
Replies
52
Views
8K
digitalwanderer
digitalwanderer
R
Need For Speed Payback (Ps4, XBox, PC)
Replies
0
Views
958
RenegadeRocks
R
Back
Top