Aftermarket cooling suggestions for X1900XTX?

[Richteralan]

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?

back to topic. I did the same thing. I returned my eVGA 7900GT SS and got a HIS IceQ3 X1900XT.

HIS actually has IceQ3 solution for both X1900XT and XTX and they don't cost an additional arm. The total price I counted is similar as you purchase a regular X1900XT plus an aftermarket cooling solution.

 

[John Reynolds]

The Zalman VF900 cooler I'd purchased has been very nervously installed here during my slow Friday night. CCC is reading the desktop temp at 49C. Going to superstitiously let things 'sit' overnight before putting the card under load.

I'm about as mechanically disinclined as an adult male can be, and the new cooler was still pretty darn easy to install for me. Got it at Zipzoomfly.com for around $40 USD (free shipping). I'll report back tomorrow morning after I've taken it around the track for a few laps.

Edit: Quick question, though: I didn't see this answered in the documentation that came with the cooler, but since I didn't install the Fanmate control will the fan's speed default to its slowest or fastest speed?

 

[John Reynolds]

Impatient soul that I am, I already fired up 3DMark06. Locked within seconds of the first game test loading. Rebooted, tried Battle for Middle-earth 2. Its 3D scene for the main menu caused the system to lock within seconds. Shut off the system, attached the fanmate, set it to its fastest speed (which I could hear was spinning the fan up), tried again but still lockups within seconds. Pulled the card out and double-checked again to make sure the cooler's base was sitting evenly across the surface of the chip (which I cleaned with acetone after removing the stock cooler).

Any suggestions (besides immediately reinstalling the stock cooler)? Just checked the temp and according to the CCC it's sitting at 57C now (at the desktop, after a reboot and the time it took me to type this).

 

[Skrying]

Run a 3D program that you can monitor easily, something thats happy to run in a window. See if you get a huge spike in temperature.

Other than that, you did make sure to apply thermal grease, right?

 

[John Reynolds]

Run a 3D program that you can monitor easily, something thats happy to run in a window. See if you get a huge spike in temperature.

Other than that, you did make sure to apply thermal grease, right?

It's now sitting quite consistently at 59C at the desktop. Hmm, me thinks I'm going to uninstall and reinstall it tomorrow morning. Somehow I don't think the cooler's base is sitting flat on the graphics chip.

Oh, yeah, does spit count thermal grease?

Edit: does the automated clock configuration utility inside CCC count? Hit the button, moved its window to the side so I could see the temp reading, read it at 81C (after 1-2 seconds), and then the system locked. Yep, reinstalling the cooler tomorrow morning after cleaning the chip again with acetone and putting down more Arctic Silver 5.

 

[Hector]

81º after 1-2 seconds? It seems like the zalman it's not making good contact with the gpu. Make sure you cover the gpu with a thin layer of thermal compound, and that the cooler is firmly attached. Btw, did you install heatsinks on the memory?

In a side note, to reduce the heat the Accelero blows to the mother board, just open the pci slot beneath and get some negative air pressure in the case. The air will flow through the pci slot and cool the Accelero and the motherboard. My temps with this setup are 47-48º idle, 81-84º full load.

Edit: I measured the load temperatures too bad.

 

[Geo]

X1900 hasn't begun to sweat yet at 81c. Should be good into the low-to-mid-90s at least.

 

[Hector]

I did the same as john, and it took a couple of minutes to reach to 83º (670Mhz for the core). I know x1900's run hot as hell, but a increase in temperature of 30º in 2 seconds seems too much in my book.

 

[Geo]

Ahhh, I didn't grasp the time element. Yeah, doing the same here takes much longer than that to climb into the 80s from a "cold start".

For instance, the CCC OC applet was still in the low 60s after 20 secs or so here.

3DM06, just the DeepFreeze SM3 test, has a pretty smooth curve as well when run just once --it was 77c as it ended, and that test runs over a minute. Of course if I'd looped it several times it would have gone higher.

 

[John Reynolds]

Yeah, I was very careful to center the heatsink over each RAM chip. I also evenly spread a thin layer of Arctic Silver 5 over the graphics chip after cleaning it with acetone. What I didn't do is screw the fixing nuts down very tight on each nipple, so when I woke up this morning I pulled the 1900 back out and each nut had quite a turns left in it before becoming tight (tight as in it would start taking real force to turn each any further). I tend to err on the side of caution with stuff like this. Anyways, after tightening those nuts down the CCC has been reading a desktop temp of 43C, which is excellent since the desktop temp was hitting 58-59C last night. Haven't fired up a game yet, though.

 

[Hector]

Happy gaming!

 

[John Reynolds]

Well, that desktop temp moved up to 44C and held steady there for a solid half-hour. Then I put the case lid back on <g>. It's now hovering at a solid 51C. I obviously have insufficent airflow in my case (1 120mm Antec fan on the rear of the case next to the I/O backplate). That's my Antec Sonata/AMD test rig, with a FX-62 using the review kit's stock cooler (which I'm not particularly fond of and have been thinking of replacing with the new AM2 Zalman 9500). I think what I'm going to do is move that 1900 to my Intel test rig once the Conroe review kit arrives since it's an old 3DCool.com case with holes drilled for two 80mm fans on its side; I have a spare Zalman 80mm fan I can use on the bottom of those two, which will blow straight down on the 1900 once it's installed. And I'll pull out one or two backplates off the unused PCI slots so that hot air will have somewhere to immediately exit the case.

In the meantime, looks like I'll be gaming with my Sonata case open.

 

[Hector]

If you open the pci slot beneath your radeon the air will flow into the case, cool the card and exit through the rear opening. I decreased the gpu temperature by 3-4º just by doing that. The hot air won't go out becouse of the pressure inside your case. With a 120mm fan exhausting air all the openings in the case become intakes.

 

[John Reynolds]

I'd already done that. Gonna take the side case off and watch how long it takes for the CCC temp to come back down to the mid-40s.

Just ordered some Zalman case fans to replace the cheap, noisy ones 3DCool used when they made the case.

Edit: Wow, it dropped back down to 44C within minutes.

Edit2: and it survived a run of the automated clock utility, though the CCC showed temps hitting 79C toward the end.

 

[Hector]

Nooooo! Zalman case fans no please. Stay away from them. If you want something quiet buy (in order of preference and in inverse order of CFM) a nexus, yate loon or papst fan. Btw, if you want a nice and silent solution to cool yout FX, buy an scythe ninja (heatsink) and a nexus 120mm fan. Killer combination of low noise and great heat dissipation.

 

[John Reynolds]

Alright, cancelled that order and I've got a 80mm coming (rear case hole is cut for this size, unfortunately) that's rated at 20 dBa. Doesn't move as much air as a louder fan, but with the Zalman 9500 sitting on a 65W TDP CPU and pointing straight at the back hole it should be fine.

 

[Skrying]

Nooooo! Zalman case fans no please. Stay away from them. If you want something quiet buy (in order of preference and in inverse order of CFM) a nexus, yate loon or papst fan. Btw, if you want a nice and silent solution to cool yout FX, buy an scythe ninja (heatsink) and a nexus 120mm fan. Killer combination of low noise and great heat dissipation.

While a good combination, that Scythe Ninja is so much freaking weight. I seriously feel like I'd need to create a bungie cord system to keep it suspended inside my case. I'd be worried to move the case with that moster in their.

The 9500 is rather surprisingly light and just looks damn cool.

 

[Guden Oden]

I like Arctic Cooling's case fans, especially the newer sidewall-less ones. Great airflow, hardly any noise.

Btw John... The fanmate can't speed up the fan; it can only slow it down. And just attaching it to your fan makes voltage drop about half a volt, so you might not want to have it sitting there if you're having heat-related crashes...

I don't have a X1900, but for my GPU (6800 vanilla), the VF900 has been nothing short of a blessing. Of course, I run it in a superior BTX case, so virtually all the hot air goes straight out the back thanks to the BTX cross-flow cooling principle (and the twin 80mm AC fans that I screwed onto the rear case wall vent).

 

[WaltC]

... Anyways, after tightening those nuts down the CCC has been reading a desktop temp of 43C, which is excellent since the desktop temp was hitting 58-59C last night. Haven't fired up a game yet, though.

Heh-Heh... Your experience as related here reminds me of myself several years ago when I made the grand decision to try and "improve" on my Voodoo 3's heatsink with some aftermarket sinks I had lying around... After numerous lockups due to heat caused by my incredible engineering skill, and several events wherein I just knew I had ruined the card (I hadn't), I managed to get the stock sink back on sans lockups. I swore I'd never do it again. But then came the V5 and in doing something similar I thought I had destroyed that one, too (I hadn't), but the way that V5 came back suddenly reminded me of nothing so much as a literal and miraculous resurrection. I think I even posted to the 3dfx site forums at the time (as "checkmate," IIRC) a post entitled something like, "V5 Back from the Dead!" Ah, the "good ol' " days.

To this day, performing surgical procedures with heatsinks still creates an inner turmoil in me that I cannot logically explain, and so I don't do it all that much anymore...

 

[John Reynolds]

Desktop temp now hovers at 41C. No lockups after hours of gaming last night.