Aftermarket cooling suggestions for X1900XTX?

WaltC, funny you mention you're Voodoo experiences.. I ran my V5 without the fans, it was HOT but still as stable as ever (a friend had decided we should clean the fan so we did, but they were noisy after that.. tiny fans are fragile)

 

Err, remember that whole noise thing, particularly the nails-on-blackboard mechanical whine? How's that going?

 

??? From the VF900?

 

Right. Tho if the case is still open, it's not exactly apples to apples.

 

Yeah, the case is still open. Honestly, I can't hear the VF900 over the AVC cooler that came with the AM2 review kit. And I could definitely hear the 1900's stock cooler spinning up 'n down. I'm not a fan of Intel's stock coolers either, which is why I have that Zalman 9500 heading my way. Probably overkill for a 65W TDP part, but I'll put it on its slowest speed and, if the 975 Bad Axe board is sans north bridge fan, might actually have a relatively quiet case.

 

John, a 120 mm fan sitting low in the front of the case and blowing in fresh air is a huge help when it comes to air flow. You might as well get your tools out and make that hole in the front. I did, and boy does it help - even if the fan is running on reduced voltage as mine.

 

It's very hazy, but I was probably overclocking, too... That thing with the V5 was odd--after my "surgery" it just refused to initialize at boot. IIRC I "let it sit" overnight (I guess because I was disgusted with myself), and the next morning after a dozen or more CTRL-ALT-DLT warm reboots it finally initialized and worked perfectly ever since (I still have it in a drawer around here somewhere, I think.) It really did seem miraculous to me at the time, but I suspect the cause of the resurrection was something very mundane--like the heat of the warmed up motherboard expanding some slot pins and causing them to make contact, etc...

 

when i crank up the fan to 2400rpm the case temp goes down fast and its still not the loudest fan in the box, my PSU is other than the 1800xt stock fan at 33% .A 65w with a 9500.. should be in the 30c range.

 

Yeah, I'm hoping to turn that 9500's fan speed down low, depending on how the Extreme (2.93) temps fare with it.

 

Got the 9500 in the mail today and did a practice install run with it on an old 925X motherboard. Not too hard to install aside from getting the retention clip between the heat pipes and then turning it parallel to the motherboard.

 

Tangentially related (I try to avoid new threads for minor stuff). . . Inq reporting a new cooler being developed for R600. Hope springs eternal, so I'll make offerings at Rys' Jeff Fu shrine and hope for the best. . .

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32712

 

I have nothing new to contribute other than "Wow, JR doing mods??! I never thought I'd see the day!"

Next up: JR does watercooling!

 

Yeah, the fact that someone as cheap as myself has spent over $100 on fans here lately is pretty surprising.

 

I think you need to lap that x1900xtx core for better cooling Just lap till you start to see copper!

If you ever need to borrow a dremel to cut some holes in your case just let me know - though a real modder gets his own dremel!

 

I'd stay away from the VGA coolers since they void your warranty and are always a headache to install. I'll tell you the best cooling solution for this card.

Take two Sunon 84cfm 120mm fans (or two other 120mm fans with good airflow).

Take one of those clips off the back of your computer case that covers your PCI slots.

Super-glue the first 120mm fan onto that clip so that the airflow of the fan will be facing upward when you reinstall the clip.

Super-glue the second 120mm fan to the first 120mm fan with the airflow facing the same direction. Like this:

[[[[]]]]]] (graphics card)

^^^^^ (airflow)

[ ] [ ] (2 120mm fans glued to PCI-E clip)

Reinstall the clip, and you have yourself the ultimate graphics card fan that will blow some serious air right up onto your card. And if you do this right and don't make a mess, it won't look ghetto.

My friend did this with his 1900XT and idles at 38C now, which is 6 degrees cooler than my 7900GTX. Under full load he never hits 60C anymore--even in intense graphics like Oblivion and FEAR.