Advice on a VGA Cooler and a CPU cooler

[sektor]

Looking to add all the cooling items I can to my computer so it will run nice and chilly.

I have:

x1900xt vid card. Thinking of replacing it with something to chill it even further.
Any recommendations for a good VGA cooler?

I was looking at a Zalman 900 model. Never put a aftermarket VGA cooler on, so this would be a first.

I am buying a AMD 3800+ CPU on Monday when the price cuts are coming out. I do plan on OC'ing it from 2.4gz to at least. 2.6ghz with hopes for 2.8ghz.

What is a good heatsink for this cpu? I was looking at the following:

Artic Cooling

I was also going to get some Artic thermal paste as well.

 

[chuckshissle]

Thermaltake Big Typhoon for the cpu and Artic Cooling for the graphics card. Cool and quite performance I can tell you that for I have used this products before.

 

[Scarchunk]

The Zalman 900 is a great vga cooler and it is extremely easy to install. I put one on a 6800GS mainly to quiet it down, but my temps idle at 39-42C and 53C is the highest I've been able to get it to while in 3dMark 06 or rthdribl. I used to hit low 70C's under full load occasionally with the stock cooler. I am also able to get a stable OC of 500/1200 with the Zalman. WIth the stock I was barely able to hit 1154 on the mem without artfacts. Did I mention that this cooler is extremely quiet and I have the fan turned down about half way? As for the Arctic Cooler cpu HS/F, I haven't used that one personally, but I use the Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro 7 on my P4 and I love the horizontal orientation for blowing the hot air directly out my 120mm outake fan.

 

[AlexanderTheGreat]

Zalman VF900 is a fine choice for your x1900xt.
You should be able to take it to 690/750 through that CCC, once you successfully install the 900 that is.

As for the CPU I too second Zalman.

 

[The_Prophecy]

VGA Cooler: Zalman VF900

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500

If that's an AM2 X2 3800+ you're getting (please specify next time), then you'll need to get the AM2 version of the CNPS9500

 

[AlexanderTheGreat]

VGA Cooler: Zalman VF900

CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS9500

If that's an AM2 X2 3800+ you're getting (please specify next time), then you'll need to get the AM2 version of the CNPS9500

GOOD WORK, I was a bit lazy to put the link up.

yeah, Zalman is a state of the art after market cooling solution that will drive the heat away from the CPU faster and more efficiently than any other cooler while running longer and more quietly. Just make sure you've got the right one.

 

[sjps220]

its not the X2. He said he's overclocking from 2.4 ghz so its a single core.

Most people will say the zalman 9500, but keep in mind that it costs way more than the freezer 64 pro, which is also a great cooler. Check out frosty tech's numbers for both sound and temp and see if it warrants the price difference.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1895&page=4

I'd say go with the arctic cooling

For the gpu, I'd go either zalman or arctic cooling for sure.

 

[The_Prophecy]

its not the X2. He said he's overclocking from 2.4 ghz so its a single core.

The number of cores doesn't matter one way or another.... what matters is what socket the chip is using.

 

[sjps220]

yeah you're right. I misread your post and thought you were asking him to specify whether the the 3800 was X2 or not. Sorry.

 

[The_Prophecy]

No problem.... we all miss little details in posts every so often... I did it in another thread about 10 minutes ago myself...

 

[AlexanderTheGreat]

Same here, which is redundant. I accidently said that future GPU's will be dual core. May be 2 cores/processors side by side or something.

 

[DaveUK]

The Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer Accelero X2 has some good reviews too.

I *very* nearly bought one of these, but in the end I settled for the HIS ICEQ version of the X1900XT which comes with a similarly-performing special heatpipe cooler solution of its own. It's the hottest time of the year and I wasn't in the mood for dismantling things. I just wanted to plug and play

 

[The_Prophecy]

Same here, which is redundant. I accidently said that future GPU's will be dual core. May be 2 cores/processors side by side or something.

I don't doubt Nvidia and ATI will head the dual core route like AMD and Intel have..... it just might take awhile.

 

[paybax]

Hey SEc,
ZZZZZalman is DA BOMB
Like the other guys said, it's easy to install and looks sweet in a build too. The BIG TYPHOON is pretty awsome as well.
For now I only have the stock coolers but if I ever dicide to go with aftermarket....I'm gonna do a Zalman

RIG specs
Antec P180 PerformanceSeries Mid-Tower Case
SeaSonic S12 600 watt power supply
Asus A8N32 SLI mobo AMD N-Force 4 SLIX16 (bios 1103 V02.58)
RealTek 97 onboard digital 5.1 Surround
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ Toledo Core, 2 X 1mb L2 cache (AMD drivers w/MS hotfix)
2 gigs of Corsair TwinX3500LL Pro @ 437Mhz 2-3-2-6-1T
2- BFG Tech 7900 GT OC 256mb in SLI (nvidia driver 91.31)
Western Digital RAPTOR 74.3 gig 10-K rpm HDD for XP & Apps
Maxtor SATA II 250 G HDD for gaming, movies, MP3's
Maxtor SATA II 250 G HDD for document backup (unplugged)
Sony CD rom 52X
Plextor 708-A DVD/CD rom
Logitech Z-5500 digital 5.1 THX Surround 500watts

 

[blood_44]

i dont have much of a recommendation for a cpu cooler, all i have is a Zalman 7000B. but as for the vga cooler i highly recommend the Sytrin KuFormula VF1-Plus. Ive got a x1800xt and had a little trouble installing it due to the fact that its a dualslot vid card which is what your card is. but after the initial setback this thing is unreal. went from a stock idle temp of 58C with AS5 down to 42C with the VF1-Plus. thats on the high setting which is audible, but on the low fan setting its completely silent and only raises the temp 1C to 43.

max load before was over 80C, but after two hours rthdribl and ati tools 3D view it maxed at 54C with the VF1! i know everyone can add and subtract but thats a 26 - 30C difference from the stock cooler at max load.

with those temps i went ahead and oc'd it from 618 and 1466 to 740mhz core clock and 1600mhz mem clock. at those speeds i idle at 46C and hit a max load temp of 59C.

i really think this is one of the best vga coolers on the market. my friend revamped his system at the same time and got the 512mb version of my card and he also put a zalman vga cooler on it, he's seeing temps about 6 - 10C higher than mine at a slower clock with the same thermal paste used.

good luck with your choice and build

- tc

 

[The_Prophecy]

i really think this is one of the best vga coolers on the market. my friend revamped his system at the same time and got the 512mb version of my card and he also put a zalman vga cooler on it, he's seeing temps about 6 - 10C higher than mine at a slower clock with the same thermal paste used.

It depends on how much paste was used too.... I accidentally applied too much AS 5 to my CPU heatsink when I was reapplying it one day.... my CPU temps jumped by 5C on idle, and 7C on load. I removed and reapplied the right amount and the temps went back to normal. Now on another matter....

WOOT! This is my 1000'th post....

 

[blood_44]

congrats you old hand you.

im pretty sure that the TIM was applied the same but the only way to really tell would be to take it off and reapply it.

 

[dimas]

Was anybody able to install VF1-Plus on X1900XT?
My ASUS version is on it's way and I'm not sure if it is possible to install it..