Hey guys,
I've had an X1900XT card for almost a year now, and it's still serving me very well, but I'm at my wit's end with the fan noise and the heat. The fan no longer adjusts automatically in relation to the heat for some reason, and if I want to play any game, I always have to turn up the fan to 100% and THAT is LOUD.
I know the X1900XT/X cards run hot, but even at 100% it can go up to 80-85C, so I can never lower the fan speed to reduce the noise.
I've been considering some alternatives, Arctic Cooling Accelero X2, and the Zalman VGA coolers, but I've seen many reviews that just don't recommend them over the stock cooler. For one thing, the Zalmans dump all the heat into the case and don't have a back exhaust, they don't run as fast as the stock cooler hence they don't cool it as well as that does, but they are silent. The AC Accelero also has the same problems, as it directs the hot air to the motherboard, also doesn't really cool as well as you'd expect, but it is silent (BTW my motherboard runs at about 50C@load so I don't think it would be good to let it go any higher).
I've considered watercooling, but it's too expensive (a bit short on cash at the moment), and I'm not sure that I have a case that is made with watercooling in mind (NZXT Lexa midtower).
Regardless, I'd like to hear your recommendations (aftermarket HSFs, water-cooling... doesn't matter, I'd still like to hear what you have to say), or ideas, especially if you've been through the same dilemma.
BTW, it is a Sapphire card if it matters at all. My friend has the same card from MSI and according to him, his fan doesn't make as much noise, and the card doesn't run as hot (mine is idling right now@62C AFTER having underclocked it to 500/600 and lowered the vcore to 1.3 in a room temp of 24.8C with the fan running at 32%).
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance.
I've had an X1900XT card for almost a year now, and it's still serving me very well, but I'm at my wit's end with the fan noise and the heat. The fan no longer adjusts automatically in relation to the heat for some reason, and if I want to play any game, I always have to turn up the fan to 100% and THAT is LOUD.
I know the X1900XT/X cards run hot, but even at 100% it can go up to 80-85C, so I can never lower the fan speed to reduce the noise.
I've been considering some alternatives, Arctic Cooling Accelero X2, and the Zalman VGA coolers, but I've seen many reviews that just don't recommend them over the stock cooler. For one thing, the Zalmans dump all the heat into the case and don't have a back exhaust, they don't run as fast as the stock cooler hence they don't cool it as well as that does, but they are silent. The AC Accelero also has the same problems, as it directs the hot air to the motherboard, also doesn't really cool as well as you'd expect, but it is silent (BTW my motherboard runs at about 50C@load so I don't think it would be good to let it go any higher).
I've considered watercooling, but it's too expensive (a bit short on cash at the moment), and I'm not sure that I have a case that is made with watercooling in mind (NZXT Lexa midtower).
Regardless, I'd like to hear your recommendations (aftermarket HSFs, water-cooling... doesn't matter, I'd still like to hear what you have to say), or ideas, especially if you've been through the same dilemma.
BTW, it is a Sapphire card if it matters at all. My friend has the same card from MSI and according to him, his fan doesn't make as much noise, and the card doesn't run as hot (mine is idling right now@62C AFTER having underclocked it to 500/600 and lowered the vcore to 1.3 in a room temp of 24.8C with the fan running at 32%).
Sorry for the long post, and thanks in advance.