Arctic Cooling VGA silencer - how good?

[ChipDeath]

I'm bored, so I'm toying with the idea of invalidating the warranty on yet another of my PC components, namely my 9800Pro. Plus it would be nice to get rid of another source of noise in my case.

I think I've seen a few people mention the VGA silencer before, and I'm suprised at how cheaply I can buy it from <A HREF="http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Other_Coolers_57.html" target="_new">here</A> .

Is it a worthwhile purchase? My card is not too fantastic in the overclocking department ATM - XT speeds are doable, but with the recent hot weather here I've started getting Artifacts, so I just whacked it back to stock speeds for now. Do you think I could get a stable Core at 420Mhz with this thing? (as I understand it it blows the hot air out the back of the case)

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Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[ChipDeath]

Oh, and Are RAMsinks actually worth it? I've seen a number of people say they don't help...

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[ChipDeath]

Well, no-one wants to talk to me... :frown: ...

But I read a few reviews and decided to buy one anyway - It's not like it's horribly expensive, after all, and anything that helps lower case temps seems attractive to me.

I have Another question really - Anyone have any idea how much air this blower fan design actually pushes? I was considering perhaps removing the blower and bolting a ~31CFM 80mm fan to the cooler instead if it'll give more airflow. Granted this'll add yet <i>another</i> inch to the width of what is already going to be pretty huge, but I have the space . None of the reviews (or arctic cooling's site) seem to actually give this information, but I've seen some threads where they say it's not very powerful (and even some where people claim it seems to blowing air in the wrong direction)

Anyone have any idea?

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[The_Neon_Cowboy]

artic cooler will help if you over clocking but it's not any quieter then the stock cooler...

ram sinks can help if you over clocking

<font color=blue>The Hardware Junkie</font color=blue>

 

[selfbuilt]

My BBA 9800Pro with an Arctic VGA silencer rev3 can easily do 420 core without breaking a sweat (including in Doom3 - no artifacting for hours on end). I haven't tried pushing it further yet, but should be possible.

My silencer certainly moves air in the right direction (i.e. out of the case), but the enclosure gap on the rev3 cooler is about 3/4 of a centimeter in my case, so I'm sure some hot air leaks out into the case.

As for ram sinks, it basically seems to come down to whether or not you have a side-mounted fan blowing on the card. The only significant increased o/c I've ever heard of came about in those cases ... seems you need a lot of air moving over them to be of any value. I've got a set of OCZ copper BGA ramsinks (low profile, fit with arctic silencer), and if nothing else, they certainly look pretty



Where does good judgement come from? Experience. Where does experience come from? Bad judgement.

 

[ChipDeath]

Thanks for the replies. I'm most concerned about lowering Case temps at the mo, so I'll probably come up with some way of sorting out that small gap (I saw it mentioned in a couple of the reviews I was looking at).

How much air does it shift compared to something like a regular 80mm Case fan? (bearing in mind that a Casefan would feel stronger if the airflow was funneled down to the same size as the exhaust on the Silencer)

Did you remove the Shim around the core when you fitted yours? or does it still make good contact with the core anyway? I don't want to have to use excessive amounts of thermal paste to 'fill the gap' if I can avoid it...

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro @412/740

 

[selfbuilt]

Removing the shim is NOT recommended (lots of cracked cores out there!). The problem with the large gap was on the 9700 cores ... the 9800's (mine's a R350) seem to be closer to level of the shim. Regardless, my temps went down compared to stock cooling using a thin layer of AS5, so I know it works (I have athermal probe attached on back). Interestingly, they had used some sort of thermal paste on the stock setup (they used to have thermal pads on the old ones).

As for how much air is moved, my subjective impression is that it isn't very high. But as I said, it was enough to lower my thermal sensor temps (silencer on low, peak temps lower by about 2-3 degrees, on high, about 7-8 degrees). Can't say I see much of diff in overall case temps, though.

Still, a fun toy and it makes me feel better while o/cing.

Where does good judgement come from? Experience. Where does experience come from? Bad judgement.

 

[phial]

artic cooler will help if you over clocking but it's not any quieter then the stock cooler...

hah, uh, yea it is

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<A HREF="http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/you.html" target="_new">please dont click here! </A>

Brand name whores are stupid!

 

[CaptainNemo]

It is quieter than the stock cooler, but is it really worth invalidating your warranty?

I have a nice R9700 Pro paperweight on my desk with an Arctic attached to it that expired within its warranty period (don't know why). Its original owner doesn't seem too bothered by losing £200+ quid on a bit of hardware (probably because he didn't pay for it), but I would be...

Axis of Stupid = coop, Kanavit, FUGGER, SoDNighthawk, and ninkey.

 

[Willamette_sucks]

FYI ChipDeath, the VGA silencer blows nowhere near 31 CFM, so that could be a good mod!

Me: are you saying I can't provide?
Me: cause I know I can provide.
Me: oh and I can provide money too
Rachel: why do we need money when we can just stay in our room and have sex all day?

 

[ChipDeath]

I've installed it, and the installation went fine. I used a little AS3 I had kicking around rather than the thermal gloop it comes with, and after initial fitting removed the HS and there was a neat little square of compound on the contact surface, so it's getting a good contact. Had a minor 'panic moment, when I turned it back on and got the 'Graphics card is fcuked' beeps, but then realised I'd forgotten to plug the molex back in! :redface:

I was getting minor 'Water Snow' artifacts in 3dMark 03 Nature @ 412 core, but now it's completely fine at 418, so I've gained there! More to go I'm sure..

You're right about the fan - it barely seems to move air at all. I've never really been a fan of these blower style fans - they seem to waste all their time blowing air all over the place rather than in one uniform direction. I think I'll probably go ahead with that mod in the next few days. I've made a post in the GPU overclocking section about problems I had with trying to flash the BIOS, so I might ask for some suggestions there....

Looking at the stock cooler now, and it's really amazing how small + pathetic looking it is, compared to the one I now have on there. :lol:

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[ChipDeath]

is it really worth invalidating your warranty?

Financially speaking.. Not really. But I've already screwed the warranty on my Mobo & CPU cooler, so I thought I'd go for a hat-trick :lol: .

So far I've always gained performance from the mods, maybe one day I'll suffer a catastrophic failure and it'll put me off...

---
Epox 8RDA+ V1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @200x10 (~2Ghz), 1.4 Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL/1x512Mb Corsair XMS PC4000 2.5-3-3-7
Sapphire 9800Pro (VGA Silencer Rev3) @418/742

 

[Willamette_sucks]

I blew my warrantee very quickly as well... for all 3 of the said components

Me: are you saying I can't provide?
Me: cause I know I can provide.
Me: oh and I can provide money too
Rachel: why do we need money when we can just stay in our room and have sex all day?

 

[daddywags214]

Is there some way that you could like invalidate the warranty for your sound card or something? That would be so cool. 4 for 4! I'm gonna start experimenting with my Audigy 2. MAYBE I CAN OVERCLOCK IT!!!

AHHH <b>MOTHERLAND!!!!!</b>

 

[etp777]

Don't forget to open up your power supply, and take that little sticker off your hard drive covering one of the screws(one that says warrnty invalid if this sticker is removed)

 

[addiarmadar]

For the 9800pro most definately worth the investment. Those stock HSFs on the 9800s are weak and burn VERY HOT. The VGA silencer is a requirement in my books.

Mobile Barton 2500+ @ 2420mhz 11x220 1.7v
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
Segata 80gb SATA 8.5ms seek
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to XT(463/795)

 

[addiarmadar]

RAMsinks really dont change much unless you seriously OC the RAM or maybe flash it with the XT bios.

Mobile Barton 2500+ @ 2420mhz 11x220 1.7v
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
Segata 80gb SATA 8.5ms seek
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to XT(463/795)

 

[addiarmadar]

Thats the only thing I have against the VGA silence is the some of the exhaust will leak out. Just make some makeshift duct to extend the exhaust end outside the case.

Mobile Barton 2500+ @ 2420mhz 11x220 1.7v
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
Segata 80gb SATA 8.5ms seek
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro to XT(463/795)