Best GPU Cooler for $$$?

[Vario]

Whats the best GPU cooler for the money? I am looking to boost the performance of my x800xl. Also, whats the difference between the various Zalmans (vf700, Fatality, etc)? With the current stock heatsink I am running about 38 idle and 55ish while gaming at 420/510 clock. Will an aftermarket cooler give me any noticable performance? I mounted a 120mm fan directly over my video card area and it gave me a huge boost in overclockability, dropping my ambient temperature.

Off topic, but will my clocks stay if I have ati tool closed, or does it have to be running?

 

[jjcom]

You'd probably not gain a whole lot, since the R430 core just doesn't clock well You might gain 10mhz on the core...maybe.

The vf-700 uses a slower fan than the Fatality version...I think there's a 500RPM different or something. There both quiet from what I've heard though, so if your looking for quieter, than either should do fine.

 

[Vario]

Ok thanks. I guess Ill play around with the card and the stock cooler a bit more.

Out of curiosity, when I run find max core or find max memory, should the temperature soar past 60*C? I mean, when I run find max core, my core goes up to 440 or so without crashing or artifacting but the temperature gets up around 70*C, which is a bit high (Im scared to have it go much past 60*C).

Whats the best way to tell if the card is over-overclocked?

 

[jjcom]

oh, then that after market cooler will probably do ya good I don't let my X800GTO break 60*C either, but thats because mine becomes unstable. That vf 700 will do ya good then

 

[SunShine]

Zalman vf700 is better cooler.

 

[Dillinger]

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=5

 

[trog100]

the artic vga cooler (cheap as well) keeps my modded x800 GTO² 540 core 600 memory at about 52C under load and low 30s at idle.. it also does it in near silence as well.. i would say about 10c cooler than the stock one which did get pretty noisy when it had some work to do..

i do have one of those "pretty" (huge) zalman Aero Flower cpu coolers thow.. with three or four blue and green leds pointing at it the whole thing glows and looks like a nuclear reactor.. he he he

trog

 

[Polaris573]

I'm trying to decide between the Zalman VF700-CU or the arctic silencer for my 6800. I like the arctic silencer because it blows hot air out of my case and covers the RAM as well. I've heard good things about the Zalman and the GPU heatsink looks good, but the dinky RAM sinks they send concern me. Will they be enough to get a good RAM overclock? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[ShadowFlare]

I'm trying to decide between the Zalman VF700-CU or the arctic silencer for my 6800. I like the arctic silencer because it blows hot air out of my case and covers the RAM as well. I've heard good things about the Zalman and the GPU heatsink looks good, but the dinky RAM sinks they send concern me. Will they be enough to get a good RAM overclock? Your thoughts would be appreciated.

On that card are all the memory chips on the front? If so, the ramsinks will all likely get cooled significantly by the fan on the gpu heatsink. I know that on the cards I've installed the VF700-Cu/AlCu, the ramsinks on the front didn't even get warm to the touch. Based on that, I'd say it cools the front ram chips very well. If the card does have RAM chips on the back, then the little ramsinks with the VF700 may not allow as high of a RAM overclock.

-EDIT-

Looking at pics of the 6800 cards, I see that none have RAM chips on the back, so the ramsinks should be fine being used along with the VF700.

 

[infrared]

I'd recommend the ATI Silencer 5rev.2

It's extemely quiet, with a very high airflow coming through the HS and out the back of the PC. I got my r430 another 20-25mhz depending on ambient temperature, but the core temps never go above 40c now, it's awsome!

You won't get much more performance out of the RAM if it's 2.0ns. It doesn't seem to respond to being cooled. They will probably last longer though. I got another 5mhz on my Ram.

 

[giorgos th.]

i`ve got the VF700-cu and i have the exact same temps with trog on my 6600GT.it is stable from 500/900 to 595/1100.
veeery nice.with the fan working at 7V...

 

[spectre440]

i'd definantly go with the silencer if i were you.
quiet. awesome cooling performance. and it blows the hot ait OUT the back of your case.

 

[Sasqui]

Off topic, but will my clocks stay if I have ati tool closed, or does it have to be running?

I cant' speak for the best air cooler (I've now got water!) You will in almost all cases see a performance improvement with a better heatsink, and your card will likely last longer. There are some great reveiws on this site. Getting over the mid 60's prolonged is unhealthy, make sure ATITool is maxing your fan at 100% when you get over 55c (assuming fan control on that card). That kept my card below 65c at full load, where before it would climb well into the 70s!

And speaking of ATITool closing, it always seems to be running but I noticed lately, there is no tray icon ;0? (I have it loading on startup), but if you want to be sure, go to settings -> Miscellaneous -> [x] Minimize on close (check this option), if you close the dialog, you should still see it in the tray. A right-click tray option to "exit" is there, but I still think the settings are retained, even when you exit - anybody (?).

One way to test is to set the fan on your card to HIGH in ATITool for anything above 0c. If your fan is spinning at 100% idle, ATITool is presumably still doing it's thing in the background. I tried it on a machine at work (X850XT PE), and even after exiting, the fan was at 100%. Happy OC'ing.

 

[trog100]

here is how i have mine set with the artic cooler.. i also use the atitool 3d detect.. it loads 540/600 for games and the cards default 400/490 when 3d shuts down..

there is a huge 20c plus heat increase as soon as the card starts working.. 33c to about 53c for round figures.. not much point in running the fan flat out when it isnt needed.. its wears it out quicker and just makes noise..

i use abit guru software clocking for my system speeds as well.. its goes from 2.2 to 2.9 gig with a few in betweens depending on what i am running..

once u get used to this auto clocking thing.. speed when needed silence when not kinda thing it would be hard to go without it..

i love em both.. atitool and abit guru... he he he

trog

 

[Polaris573]

So both of them are great. That's good to know. Space is at a premium right now in my micro ATX case so I may go with the zalman since it takes up less space. However, I'm thinking about getting a larger case if I can work around some of the proprietary Dell junk. If I do then I'll get the arctic silencer.

 

[infrared]

I'm pretty sure the Silencer has a lower profile to the card. But it's spread over a larger area, so it's really deciding on which one meets your space requirements best. Either way is good.

Ahh, dell!

Oh well, at least you've got a decent PSU, that will help get a good overclock.

 

[Sasqui]

i love em both.. atitool and abit guru... he he he
trog

ATITool is a Godsend! What is your Motherboard / Sys? Specs, please...

 

[Shadowkull]

ati silencer or fatality are all good, u might also wanna try the termaltake ones.. forgot what they were called off top of my head

 

[Polaris573]

Ahh, dell!

Fortunately, the motherboard will be the only "Dell" component left if I get a new case. But it's the worst component in there! I don't want to buy a new motherboard because I'm building a new computer this summer, and I promised myself no more updates for this system unless they can be used in the next one.

 

[trog100]

sasqui my system specs

AMD 3700 san diego up to 2900 MHz (11 x 264) abit software controled

Zalman CNPS9500-LED Aero Flower CPU cooler abit sofware controled

Abit AX8 VIA K8T890 motherboard passive chipset cooling

2048 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM) generic (nanya oem stuff) cas-3 stuff set to cas 2.5 and 333 at default 200fsb.. just over 400 at 2.9

Sapphire ATI Radeon X800 GTO² modded to 16 pipelines and clocked 540 core 600 mem for gaming.. atitool software controled..

Arctic Cooling Rev.2 ATI 5 (X850 Series) VGA Silencer fans speed atitool software controled

Jeantech Arctic JN120F-600AP12V2 power supply.. fan speed hardware temp controled

Two maxtor internal idie drives .. 80 and 120.. plus a few external USB drives.. about 600 gigs total..

cheapo i-cute case with windows in the side and top.. three 82mm led fans abit sofware controled

trog

ps.. i forgot the usual dvd burner.. my audio is just onboard but it is connected up to a pair of 75 watt self powered sub woofers plus a 250 watt five in one power amp driving two front tower speakers five drivers per speaker and one centre three drivers.. plus two rears with three drivers in eack.. 21 drivers in all counting the two subs.. i aint got many case fans just lots of speakers.. he he he

oh and just 17 inch lcd monitor plus 32 inch TV for film watching.. it a kind of mulitmedia living room set up that does the lot..

 

[W2hCYK]

my VF700 keeps my R430 core @ 36c with 1.7v... 61c max, but I'm now running 595/600

and tight memory timings as well... but core cooling has nothing to do with memory timings

 

[Sasqui]

sasqui my system specs

ps.. i forgot the usual dvd burner.. my audio is just onboard but it is connected up to a pair of 75 watt self powered sub woofers plus a 250 watt five in one power amp driving two front tower speakers five drivers per speaker and one centre three drivers.. plus two rears with three drivers in eack.. 21 drivers in all counting the two subs.. i aint got many case fans just lots of speakers.. he he he

Nice... obviously putting your system to good use - speakers sound a lot better than fans. I haven't gone total mutimedia with mine, except using it for my Audio system - DVD's still look much better on HD tv and set-top Upconverting player... even messing with CCC, I see blocky motion aliasing which is a shame considering the monitor I'm using... my sone doesn't mind though And you must be getting good memory bandwidth! I was selfishly asking as want to learn more about uGuru, for one, I can't get my PCIEx clock to anything but "Auto" - it's an Abit AG8 (with uGuru), perhaps it'a limitation on the 915 chipset, I don't know. Sounds like a great rig.

 

[infrared]

my VF700 keeps my R430 core @ 36c with 1.7v... 61c max, but I'm now running 595/600

and tight memory timings as well... but core cooling has nothing to do with memory timings

Are you sure that's an R430 core? I doubt you could get clocks that high with liquid nitrogen cooling on it!

Pretty awsome though if it is an R430

 

[Shadowkull]

R430 clocks maybe 10mhz higher on average... thats definatley not right lol or ur just lucky as hell

 

[W2hCYK]

hrm... ati tool shows as an R430, i have the AGP version, bought an X800 Pro vivo

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v347/Napalm_Fire/radeonbackround.jpg