Fan suggestion X1950XT

[x800professor]

It's also http://www.accurateit.com/ now.

 

[x800professor]

Well, it's still a tie. Lovely.

 

[Sasqui]

Even if I can't control the fan?

Oh, no shit... bummer, missed little tidbit - I wonder what the fan sounds like on that thing?

 

[AshenSugar]

well the zalman maxed out is SILENT

 

[x800professor]

well the zalman maxed out is SILENT

And is now in the lead! Yay for Zalman.

 

[trt740]

No the Zalman maxed out is not silent I've had one but the Accelerox2 is, the advantage the Zalman has is it comes with a fan controller and is quiet on high but far from silent. The Arctic cooler is in fact silent not quiet, Silent!!!!! Also the Zalman Looks slightly better and is silent at about 80% on the fan controller. They perform very close so close I couldn't really tell you which was better. I will tell you the Zalman Is also more future proof since they generally fit almost every video card where the Arctic cooler won't. The Arctic cooler for the price / performance is better bang for the buck. If you have the money flip a coin. The only cooling device where one or the other takes the lead is case fans the Arctic cooler 120mm Ac12 is the best!!!!! but that another topic.

 

[Pinchy]

No the Zalman maxed out is not silent I've had one but the Accelerox2 is, the advantage the Zalman has is it comes with a fan controller and is quiet on high but far from silent. The Arctic cooler is in fact silent not quiet, Silent!!!!! Also the Zalman Looks slightly better and is silent at about 80% on the fan controller..

Thats all true, but i dont think thats enough to spend almost double the price for it

 

[trt740]

I can see that point, Arctic cooler is the king of Bang for your buck.

 

[Pinchy]

If price is no issue what-so-ever, go zalman...its got the fan controller, and i reckon looks better.

If price does phase you, and you dont mind having an elephant on ur card , go AC, its really silent (even at 100%), great cooling and cools the whole card with heatpipes

 

[trt740]

It really is a monster and on hi might double as a delta wing silent stealth fighter

 

[AshenSugar]

humm, mines silent, i tested it outside my case b4 installing it, even dirrectly powerd by the psu i couldnt hear it without putting ur ear next to the fan.

now the vf700 was a bit louder(lighted version) but duno if that was due to the fan itself or bad barings(the fan failed after 4 months, zalman replaced that one with the fat1ity unit free of charge)

personaly i find my zalman cools the whole card quite well, the only heat issues i had where 100% due to the vrm heatsink needing gooped( common if you check other forums) once gooped the zalman blows air over the WHOLE CARD keeping it happy.

i added some cheap stickon memory sinks(the kind got TSOP ddr modules) to the cards regs as well just to keep all temps as low as possable , the stock cooler was a bit noisy when i tested it off the card, would bee good for blowing out ur case maby

 

[tkpenalty]

Accelero X2 is a better design, the heat from the GPU and ram are transferred through three heatpipes and dissipated by the cooling fan and fins. The VF900CU is similar but, it blows hot air from the "flower cooler" onto the RAM sometimes even heating up the RAM (My own experience with a similar setup).

The more heatpipes you have, the bigger your <Insert part here>.

Accelero X2 IMHO is by far the best if you don't consider water cooling. At 100% fan speeds it basically sounds the same as it is at 0%... I couldn't note any difference in noise!!!

The VF900 will make some noise at 100% fan speed.

Note that the VF900 is more efficient in transferring heat as opposed to the VF900... a double edged sword as the fan is blowing straight down, pumping heat down (up) to the PCB around it, heating up the memory!!!!!!!, the AcceleroX2 does not do that, with the heatpipes on ALL the components, then the heat being transferred off the PCB. The Accelero has a hole on the side to blow the memory, using the fresh intake air.

The VF900 will not heed better results than the Accelero X2 overall, especially for memory cooling.

(This debate is as heated or even more heated than ATI VS NVIDIA its a case of AC VS Zalman now!!! OH NOES!!!)

EDIT: The AcceleroX2 delivers more performance and better thermal paste for a much cheaper price than the VF900 CU overall.

Still not convinced?

The VF900 is heavier than the AccleroX2 and has one less heatpipe = less efficiency.

 

[AshenSugar]

you fail it, you fail to note that the accelero also spreds heat from the GPU to the ram and everything else due to design, also blowing ALOT of heat backinto the system.

every vf900 i have seen has lowered ram and card temps, the heat the vf900 is dissapaiting isnt any higher then the ram already is on most of these acrds, and the movement of air keeps the ram from building up heat, had AC made the accelero so it blew the heat out the back of the case then i would agree it was better, but after ALOT of research b4 i got my card and cooler for myself(including installing 2 acceleros and a few zalmans for people) i found i preferd not blowing that much heat onto my motherboard and also not having that truely MASSIVE cooler on my card, and one of the acceleros installed wasnt 100% silent if you put your ear to the cooler u could hear it same as the 900.

and more heatpipes dosnt alwase mean more efficent, thats like saying more mhz means faster(netburst logic) the pipes used on the vf900 are shorter and larger around then the ones used on the accelro, diffrent designs, and diffrent ways to dissapait heat, i just prefer that my card not bloe all that heat dirrectly onto my mobo heating up the pcb+chipset+every other chip on the board+any addin cards below it.

perf wise, well if installed properly eather ones gonna do the job.

and water coolings a pain in the arse!!!

 

[x800professor]

...and of course it's a tie again.

 

[Wile E]

I have the Accelero X2 on my X1800, it's silent and it cools well. Although everyone complains that it heats the board, in my case, chipset temps went up 2-3*C. More than acceptable, imo. If those 2-3*C are gonna cause probs with your chipset, then it was already time to find a better cooling solution for it. I should also note that I have great airflow, so if your setup doesn't move a lot of air the heat will become more of an issue. The way I see it, although the Zalman may not blow directly on the chipset, it still blows in the case, therefore bringing system temps up as well. So the system heat argument is moot between the 2, anyway. The Zalman almost costs twice as much as the Accelero as well. You could use that extra money to buy some case fans and help evacuate any heat caused by it.

 

[tkpenalty]

The VF doesn't cool the GPU better than the AcceleroX2! X800Professor, with the extra money you can buy heaps of fans, blowers, and even a better chipset cooler.

 

[Pinchy]

I say its a tie, they cool around the same, BUT, i dont think the zalman is worth almost double the price for just the fan controller...

 

[AshenSugar]

some other options that are cheap and get the job done and for the most part are univercil for any card u throw them on.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835124006
kingwin heatpipe, comes with 3 fans and the works, its 15bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835999001
logisys 18bucks, comes with LARGE fan, works fine on any card u like and coolls whole card same as kingwin just diffrent layout.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835133011
18bucks
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835133010
20bucks eather looks like a decent cooler, i havent had the chance to install one yet tho.


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118216
and the zalman heatpipe unit that works on virtualy any videocard, you can add a fan (zalman has one or u can add your own, i used a 14cm fan (green lighted) on the last one i installed)

 

[tkpenalty]

>_>, the Zalman heatpipe cooler sucks man wtf... Why do you even recommend it? Its good for silence and compatability, not good enough for the X1950XT i'm afraid. These that you recommended don't work on the X1950 series.

 

[AshenSugar]

the ones i listed work on pretty much any card, and the zalman heatpipe(dual pipe) is more then enought to cool a x1900xtx as long as you add a fan be it a 70mm fan,80mm fan,92mmb fan, 120mm fan or 140mm fan.

i have installed them on 1800xt and 1900xtx cards, and they did the job quite well, they have alot of serfice area and with some airflow they can dissapate alot of heat.

this isnt the OLD heatpipe this is the newer version that uses 2 gold plaited coper pipes, but even the old one can do the trick, as i have seen from my buddys overclocked x1900xtx(bios overclocked).

as i said the middle 2 i havent used, but they are listed as working for the x1k cards(1800xt/1900 included) the heatpipes, they all work on whatever card you wana slap them on.

till you have acctualy installed some of these coolers or tested them maby u shouldnt say "they wont work" or "they arent good enough" i have seen people say a freezer64pro isnt good enought to cool an overclocked a64, i have seen people say that the iceberq copper chipset cooler wasnt good enought to cool modern mobo chipsets, guess what, its better then any mobo chipset stock cooler i have ever seen, be it heatpipe, massive passive, acctive sink or whatever u like.

i went with the vf900 because it had very good reviews and would work on any card i had/came into and it was on sale so i spend 28bucks on it(about 6bucks more then the accelero x2 at the time) i had installed an accelro and didnt like the massive size+heat being dirrected at my mobo heating up the chipset(would be getting almost dirrect heat from the videocard)
even the zalman heatpipe dosnt take up as much space as the accelero, and it aint small

 

[Zubasa]

>_>, the Zalman heatpipe cooler sucks man wtf... Why do you even recommend it? Its good for silence and compatability, not good enough for the X1950XT i'm afraid. These that you recommended don't work on the X1950 series.

Actually the Zalman isn't bad at all, I just got one today and it works nicely.

 

[lufrey]

There is a lot of argument about cost. I think as enthusiasts, the money that you spend on a decent performing cooler is worth it. Plus, it has to look decent also, and I don't think the Zalman units are exactly ugly.

For me, looks is secondary to cooling performance, and most Zalman coolers that I have used, are up there with the best.

 

[lufrey]

>_>, the Zalman heatpipe cooler sucks man wtf... Why do you even recommend it? Its good for silence and compatability, not good enough for the X1950XT i'm afraid. These that you recommended don't work on the X1950 series.

You're entitled to your own opinion mate . If you want to see a direct comparison between the Zalman VF900-CU and the AC Accellero X2, then look at the review, then judge from there:
http://www.sudhian.com/index.php?/articles/show/graphics_cooler_roundup/

As for compatibility, the Zalman fits on my X1950 pro just fine

 

[Pinchy]

There is a lot of argument about cost. I think as enthusiasts, the money that you spend on a decent performing cooler is worth it. Plus, it has to look decent also, and I don't think the Zalman units are exactly ugly.

For me, looks is secondary to cooling performance, and most Zalman coolers that I have used, are up there with the best.

But why would you spend more if you can get something that does the same job?

 

[lufrey]

But why would you spend more if you can get something that does the same job?

Well, they all do the same job, some just do a better job than others
As you can see, at full load, there is a 15C difference between the AC and Zalman. I know which one I'd pick. You can pick the less efficient, hotter AC unit if you like.