$5 Radeon 9700 passive cooling project... *More PICS added* *Update..OC Results**

[Auric]

Nice work. I would afix a safety strap though!

GreatDaleness, and everyone else, please refrain from using the word "silent" as a synonym for "quiet".

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
any pics of the card in your system?

Ask and ye shall receive..

1 (Flash)

2 (No Flash)

3 (Flash)

4 (No Flash)

yup, thats how i use my side window fan. side window fan over vid card is perfect nothing hardcore though, i just unplug my vidcards fan and leave it as is.

 

[Insane3D]

Nice work. I would afix a safety strap though!

Actually, I've never had AS epoxy fail on me...tough stuff... There is a reason they warn you it's permanent.

Anyhow, if you check the pics, you can see it wouldn't fall far...maybe a 1/2" onto my soundcard. :Q

 

[GreatDaleness]

Originally posted by: Auric
Nice work. I would afix a safety strap though!

GreatDaleness, and everyone else, please refrain from using the word "silent" as a synonym for "quiet".

I used the word "silent" in context. He ALREADY has a L1A which is 21DB. With a 21DB intake fan, a 18DB internal fan would not be heard, hence it would be effectively silent.

 

[b4417]

Originally posted by: Amorphus

How are those Cooler Master exhaust blowers? I think I want some, or I'll stick to getting Panaflo's.

I LOVE the Aero's. They are a bit too noisy when run at full speed, but toning them down a little with a Zalman front-mount rheobus makes them very quiet, and they still move a LOT of air even when turned down like that. With the way they are configured, you can only use them as exhaust fans (or a CPU fan), but they wouldn't work as an intake fan unless you wanted to mount them outside the case. In short, I like the Aero's better than about any fan I've tried, including the Panaflos, PC Power And Cooling Silent Cools, and a couple dozen other brands/types of fans.

Best,
Bill

 

[b4417]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

That will prolly work ok with a fan blowing on it, like in your setup, but those Zalman chipset HS's are just to small to handle the job of true passive cooling on a 9700/9800 IMO.

I agree. The temps shot up a little too high until I added that fan (mounted on a Zalman bracket). Once I put that in though, the temps are even better than with the stock noise-generating ATI fan. With an external temp probe mounted directly onto the bottom of the heatsink, I get a max of 42c after an hour of Prime95. And I have the fan turned down to about 1400 RPM's. With the lower RPM's, it is nowhere near as noisy as the stock fan/heatsink combo. I'm also overclocking the GPU and memory on the vid card a bit, although not to any extremes.

Very nice job on your case BTW. :beer:

Thanks! Still have some work to do, but it's getting there slowly but surely.

Best,
Bill

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: GreatDaleness

Originally posted by: Auric
Nice work. I would afix a safety strap though!

GreatDaleness, and everyone else, please refrain from using the word "silent" as a synonym for "quiet".

I used the word "silent" in context. He ALREADY has a L1A which is 21DB. With a 21DB intake fan, a 18DB internal fan would not be heard, hence it would be effectively silent.

Indeed. But then let us say 'twould effectively add no more noise.

Have y'all seen this nifty HS?

 

[GreatDaleness]

Originally posted by: Auric

Originally posted by: GreatDaleness

Originally posted by: Auric
Nice work. I would afix a safety strap though!

GreatDaleness, and everyone else, please refrain from using the word "silent" as a synonym for "quiet".

I used the word "silent" in context. He ALREADY has a L1A which is 21DB. With a 21DB intake fan, a 18DB internal fan would not be heard, hence it would be effectively silent.

Indeed. But then let us say 'twould effectively add no more noise.

Have y'all seen this nifty HS?

Looks like a cheap version of the VGA silencer, but cost more than twice as much. Probally cools better, if i had to guess.

Will do on the "silent" thing.

I guess I'll try this mod on my GF4MX 440, I already have AS paste, the heatsink, and the card. I'll post my results later in the week.

 

[GreatDaleness]

got a closer look at that ALpha cooler. That heat sink is HUGE! It is copper too, so it probally weighs 10 times as much as Isane3d's favorite toy. Definately need some after market support for that thing!

 

[Blooz1]

Look again. That Alpha cooler is aluminum with a copper heatspreader on the bottom.

 

[Insane3D]

Yeah, that heatsink is interesting, but the copper plate will make it fairly heavy...even if it's thin. It looks like a Alpha "Z" series HS adapted to mount to a Radeon 9XXX card. It's actually quite nice, but $55 for that is a joke.

Also, I have a feeling you would need quite a bit of negative pressure in the case to actually get any decent airflow over the HS. It is an interesting design though..

 

[b4417]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
Also, I have a feeling you would need quite a bit of negative pressure in the case to actually get any decent airflow over the HS. It is an interesting design though..

I agree. And exactly how do you go about getting a sufficient negative pressure, I have to ask? (not asking you, Insane, just a rhetorical question). Most every case I've seen (including both my Lian-Li's) has numerous small holes in the back panel, which allow a lot of air in. As a result, you'd have to have a 2 or 3x exhaust-to-supply air ratio to develop a decent enough negative pressure to pull anything through that duct -- it would have quite a bit of static pressure just as a result of its design.

My regular job is in the air movement business (commercial kitchen ventilation), and while I'm not an engineer and certainly no expert, I just don't see how that duct system can work unless you seal up every hole (excepting only exhaust fan holes) in your case. And, you'd need at least 2, possibly 3 exhaust fans for every intake fan (not including the power supply fan).

Bill

 

[Insane3D]

Update bump...

 

[Insane3D]

^

 

[JBT]

I am using the Rage3D Tweak program to overclock, and this 9700 just kept going right up to the max the app would let me o/c...~374mhz!!

Rad clocker can get you much highier than 374 try it Radclocker site

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: JBT

I am using the Rage3D Tweak program to overclock, and this 9700 just kept going right up to the max the app would let me o/c...~374mhz!!

Rad clocker can get you much highier than 374 try it Radclocker site

agreed I was just about to mention that program.

 

[shabby]

You've convinced me to do the same to my videocard
The company that actually makes those heatsinks is within driving distance of my house. And they have a huge selection of heatsinks, plus they have perfect 1x1x1" ramsinks.
I emailed them to see if they can sell me some, dont wanna be bothered with resellers.

 

[nbarb99]

Keep us updated here... I want to see how far it can go with Radclocker

Great job on the mod!! :Q

 

[Tullphan]

Bump for some nifty engine nooity!

 

[mechBgon]

That is definitely Insane? :evil: I was inspired, and did similarly with a mid-sized Socket370 heatsink for my GeForce2 GTS-V to replace its dying little buzzer-- I mean, fan. Still workin' ok in Mech4 Mercs, although I wouldn't be sorry for an excuse to upgrade from a card that cost me $47 about 2 years ago

 

[Goose77]

nice mod... i did a similar thing to my GF3 ti200 with a supersocket 7 cooler! got the bad boy to 280Mhz. It could probably go higher but my pci bus is way out of spec!!! about 10mhz out of spec ; )

any hu, kudos for the mod job!

got a suggestion for some of you modders out there, if you want to use a heavier HS or have good contact, just measure the HS holes on the board and drill the HS. Then go to your local hardware store and grab some !!! NYLON !!! screws and nuts and attach. thats what i did. ill try to get some pic up asap. used ASIII... works wounders.

UPDATE:

pix

u have to scroll down a bit.....

 

[Adul]

nice work, though I am curious about temps. I know with the zalman heatpipe cooler I have it still gets pretty hot.

 

[Goose77]

bump for a good idea, although i think u need to add a fan and some ramsinks ; )