Tossing a coin between AC NV Silencer5 R2&Zalman VF700-Cu.

[FLDQUY157]

Hi all,

While I am waiting to get a H2O setup I was wondering if anyone has had experience on the 2 VGA coolers.

Which one between Arctic Cooling NV Silencer5 Rev. 2 and Zalman VF700-Cu would be the best cooling solution for my Sparkle 6800GT Platinum AGP card?

Or if you have a recommendation on other brands and models please share with me.

All inputs will be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
FLD.

[Squid_Spit]

i recommend the zalman.

[FLDQUY157]

Can you guys please also include the reason why you are recommending the VGA cooler of your choice?

Thanks a lot. :)

[Squid_Spit]

I've heard some reports of the NV Silencer not offering any temp decrease over the stock cooler.

[bachus_anonym]

I had Zalman on my X800XT PE (http://www.clockmehigh.com/sales/x800xtpe_front.jpg)... It shaved off 12C under LOAD compared to stock cooler. I benched that card @ 621/621 in 13C ambient air.

[FLDQUY157]

Thanks guys. I am still open for more opinions. 3 votes for the Zalman as of now. :)

[Funny_S]

had a zalman on my x600 (yes i know this card blows)
and installed one on my friends 9800pro

this cooler rocks, really, to me it's the best

[Agr3sive]

Doesnt the Zalman just push hot air round the case though, The Artic Cooler/Silencer exhausts it out the back.
I had a Artic Cooler on my 9800XT and it knocked 10c off load and 4c of idle.
I also would be interested in other people views as I am buying a new cooler for my X800XT, might do a mod job though, nice big heatsink bolted on with an 80mm

[scorp]

I have the NV5 Silencer on my 6800GT. I got maybe 1-2C lower load temps than with the original cooler (I have a Leadtek A400GT and the cooler on the card is the same with the one used on the Leadtek A400 Ultra). It is definitely more silent than the Leadtek cooler, but not a real improvement.

[FLDQUY157]

I have the NV5 Silencer on my 6800GT. I got maybe 1-2C lower load temps than with the original cooler (I have a Leadtek A400GT and the cooler on the card is the same with the one used on the Leadtek A400 Ultra). It is definitely more silent than the Leadtek cooler, but not a real improvement.

But keep in mind that your original VGA fan is already monsterous + huge copper HSF. ;)

[Agr3sive]

I have just ordered a VF700-cu, its was a tough call between that and the Arctic Cooler, so i'll report how well it does on my X800Xt 2moro.

[FLDQUY157]

I have just ordered a VF700-cu, its was a tough call between that and the Arctic Cooler, so i'll report how well it does on my X800Xt 2moro.

I'll wait to hear from you then. Thanks.

[Agr3sive]

I'll wait to hear from you then. Thanks.

My VF700-cu arrived this morning, instalation was a breeze, a lot eaiser than the Arctic Cooler I put on my 9800XT. I am more than impressed with it.
My temps have dropped a lot since putting it on- As follows on X800XTPE
Idle is sat still for 5mins and load is 1hr of CSS

Stock Fan-
Idle- 40c
Load- 70c

VF700-cu
Idle- 25c
Load- 50c
I think the results speak for themselves, I upped the overclock a little and went from 552/570 to 561/579. It started to get faint artifacts so I knocked it back down. The card is pretty much at its limits on default voltages, so im going to look into getting it volt modded. But this cooler is very impressive and its so quiet too.
When I installed my Arctic Cooler on my 9800XT it really only knocked down the noise and maybe a couple of degrees, So I would defantly recomend the VF700-cu to you mate. Taking 20c of the load temps while playing CSS is pretty good in my book :D . Hope this helps. :toast:

[FLDQUY157]

My VF700-cu arrived this morning, instalation was a breeze, a lot eaiser than the Arctic Cooler I put on my 9800XT. I am more than impressed with it.
My temps have dropped a lot since putting it on- As follows on X800XTPE
Idle is sat still for 5mins and load is 1hr of CSS

Stock Fan-
Idle- 40c
Load- 70c

VF700-cu
Idle- 25c
Load- 50c
I think the results speak for themselves, I upped the overclock a little and went from 552/570 to 561/579. It started to get faint artifacts so I knocked it back down. The card is pretty much at its limits on default voltages, so im going to look into getting it volt modded. But this cooler is very impressive and its so quiet too.
When I installed my Arctic Cooler on my 9800XT it really only knocked down the noise and maybe a couple of degrees, So I would defantly recomend the VF700-cu to you mate. Taking 20c of the load temps while playing CSS is pretty good in my book :D . Hope this helps. :toast:

That's very strange. Virtually, the AC5 should be better because of their air flow design and most of the people on Australian forums praise AC a lot. Not many are talking about Zalman. By the look, AC ones look better, I reckon. :)

That was why I decided to ask this question on a more international forum.

[Agr3sive]

That's very strange. Virtually, the AC5 should be better because of their air flow design and most of the people on Australian forums praise AC a lot. Not many are talking about Zalman. By the look, AC ones look better, I reckon. :)

That was why I decided to ask this question on a more international forum.

Yeah, the AC may be really good on the X800 series, I mean I didnt notice much of a difference on my 9800XT but there again it didnt really kick out that much heat

[Funny_S]

That's very strange. Virtually, the AC5 should be better because of their air flow design and most of the people on Australian forums praise AC a lot. Not many are talking about Zalman. By the look, AC ones look better, I reckon. :)

That was why I decided to ask this question on a more international forum.

if you look for reviews you can see that in most cases the zalman is slightly better. i never used the zalman memory heatsinks though, always went for the ocz heatsinks

[cadaveca]

i tried both the artic silencer, and the zalman coolers, both on a 9800XT, and an x800XTPE. the zalman cooler performs better, partly due to the fact that the fan cools not just the heatsink itself, but the whole gpu'side of the card. Go with the zalman, and you will be happy. now only if they sold them blue like the sapphire models...

[Magnj]

yea, has anyone tested to see if the OCZ heatsinks actualy increase ram speed( err Decrease ram temps)?

[angrysquirrel]

I think the problem with the artic cooler model is that the memory can heat up the core (and vise versa) because they are connected to the same heatsink.

I was able to get slightly higher overclocks on my 9800pro 128m with it (edit: the zalman alcu) installed, but I didn't keep any records of it. I'm now running a 6800nu->6800u (stock volts) and I'm thinking about trying some better cooling,. I may go for the all copper zalman this time around with some better ramsinks (the zalman ones seemed kinda cheepy). Then its on to modding!

[FLDQUY157]

These are really great points you guys made. Thanks a lot. :) :thumbsup:

[KoolDrew]

The Zalman VF-700 CU is the best available. However it does not push the air out of the case. To solve this I would get something like this.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=370034

[dexx]

Does the Zalman heatsink the memory? The Silencer does.

[Jupiler]

Does the Zalman heatsink the memory? The Silencer does.

No, it doesn't.
But it comes with 8 small alu heatsinks.

[gr8golf]

The Zalman VF-700 CU is the best available. However it does not push the air out of the case. To solve this I would get something like this.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=370034

Anyone know how quiet this thing is? My AC Silencer is definately quieter than stock, and I like the heat going out the back rather than upwards in my case. Still need to figure out how to get good air cooling when I go SLI shortly.

[scorp]

From what a friend told me, the VF-700 is actually quieter than the NV5. I can clearly hear my NV5 in my system .. the fan has a very distinct noise (not powerfull or annoying, but I can hear it).