jgerrits
06-14-2005, 11:17 AM
I'm trying to find out if anyone else has had the same issues I have had with the NV silencer 5 (rev.2) from Acrtic Cooling.
The main difference between the rev.1 and the rev.2, is in the copper bottom of the coolers. The rev.1 has lowered copper pads, for contact with the memory. The rev.2 however, has a 100% flat copper bottom. The rev.2 attempts to make contact with the memory, with some 1.8mm~(+-0.2mm) baby blue thermal pads.
Unfourtunatly, when I put the cooler on to my evga 6800 GT card, the thermal pads were too thick. They made it impossible for the copper to completely touch the GPU. The manual suggests tightening the mounting screws on the back, however, this still would not provide enough tension to push the copper against the GPU.
I tried a number of things to add more pressure, including building up the X shaped backplate in the middle. I also added some high tension springs on to the backplate screws, to give some more pressure. While these things did help, the contact still was not acceptable. (When the computer was running, I could actually dip temperatures down by around 5 degrees, just by pressing on the back of the card/heatsink mounting, under the gpu).
Next I tried to take the thermal pads off of the NV5(rev2), to see how it would sit on the card without them. As I figured, without the pads, there is a gap between the copper, and the memory modules. I tried to fill this gap, with the white thermal tape/pads, that came off of the stock cooler. These were too thin to bridge the gaps however.
In the end, I had to get out a carbide blade, and shave down the pads that were supplied with the arctic cooler solution. Because of the stickyness, and elasticity of these thermal pads, they were incredibly difficuly to shave uniformly, and in the end, had many dips out of them. (Near impossible to shave, and keep the side you shave flat) By doing this however, I did manage to get contact with both the GPU and the Memory. (Although I was still very dissapointed with the choppy look / possibilty of air pockets, on the memory thermal pads.
I'd like to know if anyone else had this problem with the Rev.2. I really do not know what Arctic Cooling was thinking when they decided to use a flat copper base to cool both the GPU and the Memory Modules on the 6800 series of cards. Both the GPU and Memory, are at different heights on the card.
I just wanted to get this information out there. As many people have been touting the benefits of the rev.1. But I have not seen very much information surface about the second revision of this product.
(I do not have a digital camera, if anyone out there has a rev.2 of this hs/fan, I'd love if you could post a picture of the bottom plate of it.)
The main difference between the rev.1 and the rev.2, is in the copper bottom of the coolers. The rev.1 has lowered copper pads, for contact with the memory. The rev.2 however, has a 100% flat copper bottom. The rev.2 attempts to make contact with the memory, with some 1.8mm~(+-0.2mm) baby blue thermal pads.
Unfourtunatly, when I put the cooler on to my evga 6800 GT card, the thermal pads were too thick. They made it impossible for the copper to completely touch the GPU. The manual suggests tightening the mounting screws on the back, however, this still would not provide enough tension to push the copper against the GPU.
I tried a number of things to add more pressure, including building up the X shaped backplate in the middle. I also added some high tension springs on to the backplate screws, to give some more pressure. While these things did help, the contact still was not acceptable. (When the computer was running, I could actually dip temperatures down by around 5 degrees, just by pressing on the back of the card/heatsink mounting, under the gpu).
Next I tried to take the thermal pads off of the NV5(rev2), to see how it would sit on the card without them. As I figured, without the pads, there is a gap between the copper, and the memory modules. I tried to fill this gap, with the white thermal tape/pads, that came off of the stock cooler. These were too thin to bridge the gaps however.
In the end, I had to get out a carbide blade, and shave down the pads that were supplied with the arctic cooler solution. Because of the stickyness, and elasticity of these thermal pads, they were incredibly difficuly to shave uniformly, and in the end, had many dips out of them. (Near impossible to shave, and keep the side you shave flat) By doing this however, I did manage to get contact with both the GPU and the Memory. (Although I was still very dissapointed with the choppy look / possibilty of air pockets, on the memory thermal pads.
I'd like to know if anyone else had this problem with the Rev.2. I really do not know what Arctic Cooling was thinking when they decided to use a flat copper base to cool both the GPU and the Memory Modules on the 6800 series of cards. Both the GPU and Memory, are at different heights on the card.
I just wanted to get this information out there. As many people have been touting the benefits of the rev.1. But I have not seen very much information surface about the second revision of this product.
(I do not have a digital camera, if anyone out there has a rev.2 of this hs/fan, I'd love if you could post a picture of the bottom plate of it.)