Arctic Cooling ATI 3 Silencer

[Embattle]

Just thought I would do a little mini review of this video card cooler that I bought the other day, a result of the ever increasing noise from the cooler that came with the card. So lets have a look at the current cooler:

As it is in the PC, a single slot solution which means the PCI slot next to it is still usable although not ideal as this would hinder air flow.

As the cooler is a single slot solution it results in a smaller fan and it also means the air that is drawn in is pumped back out into the case. The front part of the cooler is designed to cool both the GPU and the frontside memory chips.

The reverse side of the graphics card shows the copper plate designed to cool the rear memory chips.

 

[Embattle]

The ATI Silencer 3 (Rev. 2) is designed to fit the Radeon 9800XT 256MB or 9800 Pro, the reason it only fits two cards is because the cooler is designed to work with the reference layouts of these two graphics cards.

You get the cooler, open PCI backplate, tube of thermal paste and the installation guide.

The fan is designed to pull air from inside the case and then jet it past the metal fins and out of the rear of the case via the open PCI backplate provided. Arctic Cooling call it Direct Heat Exhaust System (DHES) and many will remember something very similar first appeared on the Nvidia GeForce FX, also known as the Leaf Blower.

 

[Embattle]

The base is copper although not shiny or smooth but it'll do for now as i can't be bothered with the mess of smoothing it. You'll notice a small raised hump towards the middle which is the GPU mating surface and there are two raised edges on the bottom and right side of the copper base which are designed to mate with the 4 memory chips on the front of the graphics card.

The metal piece at the top of the image is designed to cool the 4 memory chips on the reverse side of the graphics card, and the metal clip at the bottom is designed to apply a bit of pressure to the GPU mating surface with both pieces screwed down they also secure the cooler to the graphics card.

The picture above shows how both sides are used to cool and secure the unit, as you can see it is very similar to the current cooler.

I would love to continue this mini review but I developed a problem during installation of the cooler. Having applied the thermal paste and put both sides of the cooler in to position I had begun to screw on the nuts when one of the screws snapped, thus I've had to stick the old cooler back on until I get a replacement. I'll continue once I've got the replacement

 

[Chilly]

(Hope im not stealing the show)
But i installed one of these babies for a mate the other day and it works a bloody treat, noise from cooler is virtually nil and the average case temp is down a few degrees as well due to the exaust!

 

[smurkin]

aye, I have one on my 6800nu - theyr excellent...pity about the screw problem - with the nvidia design, there is no additional plate and many more screws/holes...so the loss of a single screw wouldn't be critical.

 

[Chilly]

tbh if it was me id superglue the fucker on but then im a bodging whore.

 

[xane]

I got one of those "built in" with my 9800 Pro, it is very quiet, big fan = less noise.

 

[Ardrias]

I've just installed a Schooner on my 9800Pro, and after the bitch it was mounting it I should have gone with one of these I think.
Took me hours to get the Schooner on...

However, cant hear my PC over my keyboard now so.

 

[Embattle]

Well seems I won't be getting a replacement unless I buy another one from the same chumps who are refusing to replace the broken one....thus I will have to find a way to mount it, perhaps using a different nut and shaving the rubber washer a bit

 

[.Wilier.]

Have you tried removing the brocken bit of the screw from the cooler matey? It could be that its just screwed into the copper and will come out so you can replace it.

maybe...

 

[Embattle]

So the time has come to continue this mini review:

As I couldn't get the company I purchased the Silencer from to replace the card, nor could I be bothered to continue arguing about it, I managed to come up with a way to secure the Silencer using a different method.

As you can see in the picture above I've used a small nut which I was very lucky to have in one of the multiple packs of screws and nuts from other components I've bought in the past.

The picture above shows the front of the Silencer once mounted on the graphics card. It does have a certain appeal to the way it looks but it should be noted that with this cooler installed it does become slightly harder to plug the molex connector in.

This last picture shows the graphics card back in the PC with its new cooler, as you can see the PCI slot next to the AGP slot is no longer usable and I most probably would try to avoid using the next PCI slot too.

In terms of performance the cooler managed to keep temps between 3-5c lower than the stock cooler during idle and load although I didn't personally get time to overclock my card.

A problem seemed to lie in wait for me to finally get the card and cooler running and basically I seem to be in the same situation I was in before buying the Silencer. The cooler is undoubtedly quiet but it seems to have a similar sort of knocking sound as my stock cooler had developed, I found this out through a process of elimination, and while not massive it is noticeable through the case. Looking at the previous issue and this one I can't help but feeling my Silencer seems to of had some rough treatment along the way to my house, needless to say I'm considering get a replacement and seriously considering the Zalman VF700-Cu.

 

[Ardrias]

I've been using the schooner for a while now... and there are no problems at all, even during long gaming sessions. Can recommend it if you're looking to change for something silent. Doesnt block the second PCI slot either!

 

[Embattle]

The Thermaltake Schooner does look good but I've already plumped for the Zalman, which should arrive tomorrow. I also don't think you can use the PCI slot next to the Schooner in most mobos due to the external copper fins that go through the next PCI backplate.

 

[Yaka]

my 6800gt silencer made a knocking sound i found one of the fan fins were longer than the other so i sniped it with a wire clipper

im thinking of doing somat like this to me shuttle case once i figure out how to mesure it out perfectly

 

[Embattle]

Well my new cooler made by Zalman arrived the other day:

The picture above shows the various parts that are/maybe required to mount the cooler to the card. The packages consists of:

• 8 Heatsinks - 4 for the front and 4 for the rear, they use thermal tape to attach to the ram chips.
• The main cooler - I ordered the one made totally of copper, slightly more expensive than the Aluminium and copper mixed cooler.
• Manual - Clearly written and laid out.
• Multi-Connector - This gives you four connectors to attach fans too. Two of them operate at 5V(White) and two which operate at 12V(Black), this enables you to run in either silent mode (1,350rpm) or normal mode (2,650rpm) respectively.
• Nuts and Bolts - Included with the nuts and bolts is a small tube of thermal grease and an external pimping sticker.

Overall the unit is fairly easy to install, basically you build the supporting structure on the card then slowly screw down the cooler via the now ubiquitous Zalman clip.

The finished product works well and has given even lower temperatures and that's even though I'm only using it in silent mode, it also makes even less noise than the Arctic Cooling Silencer but on the downside it is more expensive.

 

[Yaka]

nifty how much space does it take up? same as the arctic or less?

 

[Embattle]

It still makes the PCI slot next to it unusable.

 

[Catsby]

Catsby notest that the zalman al-cu also makes one incredibly sexy.

 

[Chilly]

zalmans are sent from god i swear it. I stuck one of the massive zalman on my mums new pc that i built for her, she runs a 3.4gig p4 lga775 jobby, and those things run hot as a motherfucker! Her cpu generally runs under 30oC and under full load over night (tested it with 4 instances of prime95 running, each running in different modes so as to hammer the entire system) gets to about 55oC - well under the 60+ it does with the stocl cooler that is, to say the least, a tad noisy.