PCI System Coolers - any good?

hairyhen · 25 Feb 2006 at 17:43

Hi folks

I am getting gpu core temps of 58c idle and 80c load on my 6800GS fitted with the Zalman AluCu VGA cooler set at silent, and an ambient temp of around 42c.

Am I right in thinking that is a tad too high, especially on load?

Most of the cooling solutions I have are designed to be silent, and I really don't want to set any fans to 'normal' mode.
I have an Antec Sonata case with a solitary 120mm Akasa amber shifting the air out the back - also set at its lowest setting, but I suspect I may have to turn it up to get that hot air out...?

Anyway - I have been looking at the Akasa system cooler (AK-SB-BK ) which fit onto a spare PCI slot - are these any good?

It states on the website that they produce a noise level of 25.24 dB(A), but I would like to hear first hand experiences if anyone has any that they'd like to share

Thanking you

Tarty · 25 Feb 2006 at 18:42

The Akasa System Exhaust Blower I find to be very effective, but having a gpu at 80C load sounds stupidly high, are you sure that the fan is connected correctly, as an aftermarket fan should keep it below 50 max

Street · 25 Feb 2006 at 19:24

GPUs can run a lot hotter than CPUs... mine can go up to 70 while gaming and its fine. Maybe check you've seated the Zalman cooler properly on your graphics card? Also if its set to silent it will run a lot hotter, if you switched it to normal mode the temps would probably drop a fair bit. I've found that PCI exhaust blowers are usually quite noisey and not really worth having them in the case.

Your ambient temperature is quite high, maybe try getting some better airflow through your case?

Matt82 · 25 Feb 2006 at 19:34

hairyhen said:
Hi folks

I am getting gpu core temps of 58c idle and 80c load on my 6800GS fitted with the Zalman AluCu VGA cooler set at silent, and an ambient temp of around 42c.

Am I right in thinking that is a tad too high, especially on load?

Most of the cooling solutions I have are designed to be silent, and I really don't want to set any fans to 'normal' mode.
I have an Antec Sonata case with a solitary 120mm Akasa amber shifting the air out the back - also set at its lowest setting, but I suspect I may have to turn it up to get that hot air out...?

Anyway - I have been looking at the Akasa system cooler (AK-SB-BK ) which fit onto a spare PCI slot - are these any good?

It states on the website that they produce a noise level of 25.24 dB(A), but I would like to hear first hand experiences if anyone has any that they'd like to share

Thanking you

that sounds like the worst air cooling setup imagineable.

ive got a genuine question for you. what is the point of having an exhaust fan on the case (and lets not forget that the psu will exhaust air too) if you have no air going in.

just because you have a fan near a hot pc, it doesnt mean it will cool it. it is the air the cools the pc

hence you need air c i r c u l a t i o n. what air are you planning to suck out of the case if you have no air going into it??

do you have no imagination or common sense at all?

Logsi · 25 Feb 2006 at 19:52

They are quiet, i used to have one under my card with the zalman on but it raised temperatures because the air that is meant to go to the card gets exhausted straight away not cooling it so ive taken it out. My card sits at 32*C idle and 44*C load, and thats not even with artic silver.

But if you want to get one they are very quiet. I would really turn your back fan up though.

Ladforce · 25 Feb 2006 at 20:32

Matt82 said:
that sounds like the worst air cooling setup imagineable.

ive got a genuine question for you. what is the point of having an exhaust fan on the case (and lets not forget that the psu will exhaust air too) if you have no air going in.

just because you have a fan near a hot pc, it doesnt mean it will cool it. it is the air the cools the pc

hence you need air c i r c u l a t i o n. what air are you planning to suck out of the case if you have no air going into it??

do you have no imagination or common sense at all?

Why not just tell him your oppinion on what he should do rather than slating him. And yes you should have one intake fan to go with an exhaust fan or you wont be cooling anything or getting good airflow through the case.

nightwish · 25 Feb 2006 at 20:33

Matt82 said:
that sounds like the worst air cooling setup imagineable.

ive got a genuine question for you. what is the point of having an exhaust fan on the case (and lets not forget that the psu will exhaust air too) if you have no air going in.

just because you have a fan near a hot pc, it doesnt mean it will cool it. it is the air the cools the pc

hence you need air c i r c u l a t i o n. what air are you planning to suck out of the case if you have no air going into it??

do you have no imagination or common sense at all?

That's a little harsh don't you think? Negative air pressure is generally fine because air will filter in through gaps and grills most places. Take a look at this article:

http://www.procooling.com/index.php?func=articles&disp=71&pg=1

In particular Myth#5:

"Many serious server cases operate with negative pressure, and most of the major OEMs have sold cases for years (some for decades) with no intake fans. AMD's design specs call for ONLY an exhaust fan in the rear of the case and an ATX 2.03 spec PSU (fan pulling air from case on bottom and through the power supply). "

A.N.Other · 25 Feb 2006 at 20:49

@ Matt82
I don't agree at all - a negative pressure, with an exhaust is generally considered better than an intake fan (IN A SINGLE FAN SYSTEM). This is far more efficient.

Anyway, as Amber's are so quiet, I would make sure the one you have is set to full and maybe buy one for the front - this would certainly be better than getting a PCI exhaust.

hairyhen · 25 Feb 2006 at 21:19

Thank you all for your advice!

In response to Matt82's comment, no I am not naive nor ignorant when it comes to air circulation (I studied HVAC at uni after all), as I believe that a 'proper' set up of air-flow is not necessary for my pc and that air coming into the room is adequate.
My cpu runs at 35c idle and around 40c load, which is fine. Prior to upgrading to the 6800GS I had a Radeon 9800pro attached to an Artic Cooling device. This I never monitored as I had assumed for the past 2 years that its doing it job well.

Antec explicitly states in the manual for the Sonata that a space for an inlet fan is provided should you decide that further cooling is necesary, but not required (obviously they'd want to keep their flagship silent case silent). Fair enough I thought.

The purpose of my post was really then to confirm my suspicions (through the good advice of the forum) that further cooling than what I already have may now be required, and the best way of doing so without compromising the silent-ness.

It seems to me that the general consensus is I may have to ditch the negative-air pressure method...

ajgoodfellow · 26 Feb 2006 at 00:25

A single exhaust fan is fine - I've got an Akasa amber @ 600rpm in the Sonata and it keeps my PC cool enough.

Setting the Zalman to full speed only drops temps by a few degrees but makes it noisy so I'd leave it on silent - I've got one myself on an X800 Pro.

First off I'd reseat the cooler - my temps are a lot cooler with the Zalman compared to the stock cooler. Having said that though, 80 degrees is fine for a GPU as these are designed to run far hotter than CPUs

robg1701 · 26 Feb 2006 at 00:51

Bearsden, Glasgow by chance ? If so hi there

Basically just whats been said....a single exhuast is just fine if your looking for a quiet system, obviously its going to run a little warmer than with more fans but its far from excessive and will just lead to exactly the kind of thermal situation most OEM PCs operate in. I run one of my old pcs in a sonata with negative air pressure and as it tends to be a bit dusty in here i can see exactly where it pulls air in through the facia to compensate, so putting a fan on the drive cage is definately not essential.

High load temps on modern GPUs is far from abnormal, stock coolers hit 80C+ left right and centre these days. I would expect the zalman to do better in this situation though so as suggested already try reseating it. What are you using for the thermal interface? AS5, a TIM, etc etc ?

NightmareXX · 26 Feb 2006 at 00:58

My case (pics here) has got 2 rear fans, 2 front fans (Can't see those) and the GFX card fan (HIS digital X700 Pro IceQ).

On my old case, there was just a fan blowing in from the side onto the CPU, the stock CPU cooler that didn't glow

and 2 rear fans. Prior to fitting a HDD cooler, my HDD's would slowly heat up until they were at about 50C which was a lil too hot. After fitting the HDD cooler, it cooled both of them down from 50 to about 35. That was a big difference.

Where they are now, in front of the front case fans, they now settle around 28C under any load

CPU was about 55C in old tower prior to fitting the 2 rear fans. After that it was about 48C ish. Moved it into the case you see now and it settles at 45 under full load, 37ish no load.

GFX card is noticeable cooler since moving it into new case too. Before it would heat up to about 45 no load but with the new case, where the front fans are they cool the GFX card a lil as well, it settles around 33 with 100% fan speed (I can't hear the difference between 40% and 100% fan speed).

Oh and the case temp is much cooler now as well. Used to be about 43C and is now 30

Current fan configuration
2 rear fans are out-takes
2 front fans are in-takes
GFX fan is out-take
CPU fan is in-take (i.e. it blows onto the heatsink)

I had a PCI cooler next to my old GFX card (Radeon 9000) which didn't really do much to help the card but dropped the case temp down by about 4C which is always good

Regarding your 80C GFX card, mine will run at about 40C full load and about 50C playin some crazy GFX intensive game. I didn't think GFX cards were designed to go that hot but my bates card (When his fan failed) heated up to 117C and it was still working so I shouldn't think that there's anything to worry about.

hairyhen · 26 Feb 2006 at 02:40

ajgoodfellow said:
...Setting the Zalman to full speed only drops temps by a few degrees but makes it noisy so I'd leave it on silent...

Very true - I switched it to normal mode and the difference under load was only 3c, so now I've put it put on silent and turned up the juice on the case fan instead.

As suggested by a few of you, I took the Zalman off and reinstalled it using some Artic Silver (I used the packaged stuff last time). It's now idling at 52c with an ambient temp of 34c.

Thanks for all this great info btw everyone

robg1701 - familiar user name, now where have i seen that before...

look me up on my profile and send me an email mate - long time no speak!

Matt82 · 26 Feb 2006 at 19:21

A.N.Other said:
@ Matt82
I don't agree at all - a negative pressure, with an exhaust is generally considered better than an intake fan (IN A SINGLE FAN SYSTEM). This is far more efficient.

Anyway, as Amber's are so quiet, I would make sure the one you have is set to full and maybe buy one for the front - this would certainly be better than getting a PCI exhaust.

well unless he has a passive psu then his case is not a single fan system.

wake up

p4radox · 26 Feb 2006 at 20:05

Nothing wrong with only having an exhaust fan, it's much better than having only an intake fan. I'd try reseating the gpu cooler if I were you, when I had a Zalman on my 6800LE it got to 56C at the highest.