VF900 + A X1900XT/X? Worth it?

Pulsedriver · 15 Apr 2006 at 01:54

Hi folks,

Im fed up of reading reviews of the Zalman VF900, when all it is being reviewed on is a 6800!

What about the X1900XTX!

Does anyone have one installed on one?

If so,

What are the temp differences? (Before + After)
Noise difference?
Any case temp difference?

Many thanks

Cyber-Mav · 15 Apr 2006 at 10:24

i doubt its going to be better than the stock cooler at full speed. however the zalman should be more quiet im guessing.

if it does cool better than the stock cooler then i may consider getting one for my x1900xt which arrives next week.

mattup · 15 Apr 2006 at 10:44

SeanyK said:
Hi folks,

Im fed up of reading reviews of the Zalman VF900, when all it is being reviewed on is a 6800!

What about the X1900XTX!

Does anyone have one installed on one?

If so,

What are the temp differences? (Before + After)
Noise difference?
Any case temp difference?

Many thanks

Temps on my over clocked (680/800) card are 38C idle 48C Oblivion 1hr.
They were 42C idle and 80C with the stock cooler. Room temp 21C

Noise is much reduced to the point that I don't hear it at max speed. I can however hear my case fans.

Case temps have gone up 3C and cpu temp up 1-2 degrees.

Please bear in mind my case (eclipse 62) cooling is very good with 3 x L1As (1 on the Si120) and a vantech stealth on the side panel blowing on the VF900. Also my cpu has a 41% overclock and runs quite warm.

Matt

Cyber-Mav · 15 Apr 2006 at 10:58

whoa i didn;t expect the vf900 to make such a big difference over the stock cooler. quite amazed at that performance.

squiffy · 15 Apr 2006 at 11:37

Ok so looks like superior cooling for the core and lower noise, but sacrificing higher temps inside the case. I would like to see temps for Mosfets and RAM though. Checking out the eclipse 62 it seems I have more aircooling, so should be ok. If I go to stoke will pick one up, only £24. Are OC open today?

mattup · 15 Apr 2006 at 11:41

squiffy said:
Ok so looks like superior cooling for the core and lower noise, but sacrificing higher temps inside the case. I would like to see temps for Mosfets and RAM though. Checking out the eclipse 62 it seems I have more aircooling, so should be ok. If I go to stoke will pick one up, only £24. Are OC open today?

Good Friday: 8.30am - 5.30pm
Saturday: 9am - 5pm
Easter Monday: 8.30am - 5.30pm

Yes, go buy one.

Matt

squiffy · 15 Apr 2006 at 22:58

ok picked one up today, leaving it till tomorrow for the memory pad glue to set. Mate built a new machine up with a 1800XT in that OC Value X-Qpack case. It's a little bit flexible as the panels/chassis is thin alumnium, but once it's built seems ok. Case needs more airflow on the side, will probably sort out mounting a fan onto the perspex side window. The X1800XT is 10 degrees hotter just in idle compared to mine! Doesn't help the K8NMF-9 Nforce passive chipset (which gets really hot!) is directly below the ATI intake. Lent him a 8cm high CFM fan (noisy but really cools it)

I'll report back on temps, I'm going to leave the Zalman fan on highest setting. oh if I don't use the speed controller and just plug it directly to motherboard "chassis" fan header will the fan be 100%? I can then use the BIOS fan speed controls, temp won't work of course.

chaparral · 15 Apr 2006 at 23:40

squiffy · 16 Apr 2006 at 11:07

Blimey and I thought mine ran hot!! :eek:

With that little Shuttle case and overclocking it I think the core might just explode!

Right fitted videocard back, before temps were

28 c cpu idle @2.5ghz
23 c mobo idle
38 c videocard idle
635/735 Gaming- 74 c

Now (Zalman at max)
27 c cpu idle @2.5ghz
24 c mobo idle
34 c videocard idle
635/735 Gaming- 58 c

Videocard fan is at 100% and I would say quieter than the stock at idle. The only thing that concerns me is MOSFET cooling as stock heatsink contacted the fets. But I should be ok with a 12cm fan blowing air around fets & mobo chipset.

Oh the thermel grease contact on the stock HSF was minimal a very small splodge with about half the core/heasink metal part not coated in grease :rolleyes:

so I would say anyone with stock should regrease theirs and do it properly.

I'm using Chassis fan #2 output for the Zalman, but BIOS only has one chassis fan output (that's the Thermeltake chassis fan) :confused:

Nevermind I swapped the Thermeltake onto CH#2, put the Zalman onto CH#1, and Asus probe now reports it :-)

at minimum rpm 1318 rpm, at maximum 2360. At max it is louder, but more of a low whoosh, way quiter than stock during gaming) and of course quieter than stock when it's at 100%. I'm twiddling my knob now

I'll leave it at minimum in Windows for a bit and get back with temp reading. Like poster said below I think suitable case cooling is required, as a mates X1800XT runs at 48 degrees in Windows idle in the Q-pack case with Nforce chipset.

ok with the Zalman at minimum idle in Windows GFX temp is 35 degrees!

Cyber-Mav · 16 Apr 2006 at 11:21

thats a nice drop squiffy. looks like case cooling has a big part to play in this too.

chaparral · 16 Apr 2006 at 18:13

squiffy said:
Blimey and I thought mine ran hot!! With that little Shuttle case and overclocking it I think the core might just explode!

As soon the card goes over 95c the ATI software auto clocks the core speed down..

Cyber-Mav · 16 Apr 2006 at 23:06

also how is the best way to test the gfx card when it first arrives? should i run ati tool and rthdribl on it to make sure its not artifacting at stock settings?

also someone mentioned reseating the stock heatsink since someone has skimped on the thermal paste, is that a good idea?

Cyber-Mav · 16 Apr 2006 at 23:41

bah, just cancelled my order for the x1900xt, 2 reasons for it,
1) heat - will probably end up buying an aftermarked cooler which will add more to the cost of the card.
2) power consumption, would probably end up having to fork out 80 quid for a decent enermax 600watt psu.

so card costs me 300 quid + 100 quid for cooler and psu which is not really worth it in my eyes.

probably gonna plump for the 7900GT which is costing £199 for xfx card. its gonna be slower but since i won;t need to get additional cooler and psu for it i save 100 quid and the card is 100 quid cheaper than the x1900xt so in total i save 200 quid. stings me a bit but i got to look at the bigger picture here.

Goksly · 17 Apr 2006 at 01:21

Dont see why you would need a new psu.... my shuttle 350w runs an overclocked cpu/gfx/2 hdd etc etc
As long as you have a decent brand psu @400->500w then you would be fine.

But what ever floats

Cyber-Mav · 17 Apr 2006 at 01:26

i prefer to play it safe rather than have all my equipment die due to psu overload. better safe than sorry i guess.

Vegeta · 17 Apr 2006 at 01:28

its probably reviewed on a 6800 card because they are bloody hot! Even more so than 1900xtx i believe, so if it drops temps in that then it should for a x1900xtx.

speeduk · 17 Apr 2006 at 01:46

Cyber-Mav said:
i prefer to play it safe rather than have all my equipment die due to psu overload. better safe than sorry i guess.

You only need a 600w psu if you have a dc system and lots of devices. My cheapy hyper 580 runs my rig fine (x1900 @ over xtx speeds + opty @ 2.8ghz).

I think any branded psu over 500w is more than enough for an x1900 with a single core cpu.

And why would you buy an aftermarket cooler? My card runs fine overclocked on the stock cooler and runs under 75c.

:confused:

Cyber-Mav · 17 Apr 2006 at 01:51

hmm, 75c does seem a bit high to me. then again my 6800nu with NV5 silencer never goes over 55c when running ati tool or rthdribl.

also from looking at the framerates in games like oblivion all cards currently on the market seem to be underpowered. may just as well hold out on this generation and see what G80 or R600 has to offer.

squiffy · 17 Apr 2006 at 12:12

If you're complaining about spending another £20 on a component I don't think you'll be into ANY hobby, as usually stock parts are rubbish.

Ever used a nitro RC model car? Have you replaced any stock part supplied with PC gear with higher quality stuff? Cables? Mice?

Btw a mate is using X1800XT with a cheapo 450W that's bundled with the Qpack case, seems ok but need to check further. A quality PSU 500W should be fine.

75 degrees is a hot for a die, really need something better than stock (watercooling, Zalman whatever)

You could get cancel the order for the 7900GT and get a Voodoo Banshee, they run a lot cooler and don't require much power. :rolleyes:

chaparral · 17 Apr 2006 at 12:45

Cyber-Mav said:
hmm, 75c does seem a bit high to me. then again my 6800nu with NV5 silencer never goes over 55c when running ati tool or rthdribl..

Maybe you should be looking at getting a 7900gtx if you don't like the heat/power/standard cooler of the x1900xt-x.

Am sure you already know the difference of the heat/power/standard cooler of the x1900xt-x VS 7900gtx without this thread having to go there again..

Cyber-Mav said:
also from looking at the framerates in games like oblivion all cards currently on the market seem to be underpowered. may just as well hold out on this generation and see what G80 or R600 has to offer.

Underpowered :confused:

...Am guessing you must have something like a 24" or 30" monitor then.