Guttboy

Hi all!,

I have been playing around with OC'ing my ATI Radeon 9800XT. I was wondering what you all recommend and why. So far it seems that there is a split between the Zalman brands and the Arctic Silencer.

What do you recommend? Why? Anything else I need to purchase if I go with either one (thermal compound, etc)?

Much appreciated!!!!

Chipp

You can't go wrong with an ATI Silencer and AS5. You'll see a pretty sizable drop in temps, the stock cooler on the 9800XT's was not that great.

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NOS---

It depends on your case airflow.

If you Graphics card gets good airflow, then get a Zalaman VF700CU or 900CU

If you case is cramped, get an AC Silincer, they are very nice coolers.

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Ninja_Boy

I agree with Chipp 100%. Get an Arctic Cooling ATi Silencer and apply Arctic Silver 5. I have that setup on my X800XL and it's amazingly quiet and cool. I never need to worry about my GPU overheating due to the well-designed cooler sitting on top of the chip.

[OCN] Ninja_Boy

Guttboy

Thanks for the responses. The 9800xt is on the bottom of the case but the top of the slots if that makes sense. I have my XFI sound card below the 9800xt with a slot in between.

So....I think that the air flow down there would not be the greatest.

Also the cooler part of the 9800 is towards the base of the case where there is minimal airflow. The case itself has pretty good airflow now...I have 2 x 80mm exhausts, 1 x 80mm intake on the side with all the cables tied up fairly nicely and out of the way. Before it was not so good...lol.

So it looks as though the ATI silencer may be the way to go.

How hard is it to install? Do I have to buy extra thermal paste as well?

Regards

Ninja_Boy

It's fairly simple to install, everything's straight forward. I think Arctic Cooling provides you with Paste since they make Arcitc Silver themselves.

[OCN] Ninja_Boy

Guttboy

Ill have to give it a shot....any rec's on the best place to get em from and I see that there are different versions....I guess folks just bought them at different times?

Guttboy

Well.....seems as though it is between the Arctic Silencer and the Zalman 700. I have seen reviews both pro and con with them both.

The Zalman seems very straightforward to install and it has ram heatsinks....I do not see that on the arctic silencer one.

Does this make a big difference?

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Chipp

The Zalmans have ramsinks because the design of the cooler does not cover the RAM, only the GPU. The ATI Silencer covers the whole card RAM included, so it does not need ramsinks.

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Guttboy

Chipp,

You are the man...thanks for clearing that up! Did you ever install one of these? On my 9800xt there is a copper plate on the bottom of the card...I assume that I will remove this as well if I get the Arctic right?

Also...it seems as though there is a deep divide from the zalman and arctic cooler crowds...kinda like ati/nvidia, amd/intel, ford/chevy...LOL...

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