Graphics Card Quiet: Gigabyte's Silent-Pipe II Cooling

[theGamer]

Sparkle PCIE 7600GT - $255 AUD

VS

Gigabyte PCIE 7600GT with SILENT-PIPE II - $319 AUD

$64 just for the silent video cooling seems a bit too much.

Is there other solution on the market, which would provide the same performance without noise ?

Thanks.

 

[roe12605]

Hi TheGamer,
Before I bought the Gigabyte 7600GT e/w Silent Pipe II, I looked at these alternative cards. All quiet, none with the same performance/price:

ASUS EN7600GS SILENT/HTD/512M Geforce 7600GS 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 (~$147 USD)

ASUS EAX1600XT SILENT/TVD/256M Radeon X1600XT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 VIVO (~$169 USD)

eVGA 256-P2-N549 Geforce 7600GS 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 (~$115 USD)

VisionTek VTK X1600XT512PCIe Radeon X1600XT 512MB GDDR3 (~$265 USD)

So, for me, the answer to your question "Is there other solution on the market, which would provide the same performance [for less money] without noise ?" For me, when I looked, the answer was no.

Quiet=desirable, so I'd expect to pay more for same performance but quieter.

With all the silent cards above, there's the trade-offs of performance, features, and silence for a price -- just like Don says in his article -- I think the Gigabyte was the right combo for what I needed.

 

[theGamer]

Ok, thanks for that.

I can buy a good performance FanLess CPU cooler for $55AUD

Do you think it's better to get 7600GT with fan, but take out the noise from AMD 64 CPU or the other way around ?

Thanks

 

[roe12605]

Hi TheGamer,
If you plan to overclock your gaming PC, then you need adequate cooling for both o/c video and o/c CPU. Check the manufacturer's charts that show wattage dissipated at different clock rates, choose your clock rates, then you must provide cooling solutions for both that can exceed that rate of heat production.

I was amazed that the Gigabyte card's designed cooling actually outperformed a similar card equipped with a fan, in some cases.

Does the $55AUD fanless CPU cooler perform in your CPU's safe range at your chosen clock frequency?

noise-reduced and silent solutions are out there --
higher performance = higher price

less research = more smoke

Thanks!

 

[theGamer]

I was talking about Thermaltake Sonic Tower Heatsink, it's suitable for AMD Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX

http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl-p0071SonicTower/cl-p0071.htm

And there are many other coolers awailable for around $50 - $60 AUD

So my question is,
will I benefit more from silent cooling of 7600GT GPU or AMD Athlon 64 CPU ?

Thanks.

 

[dexton]

I'm thinking about combining this with the Lian Li PC-V800B Black case, with its unusual layout that exhausts power supply air to the front. For a HTPC, these two will work great together I think - the power supply will suck cold air in from the rear, past the graphic card's cooler and exhaust it as hot air out the front (and not collect inside the wiring area, at the enclosed rear of the cabinet space). Better thermal flow than a conventional case, I think.

I dont see where the air would get in at the back though, just a small one in the corner and I dont see the path for that air to pass GFX and on to the PSU. If you want the Lian-Li case then I would get a GFX and buy a Zalman VF700/VF900. For a 7600GT(35W MAX) you only need a VF700-AlCu. Extremely quiet(at 5V setting) and perfectly adequate cooling(also has RAM coolers included).
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=150&code=013
As for CPU cooler, a Zalman 8000 looks both kind of low-profile(62mm), light and very high performance.
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/view.asp?idx=203&code=005

If you want a really quiet HTPC case, then look at the Antec NSK2400. Not the prettiest around but it has 2x120mm exhausts, grommeted(really SOFT) HDD bay and separate PSU chamber(so the PSU only cools itself). Its also modestly priced and includes a 380W PSU(28A on +12V), which is sufficient for any (air-cooled, single-GFX) system.
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article591-page1.html

I was talking about Thermaltake Sonic Tower Heatsink, it's suitable for AMD Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX

http://www.thermaltake.com/coolers/4in1heatpipe/cl-p0071SonicTower/cl-p0071.htm

And there are many other coolers awailable for around $50 - $60 AUD

So my question is,
will I benefit more from silent cooling of 7600GT GPU or AMD Athlon 64 CPU ?

Of course, BOTH needs to be cooled silent for the whole system to be silent. And once youve silenced CPU+GPU you have the HDDs(probably the hardest one).

With good chassis ventilation(2x120mm fan exhaust) and not so high powered CPU (60-70W MAX output) you could passively cool it with a Scythe Ninja:
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/001/index.html
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/006/scnj1000p.html

Here is what I did:
http://aegd.cjb.net/dexton/osorterat/Dsc01397_sonic_fulmodd.jpg

thats a Thermaltake Sonic Tower with a 120mm fan sandwiched in the middle of it. You just bend the "fin towers" apart a little and stick it in. You can attach some THIN soft foam to the fan motor hub to make it sit more secure. The fan is a Yate Loon D12SL(same as Nexus real silent) thats undervolted so it runs at ~500-700rpm(silent). The CPU is a Sempron E6 64bit S754 that runs at 2,4GHz with 1,58V(1,8GHz/1,4V stock). When running cpuburn it maxes at ~55C.

Johan

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Sorry guys, there were a couple reasons I didn't take SLI benches. Primarily this review isn't about 7600 GT performance which is already well documented, but an analysis of the unique cooling system.

I'd like to see how one handles the heat of another just below it, but IMO, anyone SLi'ing in the first place should be water cooling anyways (unless trying a workstation like design with few moving parts).

I think the GF7600GT is a good replacement for those who used the previous king of Silence, the Gigabyte X800XL (the X800XT from Gateway was special order only, but it could also be considered king for a day).

Nice review very comprehensive, but definitely not enough pictures or graphics. :tongue:

Good Job mang!

 

[dexton]

I think the GF7600GT is a good replacement for those who used the previous king of Silence, the Gigabyte X800XL (the X800XT from Gateway was special order only, but it could also be considered king for a day).

Sort of but X800XL (and also 6600GT, which also came in fanless variants) consumes just under 50W while the 7600GT only sips 35W! Im very impressed with the performance with this power consumption!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Sort of but X800XL (and also 6600GT, which also came in fanless variants) consumes just under 50W while the 7600GT only sips 35W!

Yes, but that's the nice advanatage of moving from 119nm non-LowKd to 90nm Low-Kd. OC the GF7600GT and it consumes much more power though, and the power consumption rates are not linear between the 2 due to design. Either way it's a good card to replace an X800XL with, no 'sort of' about it.

Im very impressed with the performance with this power consumption!

I'm not to impressed with power consumption figures (both don't require extra cables, so that's what makes a huge difference IMO) the 6-14Watts diff amounts to less than a buck a year on my hydro bill if it were running 24/7. However the performance with the ability to cool passively is what's impressive, since it's technically the replacement of the slowed down Gigabyte vanilla GF6800 & GF6600, so good performance leap there.