Whats the Absolute Best GPU cooler?

[Rifter]

Im looking to get a good cooler for my 4830, thanks.

 

[irkjab]

Why? The cooler on it is perfectly adequate. Unless its defective, in that case RMA the card.

 

[Rifter]

Its loud at 100% speed, would like either a huge passive cooler or one with big fans so its not as loud. I have 7 other fans in my case and the vid card is easaly twice as loud as the rest combined when its at full power.

 

[irkjab]

Well, alright.

This Arctic Cooling gpu healsink is passive, so no fans. According to its website here, it is compatible with 4830.

This Zalman cooler will probably provide better cooling, it comes with a fan, but will likely be quieter than your current cooling. Zalman website says it fits the 4830.

They're both huge, and probably overkill for the 4830, but they'll work.

 

[Rifter]

Thanks i will look into those, i should add i am Over clocking the card, it hits 800 core with the stock cooler but needs the fan to be at 100%. Are there any coolers that use 120mm fans? I ask because my new case has mostly 120mm fans and they are quiet and move alot of air, i noticed its the smaller fans that make the most noise. My old case had all 80mm fans and was way louder than my new case and i think my new one moves more air through it, im all for the bigger fans

 

[irkjab]

GPU Coolers tend to use smaller fans because of space limitations.

Have you tried turning down the fan on your current cooler with atitool/rivatuner?

 

[Rifter]

yes i have and it is quiet at below 40%, but it wont keep the temps down enough to let me hit 800 core

 

[irkjab]

Is the performance increase from overclocking really enough to justify spending $$ on the cooler?

 

[Rifter]

it would be nice if it were quiet, if i can OC more then it would be an added bonus, i do notice the diff between stock and OC to 800 thats for sure. especially in crysis, i play at 1360x768 with 2xAA and stock it bottoms out at 15FPS sometimes when it gets really intense otherwise runs at around 40, with the OC to 800 it only goes down to 20-22 and tops out at 50-55, this is a big improvement and makes it alot more smooth, this is testing with the demo though i will be buying the full version soon and it might be better optimized. But if the cooler is fairly cheap i think it might be worth it, the AC S1 is cheap and i have a fan laying around i could add to it. i think it would be worth it but its hard to say, ill wait till i get the full version of crysis and see if it is over 30FPS, if so it doesnt really matter much.

 

[Helloworld_98]

there are some coolers which use 3 80/92mm fans, that would allow you to put some quieter fans on.

you also got a nice oc on that 4830. have you thought about going crossfire with two oc'd to 800?

 

[KyleSTL]

Thermalright HR-03 and your 120 or 92mm fan of choice
Arctic Cooling with the turbo kit
Zalman VF1000
Scythe Musashi

 

[Rifter]

I have thought about going CF but need to find a quiet cooler first, i dont even want to know how loud 2 of these things at 100% fan speed would be. That and finding another one that will hit 800 could be hit or miss although after some looking online there seem to be a number of these hitting 800+, i think i saw a few guys running at 850-900 on water. water would obviously be the quietest but also a huge expense, strapping a AC S1 and a 120mm fan is about the max budget i have for a cooler.