[dandrewk]

OK, got a quieter case fan, heat sink and cpu cooler.


But that whiney ATI Radeon cooling fan is really bugging me now.


I seem to recall reading a fix for this, either replacing the fan or using a muffler, but I can't find it doing a search.


Radeon users - how do you quiet that fan?

 

[BigguyZ]

I don't have a radeon, but apparently the Zalman passive heatpipe coolers are supposed to work well. There are radeon 9700 Pros that come with them. No fan, no noise.

 

[Biazz]

I installed the fanless zalman heatpipe thing. It'll cost you 1 pci slot but I really don't care... 5 is more than enough for me. It cools better than the stock cooler judging from oc results. I used arctic silver3 instead of the stuff zalman supplied, and I milled of the sides of the heatsink so that it fits inside the shim. Apparently it is also possible to remove the shim, although that will probalbly void you warrenty.


I must say I'm perfectly happy with this cooler, it's quiet (fanless, duh) and not so expensive (30euro or so). And perfect stability on my 9700 pro @380Mhz


regards

Bas

 

[jvincent]

I have the Zalman on an AIW9700 and it's definitely the way to go.


No noise and perfectly stable operation.

 

[dm]

go with a fan-less radeon 9000 ($65 or so) or wait for a radeon 9600 which might be coming out soon fan-less.

 

[Harry Azol]

I have a 8500, what I did was disconnect the onboard fan, then used a zalman bracket, and a panaflo L1A running at 5v


I was a bit wary of voiding my warranty by replacing the heatsink, and this method was alot cheaper than the zalman heatpipe cooler that I would've needed to get otherwise.

 

[dandrewk]

Looking at the Radeon 9700 - the sink/fan assembly looks like it's attatched via two plastic fasteners drilled through the board.


Any tips on removing the sink? Brute force ok, as long as it doesn't crush a capaciter or resistor?

 

[jvincent]

The following thread has a good blow by blow.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...hreadid=210435


The trickiest part is removing the locking pins.


After that mine came off pretty easily when the card was warm and someone else reported good results when it was cold.


At room temperature it's stuck on pretty tight.

 

[RichB]

If you have an older Radeon, 7500 or 9000 class a video color from PCPower and cooling works as a almost silent replacement fan.


I have used a number of these with no problems.


-- Rich

 

[BigguyZ]

To remove those sinks that use epoxy, take a can of compressed air, turn it upside down, and spray the liquid onto the sink and surrounding board. That'll make it very easy to take off.

 

[Rop]

Quote:

Originally posted by jvincent The following thread has a good blow by blow.

To follow up on that particular installation: Since adding the Zalman the PC has been running 24x7 without a problem (so that's a little over 3 monhts now since the cooling change). The heatsink can get pretty warm if the video processor is busy but is still 'touchable', ie. it's less than 65C. Doesn't seem to bother the Radeon, it just keeps going. No problems either with the video tuner on there (it's an 9700 AIW).


-Rob-