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Viggen0 · Mar 10, 2004, 05:36 PM

Anyone use a aftermarket cooler for their radeon card? Coments? I'm thinking of getting something that is a little less noisy than the fan on my radeon 9800, so my g5 can be uber-silent.

Keiretsu · Mar 10, 2004, 05:42 PM

http://www.verax.de/verax.php?templa...try&entryid=52
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/zm80-hp.htm

rhogue islander · Mar 10, 2004, 05:47 PM

I would think twice about doing this. I tried this once on a PC version of a ti4600. Once the retaining pins were removed once, they were never again able to supply sufficient tension to keep the new heatsink/fan snug on the GPU.

The end result was crashing during gameplay. Fortunately the card manufacturer opted to replace my ti4600. I'll never do that again.

CIA · Mar 12, 2004, 01:10 PM

There has been some discussion on this over at xlr8yourmac.com, look into it. There are a few other options available out there as well.

Cadaver · Mar 12, 2004, 01:42 PM

The Zalman wont fit in a G5. The plate below the AGP card is too close to allow the large rear heatsink on the Zalman to fit.

Viggen0 · Mar 12, 2004, 02:00 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
The Zalman wont fit in a G5. The plate below the AGP card is too close to allow the large rear heatsink on the Zalman to fit.

Then why not move the card to another slot?

fizzlemynizzle · Mar 12, 2004, 02:52 PM

Originally posted by Viggen0:
Then why not move the card to another slot?

because G5s only have one AGP slot.

JCS · Mar 12, 2004, 03:04 PM

I have the Verax G03 installed on my (Apple OEM) Radeon 9800 Pro. Installation went fine, and I have played many hours of the UT2004 demo without problems. It is very quiet, but the small amount of noise it does make is very high-pitched. You may not be able to hear it if your G5 is under your desk instead of on top of it, but I can sometimes hear it...

I also have the Zalman heat pipe, which actually can be installed in the G5 if you put it "all on one side." There were pictures of such an installation on the web somewhere, but I can't find them now. I may consider trying it at some point.

Cadaver · Mar 12, 2004, 03:53 PM

Originally posted by JCS:
I also have the Zalman heat pipe, which actually can be installed in the G5 if you put it "all on one side." There were pictures of such an installation on the web somewhere, but I can't find them now. I may consider trying it at some point.

Interesting. I'll have to look for those pics, too. If it works, that would make for a nice, silent card (like the 9600). Though it'll still block a PCI slot.

JCS · 05:32 PM

Originally posted by Cadaver:
Interesting. I'll have to look for those pics, too. If it works, that would make for a nice, silent card (like the 9600). Though it'll still block a PCI slot.

It actually blocks all but one PCI slot because it's so tall. You'll see if you (or I) ever find the picts...

Edit: Whoop, here it is

http://www.macsonly.com/arch00311.html#11241

Cadaver · Mar 13, 2004, 08:53 AM

Ack! That's a monster (when rigged to be all on one side of the card)!

rhogue islander · Mar 13, 2004, 11:15 AM

Hmmm... you have to wonder how much heat that pipe really transfers

With the card in the G5's uniquely cooled bay perhaps the second heatsink and pipe could be removed altogether.

JCS · Mar 13, 2004, 04:17 PM

Hmmm... you have to wonder how much heat that pipe really transfers

Plenty, I'm sure. This is not "speculative" technology

The G5 already has heat pipes in its CPU cooling system.

With the card in the G5's uniquely cooled bay perhaps the second heatsink and pipe could be removed altogether.

I wouldn't try that. It's not just the heat pipe. Giving up all that extra surface area for the air to blow across would be bad. Also remember that the speed of the fan that blows on the PCI/AGP slots is controlled by the power draw of all the cards in the bay, not the temperature. Since a fanless card draws less power than the same card with a fan (assuming the fan is powered off the card, which the OEM Radeon 9800s are), the fan in that chamber is going to run, at best, the same speed (and at worst, slower) with a heat pipe insatlled than with the OEM card fan installed.

AngryAngel · Mar 13, 2004, 09:33 PM

Originally posted by JCS:
Also remember that the speed of the fan that blows on the PCI/AGP slots is controlled by the power draw of all the cards in the bay, not the temperature.

Where did you hear that?

I would have thought one large heating sink would be better than two smaller ones with a heatpipe (if you have to mount them on the same side of the card anyway). Wouldn't a simple but huge heatsink that took up two PCI slots be cheaper?

JCS · Mar 14, 2004, 02:40 AM

Where did you hear that?

The G5 hardware session at WWDC.

Wouldn't a simple but huge heatsink that took up two PCI slots be cheaper?

In terms of cost to manufacture, possibly. But the point of a heat pipe is to transfer heat from one location to another better than a solid block of the material the heatsink is made of. Put another way, you can't just keep making a solid heatsink bigger and bigger. There is a point of diminishing returns due to the speed that heat can propagate through the metal.