Just how bad is the X1900 heatsink?

C

Cali3350

Supreme [H]ardness
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Been looking all around the net and it seems to be by far the best choice for a video card right now is the X1950XT 256mb. This uses the old X1900 heatsink however. EVERYBODY keeps telling me its very loud, and on top of it has a annoying whine, to the point you almost cant stand it.

Looking for some real life experiences here. Is it really that bad?
 
its loud when you set the fan manually to -70-100%, with stock settings its not that loud

but the whine is definitely annoying,

you should get a used x1950xtx , will cost you about same as x1950xt + aftermarket cooling
 
Mine is really fairly quiet when you're not in game. You definitely know all about it the instant the card starts rendering any 3D though...
 
It's loud when you game and has an annoying whine idling. Not only that, but the fan constantly spins up and down when playing games as the temperature changes.
 
It's very subjective. I hated it @ idle w/ fan on auto~27%. The whine will kill babies. :D Throw an Accelero or Thermalright HR-03 on there w/ a 120 and it'll be MUCH quieter.
 
quadnad said:
will a vf900 work on X19k series cards?
Click to expand...

Yes it does, but I had an issue with one not making full contact on the GPU. The surface area is much larger on the x1k ATI than the 79xx Nvidia cards which the vf900 DID fit on.

A much better choice for cooling than the Accelero in my opinion.
 
The other option is to lap the stock heatsink. It give a drop in temp == drop in fan speed. The X1950 coolers are MUCH better in terms of the fan pitch and cooling efficiency.

Has anyone looked at the copper block on the 1950 yet? The 5 1900s I've taken apart have copper bases that had saw marks in them... Lapping them and using Arctic Silver got me a 5C drop at load...
 
Let me put it this way, the X1800/X1900 cooling fan is horrible. I can typically stand more noise than your average computer user can. The cooler on those things is flat out unreasonably loud.
 
Seanmounce said:
I don't find the fan on my 1900Gt loud at all... :confused:
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I don't know what's on the X1900GT, but the X1900XTX and X1800XT's have a cooling solution that generates an unreasonable amount of noise that frankly detracts from the gaming experience.
 
Dan_D said:
Let me put it this way, the X1800/X1900 cooling fan is horrible. I can typically stand more noise than your average computer user can. The cooler on those things is flat out unreasonably loud.
Click to expand...

QFT. The accelero X2 is very nice, quiet, and cools the gpu well, but it raised the ambient temps of my case about 10c. There's a replacement Thermaltake one around I believe that exhausts the heat out of the case, just like the stock cooler, but is supposed to be quieter and hopefully cools as well.
 
Dan_D said:
I don't know what's on the X1900GT, but the X1900XTX and X1800XT's have a cooling solution that generates an unreasonable amount of noise that frankly detracts from the gaming experience.
Click to expand...

I don't notice my X1900XTX fan :confused: Only time I hear it is at boot time, when it goes balls to the wall 100% lol
 
Dan_D said:
I don't know what's on the X1900GT, but the X1900XTX and X1800XT's have a cooling solution that generates an unreasonable amount of noise that frankly detracts from the gaming experience.
Click to expand...

The fan on my x1800 XL was freakin' loud too! The whine was the worst part and the only place it sounds horrible is exactly where I sit at my desk :mad:
 
Pooky said:
The fan on my x1800 XL was freakin' loud too! The whine was the worst part and the only place it sounds horrible is exactly where I sit at my desk :mad:
Click to expand...

The whine is the worst part. That's for sure. At idle they aren't too bad, but are definitely louder than the X1950XTX's fans at full speed. One X1800XT would drown out all the noise of my machine.

The X1800XT's belong to the [H] and I often use them to make sure Crossfire works on Crossfire compatible motherboards. When I have to do that, its very unpleasant to be in my computer room where the review work is done.

I want a laptop in the living room so I can type my article away from the noise of those damned things.
 
It's all subjective. I had an X1800XL for a year. I've had an X1900XT for 3 months now and although they are both louder than average, I got used to them quickly. The only time it's very noticeable is in 3D apps and the sound from my stereo covers up the fan when I'm playing games. The secret is to set a custom fan profile.
 
Sorry, don't have the link on hand right now, but there was a fairly good review on 3rd party coolers that I saw earlier today. They included the stock cooler for the X1900XT.

At idleish, it runs relatively quiet at ~30-35db. A VF900 runs low 20s up to 31db at 100%. At full load, it depends on what you have your fan profile set to and how much heat you can tolerate, but at forced 100% fan, it gets up to 51db, which is much louder than just about most system fans except the crazy Deltas.
 
pigwalk said:
QFT. The accelero X2 is very nice, quiet, and cools the gpu well, but it raised the ambient temps of my case about 10c.
Click to expand...
Unfortunate side effect. Even in a Stacker w/ dual 120's, I found a nice rise in case temp. The Thermalright HR-03's a much better option, but you could use one of those dual fan slot coolers to kick the air up top. Here's some of my findings w/ Accelero, Vantec version + Accelero, and Thermalright HR-03. I found the Vantec fans to be a bit noisy even on low tho. At least they could be heard over the 5 SFLEX E's spinning @ 1200RPM.

HR-03Temps.jpg


Dan_D said:
The whine is the worst part.
Click to expand...
Downright EVIL!!! Even @ idle, I felt this was unnacceptable. Especially considering NV's managed to keep an equally hot card just as cool w/ a MUCH quieter fan on the 88's.
 
Some of the "It's sooo loud" posters have 8800s in their sigs, so take that for what it's worth.

I have 2 X1900s in crossfire in this machine and the only time they're noticable is during boot. At that time, it's pretty loud. Otherwise, they're pretty quiet.
 
Apallohadas said:
Some of the "It's sooo loud" posters have 8800s in their sigs, so take that for what it's worth.

I have 2 X1900s in crossfire in this machine and the only time they're noticable is during boot. At that time, it's pretty loud. Otherwise, they're pretty quiet.
Click to expand...

Huh?

The 8800GTX is pretty quiet, so I fail to understand what your point is.
 
My point is that if you're not currently sitting next to one of the cards, that your frame of reference may not entirely be accurate.

My frame of reference is 2 feet away.
 
Fortunately my frame of reference lies more than 1,000 miles away now. :p
 
With the Fan blowing 100% is freaking loud. Compared to the 7900GTX, it's just plain loud as hell. That's one thing I have to give to nVidia. I never really paid attention before because I immediately put the card under watercooled (I've owned X8xx X18/9 Series). The current cards in my sig are running with Zalman VF900 Heatsinks because the stock were too loud.
 
I have a custom set profile for my 1900XTX. It doesn't spin up enough past the noise level of the medium speed 92mm Panaflo on my XP90 anymore so it isn't bad. Well, it does for a few seconds in Oblivion in certain high load scenes.

I'll probably reseat the heatsink with AS fairly soon though.
 
Dan_D said:
I don't know what's on the X1900GT, but the X1900XTX and X1800XT's have a cooling solution that generates an unreasonable amount of noise that frankly detracts from the gaming experience.
Click to expand...
I agree with you totally. It's almost as if the card is screaming at me for making it work hard or something. It can be really annoying at times even with the sound up loud.
 
My X1900XT was noisy during gaming. IMO, this is the main weakness of this card.
Fortunately, X1900 cards are silent in 2D mode.
As a reference, I used to have a 7800GTX 512MB and now I game with a X1950 crossfire.
 
I was given this card by a friend and have no experience building or installing hardware in computers. First, it looks like it is barely going to fit without hitting the drive bays. Next I have a Antec 550w PS which does not have the power connector needed for the X1900. I currently have a 9800PRO128 in the computer.

Questions are as follows.

1. Do I need to uninstall anything regarding my current card before attempting to fit this beast in the computer?

2. I understand there is a Y adapter that converts standard 4 Pin LP4 power connector to a 6 Pin Power Connector for use with PCI-Express Video Cards. Will this work or do I need a new power supply?

Thank you for your time.
 
You need to uninstall your current drivers, then use driver cleaner, and then install your x1900. After that you should install the latest drivers. Yes, you can use the molex connector.
 
The adapter will work.

The HSF is terribly loud. It is controlled by the card for speed, so it'll kick on louder when the card heats up. I replaced mine with Zalman VF900's and problem solved.
 
kirbyrj said:
The adapter will work.

The HSF is terribly loud. It is controlled by the card for speed, so it'll kick on louder when the card heats up. I replaced mine with Zalman VF900's and problem solved.
Click to expand...
Did you get a temp drop with the VF900?
 
Jolly said:
I was given this card by a friend and have no experience building or installing hardware in computers. First, it looks like it is barely going to fit without hitting the drive bays. Next I have a Antec 550w PS which does not have the power connector needed for the X1900. I currently have a 9800PRO128 in the computer.

Questions are as follows.

1. Do I need to uninstall anything regarding my current card before attempting to fit this beast in the computer?

2. I understand there is a Y adapter that converts standard 4 Pin LP4 power connector to a 6 Pin Power Connector for use with PCI-Express Video Cards. Will this work or do I need a new power supply?

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...
1) Short answer, YES. Remove the drivers, reboot, install the beast, reinstall drivers. Some here would argue that you should use driver cleaner. I don't see the need unless you have gremlins in your system that interfere with the installer. It's a matter of personal preference.
2) This will work but you need to check your power supply specs and make sure that it has what it takes to power your card. The OC nuts should chime in at this point and offer some advice on the PS rail requirements. It doesn't hurt to give it a shot. I think the Antec 550 should be just fine. I had a 400 watt model for a short period of time and it worked with my 1900XT just fine. I overclocked the video card, CPU and MB chipset and I had 4 high performance drives connected to the PS and it ran fine.

Good luck with getting it to fit though. Unless your case has some wierd dimensions then it should fit but you might have to scrape a few fingers. lol
 
Thank you everyone for your help. As far as the adapter goes is it a one 4 pin plug to a six or do you need two free 4 pin on your power supply to the one six pin? Is it common to have to free four pin plugs? I have dual 10,000 raptor hard drives. Do they each take up a four pin?
 
Eagle156 said:
Did you get a temp drop with the VF900?
Click to expand...

Nominal drop. I never really monitored it before with the old HSF. It is a lot quieter though. I keep the fan on as low as it will go and I never have a problem with VPU errors.
 
Thank you everyone for your help. As far as the adapter goes is it a one 4 pin plug to a six or do you need two free 4 pin on your power supply. Is it common to have two free four pin plugs? I have dual 10,000 raptor hard drives. Don't they each take up a four pin? How can there be any free plugs?
 
Jolly said:
Thank you everyone for your help. As far as the adapter goes is it a one 4 pin plug to a six or do you need two free 4 pin on your power supply. Is it common to have two free four pin plugs? I have dual 10,000 raptor hard drives. Don't they each take up a four pin? How can there be any free plugs?
Click to expand...

It depends on your PSU how many you have as to how many 4-pin molex connections you have. All the adapters I've seen were dual 4-pin molex to 6-pin PCIe.
 
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