NV5 Silencer mods...

[PsycoGeek]

I just received my two NV5 silencers yeaterday and was fooling around with them based on what another user had posted here in another thread. I can't find the thread, but he was reporting that the fan seemed to be going backwards (sweeping the air in instead of scooping it in). The fan is turning in the correct direction for pushing air over the heatsink and outside the case. He also said there was a lot of turbulance around the fan, and that there seemed to be some air coming out of there as well. He is correct.

The problem: not enough exhaust area.

The solution: mod the end of the NV5 silencer cover to allow a greater volume of air to escape.

The experiment: I removed the end piece (4 screws) where the air would exit and most of the turbulance went away.

The mod: It's a little hard to explain, but I'll do my best. Most cases have a slot availiable ABOVE the agp slot- an empty backplane with a plate on it. Create an "over the top" duct and attach it to the NV5 Silencer to increase the exhaust area.

I plan on making one mod today sometime, and will post pictures when it's done. BTW, hope you didn't throw away your NV5 packaging because I plan to incorporate some of it into the mod!

 

[PsycoGeek]

Update... The packaging didn't work out. Had to get some plastic sheeting at the hobby store. Everything in at lowes and home depot were too thick. Idle temps are around 51c, load is about 69c (overclocked to 391/1101).

I have one more piece to make and glue on then it's finished. Pics will be up later. I'll also try to push the card a bit further on the core too.

 

[IceWeasel]

why are the nvidia cards temps so high?

i have a stock fan on my x800xt (modded pro) and my idle temps are 35c and load is around 44c...

 

[Scheizekopf]

why are the nvidia cards temps so high?

i have a stock fan on my x800xt (modded pro) and my idle temps are 35c and load is around 44c...

Nvidia cards always run hotter than ATI's.
In my experiences.

 

[pxc]

why are the nvidia cards temps so high?

i have a stock fan on my x800xt (modded pro) and my idle temps are 35c and load is around 44c...

It's not meaningful to compare absolute temperatures. One person's case temperature may be 30C, another's may be 40C and another's with an open case and air conditioned room may be 25C or less. The temperature over ambient IS meaningful to compare, but you also need to do a sanity check to see if it's accurate (i.e. core power * C/W heatsink rating should be close to the difference in temperature over ambient).

For example, even if your case temperature was 20C, the stock cooler would need to have a 0.35C/W rating to get a 44C load temperature. Not likely since the stock cooler has a much higher C/W rating. Sometimes reported temperatures are wrong or maybe your case ambient temperature is close to freezing.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/134/21 <-- 69C load measured on a x800 XT, which more closely corresponds to the power and cooler C/W ratings on that card, passing the sanity check. The core temperature may be a little higher.

And of course the NV40 uses more power (and thus heat) than the R420, but it's not as huge of a difference when the temperatures are accurately measured. The 6600 cards have 2 sensors: ambient, which measures the card temperature and an on-die thermal diode which measures the core temperature. Both seem to be pretty accurate. As you can see in the link above, the x800 temperature reported in display properties most likely isn't accurate.

 

[PsycoGeek]

Update... The packaging didn't work out. Had to get some plastic sheeting at the hobby store. Everything in at lowes and home depot were too thick. Idle temps are around 51c, load is about 69c (overclocked to 391/1101).

I have one more piece to make and glue on then it's finished. Pics will be up later. I'll also try to push the card a bit further on the core too.

Ambient in the case was listed in the nVidia controll panel as 35c. Pics are coming as soon as I get the uploaded to a host.

 

[PsycoGeek]

Here are the pictures...

Top and shroud...

Bottom front of card...

Back of the card...

End...

And finally installed...

The shroud had to be installed after the NV5 was mounted to the video card, otherwise I would not have been able to get it on. It is glued in place with hot melt to make for easier removal. The clear styrene pieces are glued together with styrene glue I picked up at the hobby store with the clear plastic sheets.

-edit- Forgot to mention another temp reading. Still 51c idle, and a max of 69c after playing BFV for about 2 hours. Still at 391/1101.

 

[PsycoGeek]

Here is a screenshot of the temps. Ambient is being read by the card a bit higher than I thought.. And yes, the case needs some work for cooling.

 

[pxc]

nice work. but it really make that much of a difference?

 

[PsycoGeek]

Not yet, but when I get my son's case setup with the proper air flow like mine is, it should get better. If you read my first post here, this whole thing was prompted by someone else noticing that a lot of air was coming out from around the fan itself. There was essentially "backpressure" within the housing forcing air out from around the fan. Not good. This gets the air moving in one direction, over the heatsink and out of the case.

Oh, yeah, forgot to mention this is my son's PC and card. My 6800GT is sitting idle at 63c with a reported ambient temp of 43c; MBM is reporting a case temp of 28c.

 

[IceWeasel]

ok, my x800xt just got up to 64c playing battlefield vietnam for an hour or so... so perhahps that is a better measurement of the temps

 

[PsycoGeek]

Alrighty.... here is where this little mod shows it's worth. I flashed the card with a modified BIOS, voltage change only for 3d from 1.3v to 1.4v. Ran the Coolbits 2 autodetect and it came in at 415mhz/1.12ghz. New idle tems are aorund 54c, load is about 74c max (after an hour of BFV). Better than some peoples stock temps!

Crap! Just realized my kids 6800GT is now WAY faster than mine!

 

[PsycoGeek]

Threw the card in my rig... clocked the same the temps are 51c idle, 68c after BFV for about 2 and 1/ hours. I think it was worth the 45 minuits to make the shroud.

 

[PsycoGeek]

Here is another update to the NV5 Silencer mod. I decided to replace the fan...

I don't know how it performes yet, but that is a Panaflo L1A (24cfm). Also, I have an NV68 block on the card right now while I am waiting for my 6800U to arrive. When I get it back on the GT I'll post numbers.

 

[archevilangel]

actually the turbulence is just the air getting sucked in. I did an experiment using a small bit of paper, and indeed it gets sucked in(before hitting the fan and getting spit out), and then I put a bit in the end and it does blow out the end.

 

[cornelious0_0]

Here is another update to the NV5 Silencer mod. I decided to replace the fan...

That's actually a really great idea....dunno why I hadn't thought of it before. Another thing to consider doing is that the fins of the heatsink on the NV5 are the perfect size to accomodate a 60mm fan. Unless the exhaust end of the shroud has already been modded I wouldn't add a fan more then about 20cfm ontop of the fins.....as it may start to fight with the Silencer's stock fan and push the airflow back out the wrong way. I'm going to be picking up a new NV5 in a day or two and this is what I'm gonna be doing:

1) Taking out the stock Silencer fan and trimming/attaching a Panaflo M1A to the opening of the Silencer with contact cement/crazy glue
2) Cutting a square hole over top of the fins of the cooler to allow placement of a 60mm fan, which will be a Panaflo H1A
3) Cutting off the "tabs" on the Silencer that are meant to make contact with the memory, and using some OCZ BGA Ramsinks on the memory instead. This will not only look very nice, but it'll bring down the amount of heat that the Silencer has to deal with, allowing it to concentrate completely on the GPU
4) Lapping the Silencer and the raminks to a mirror finish, in the attempt to improve heat transfer and contact made between the card and the 'sinks.

Thank you for giving me the idea of replacing the Silencer's stock fan, and I'll possibly have to look at opening up the exhaust "port" a bit more with both intake fans going....so thx again.

 

[PsycoGeek]

No problem cornelious0_0. Just get that case and water cooling setup going.

The exhaust post I did first really worked good. And like I said, that slot above the AGP card isn't used, so why not vent the hot air out of it?

Oh yeah, I haven't gotten this thing on a card after the fan mod, but my Ultra is coming tomorrow, so look for temps and an update late in the day.

I would be very carefull with lapping the NV5. You can take off copper for the core, but the contact area for the RAM is going to be touchy. You will need to take off a lot from the core area first, otherwise you ram contact area will be high and dry.

 

[cornelious0_0]

No problem cornelious0_0. Just get that case and water cooling setup going.

The exhaust post I did first really worked good. And like I said, that slot above the AGP card isn't used, so why not vent the hot air out of it?

Oh yeah, I haven't gotten this thing on a card after the fan mod, but my Ultra is coming tomorrow, so look for temps and an update late in the day.

I would be very carefull with lapping the NV5. You can take off copper for the core, but the contact area for the RAM is going to be touchy. You will need to take off a lot from the core area first, otherwise you ram contact area will be high and dry.

Don't worry, the case and water cooling is still on the way.....I'd just like to know what's taking the heatercore so long to get here. I live in Canada and it says on the USPS tracking site that it left the states from LA on the morning of October 6th. If you don't count weekends on Thx giving then I guess it's only been "on the way" for 7 days now....which really isn't that bad, I'm just going insane waiting for it.

Oh, and don't worry about the lapping, I've lapped a Silencer before. Remember, I'm cutting off the tabs for teh stock memory cooling and using those seperate OCZ ramsinks on the memory. This will mean that after the lap job on the center of the Silencer it will be making perfect contact.....much better then with those annoying memory tabs on there anyways. When I said I'm lapping the ramsinks, I meant the OCZ ramsinks I'm ordering seperately.....which will be attached to the ram independantly of the Silencer.

Overall it's gonna be one sick looking card. I wonder.....couldn't I just solder the wires from that 60mm Panaflo onto the wires for the 80mm Panaflo and use a single motherboard header for 'em? I'm just trying to make sure that my wiring stays as clean as I've got it right now once I get the modded Silencer installed.

 

[PsycoGeek]

Overall it's gonna be one sick looking card. I wonder.....couldn't I just solder the wires from that 60mm Panaflo onto the wires for the 80mm Panaflo and use a single motherboard header for 'em? I'm just trying to make sure that my wiring stays as clean as I've got it right now once I get the modded Silencer installed.

You can, in theory. Just don't draw more current than the motherboard can take. You will have to check with someone else about how much that might be.

Man, that sucks about the rad. Hell, I ordered Combat Digi Q tanks for my son last christmas and they sere here in 5 days, and they came from Japan.

And, no, I didn't remember about the BGA sinks. I'm getting senile I guess...

 

[cornelious0_0]

You will have to check with someone else about how much that might be.

For sure bro, I might just email DFI directly and see what they say.....I'll give 'em the models of the fans and stuff and tell them the fans specs to see if one mobo header could handle it on my Lanparty board. Simple little soldering stuff like that is pathetically easy....and it'd REALLY help keep the wiring clean after the mods.

And, no, I didn't remember about the BGA sinks. I'm getting senile I guess...

Hehe, that's alright.....I think it has something to do with all the metal chips and solder "smoke" that we modders inhale during our lifetime.....seems to be "cutting us short" a bit eh?

 

[Rix2357]

Actually, I think a mod that might make the NV5 more efficient would be to also put a circular ring around the edge of the fan so more of the air is forced through the duct. Maybe cutting about 5mm off the edge of the fan. I really wished they had made the fan blades slightly turned so the air would also be forced down a bit. I think with the current fan shape, some of the air is lost through turbulence around the edge of the fan. I was going to try this in a week or so because right now I am doing memory timings tweaking.

 

[cornelious0_0]

Actually, I think a mod that might make the NV5 more efficient would be to also put a circular ring around the edge of the fan so more of the air is forced through the duct. Maybe cutting about 5mm off the edge of the fan. I really wished they had made the fan blades slightly turned so the air would also be forced down a bit. I think with the current fan shape, some of the air is lost through turbulence around the edge of the fan. I was going to try this in a week or so because right now I am doing memory timings tweaking.

I agree that the fan and the fan design does leave a lot to be desired.....which is why I have high hopes for my decked out Silencer that I'll have a hold on in a week or so.....40cfm Panaflo 80mm fan over the sealed up hole blowing in, and a 19cfm 60mm panaflo blowing down onto the heatsink fins, with its hole closed up. With both fans completely sealed off and the main fan blowing more then twice as much air as the smaller one I believe that the airflow will still function as normal.....and I can hardly wait to ahve it all done....if for no reason other then to see how bloody cool its gonna look.