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cornelious0_0
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2003
- Messages
- 12,783
Well, after being inspired by some pics I spotted over at ocforums, and from our very own PsycoGeek I have come togethor with a collection, a compilation if you will...of the best and most effective NVSilencer mods I've found to date.
Before I get into any further details about the project let me list off everything that I just put in an order for at www.bigfootcomputers.com about a few hours ago. All prices are in Canadian funds, so don't bother asking why they might seem a little high. Here we are.....
1) 1 x NV Silencer 5 (6800Ultra/6800GT/6800) $39.98 link
2) 1 x OCZ *NEW 8 PACK* BGA *COPPER* Ramsink Pack $24.98 link
3) 1 x 3.5g AS5 - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound $9.98 link
4) 1 x Panaflo 80mm "HIGH" 39.6cfm 32dba H1A Fan $19.98 link
5) 1 x 80mm Chrome Plated Fan Grill $2.95 link
6) 1 x Panaflo 60mm "HIGH" 19.1cfm 32dba H1A Fan $15.98 link
7) 1 x 60mm Chrome Plated Fan Grill $2.95 link
Alright, well obviously this mod is going to be based around the much praised NV5 Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer.
I have already had the privaledge of owning an NV5, but it was more to simply "try it out" to see how the cooler faired under different conditions. What I mean by that is that I started experimenting with a number of different mods to the cooler, in an effort to learn how it reacted to various design changes and airflow modifications. By the time i was "through" with the Silencer it was hardly useable, but I learned a great deal. I originally attempted cutting a hole in the plastic cover and placing a 60x25mm fan over the heatsink fins, in an attempt to bring some additional direct airflow to the warmest part of the cooler. All that I ended up doing was creating a struggle between The Silencers main fan and the 60mm addon fan, as the 60mm was blowing FAR more air then the Silencer's fan was, and the air was getting thrown about every which way. Removing that 60mm fan and simply allowing my Vantec Fancard to blow on the heatsink from 2 PCI slots down reared an impressive 6C drop in my load temps. I'm not going to get any more into my experiences with the cooler, but there area few more things that only through experimentation did I find out how to "remedy" to an extent.
Well, by now you've probably already figured out what the 60mm Panaflo H1A is going to be for huh?
The 80mm Panaflo H1A actually has quite a bit more of an interesting application. First off, any owners of an NV5 can really feel for what I'm saying when I tell you that the Stock Silencer's fan does NOT move enough air, as you can barely feel it coming out the back. My way of "fixing" this is to adopt the Tim Taylor school of thought: I know what this baby needs...MORE POWER!!!
The 80mm Panaflo H1A is going to actually become a replacement fan for the NV5's stock fan. Of course the Panaflo will not fit inside the enclosure for the stock fan, but instead it will reside atop the circular openning above where the stock fan used to sit. The Panaflo will be secured to the plastic directly with a mix of contact cement and everyday crazy glue.....which I also found through experience works quite well. Now you might be saying.....But Corny.....the fan is square, and the hole is round.....and don't worry, I've got it covered. What is going to happen with both the 60mm and 80mm fans is that the "screw tabs" are going to be cut off and sanded down.....leaving each Panaflo fan surrounded by a round fan casing. This will make the 80mm fan the right size to fit over the openning where the stock fan used to be, and will give the 60mm fan a great look also. To ensure that no air leaves the Silencer other then through the port on the end I am going to use some black Aquarium Sealant (silicone) around the base of each fan. I might get creative with the silicone and actually (almost) coat the sides of the fans with it also....so that it looks like its a "part" of the fan running down onto the Silencer. Kinda hard to explain, but I think it'd look cool. As for the grills, seeing as I will have already cut off the "fan hole tabs" (for a lack of better words) on both fans, I will more or less have to do the same with the wire grills. What's going to happen with the grills is that the screw "tabs" (there's gotta be a better word for that) on the grills will also be cut off, and the grill will be attached to the fan via the contact cement mix and the black silicone that will run up the sides of the fan and overlap onto the grill, holding it in place. I dont' know about you, but it's starting to look pretty good already.
The problems I ran into before with the 60mm fan "taking over" the airflow in the Silencer should not come about this time.....as I have made sure to set it up properly this time. This time the larger, main fan will be moving just short of 40cfm...whereas the smaller Panaflo will "only" be pushing 19cfm onto and over the fins directly. Considering the 80mm fan is putting out just over double the airflow as the smaller fan there shouldnt be any problems when it comes to air flowing freely thought the fins and the ducting thereafter, and at the same time, the 19cfm being blown by the 60mm fan should be enough to stop any air from fighting its way out.
That only leaves the ramsinks now doesn't it? Well, while this process isn't quite as long and drawn out as the fan incorporation.....it is just as vital as everything else. As you may already know, the NV5 has extensions of its copper base that are meant to make contact with the 6800's memory chips. This is a double edged sword in the sense that you are efficiently cooling the memory, but only while "donating" to the heat that the cooler has to deal with, raising both your cards ambient and core temperatures slightly. What is going to be done is I'm simply cuttong off the extensions of the NV5 meant to make contact with the memory and trimming back the plastic duct on the cooler, so that I can attach the ramsinks to each memory chip without making contact with the copper surface of the NV5. Not only will I be able to maintain a very nice memory overclock with those copper ramsinks, but both the ambient and core temperatures on the card will have been lowered.....allowing the Silencer to devote all of its work towards cooling the GPU, not having to worry about dealing with the rather warm running GDDR3 memory.
Well guys, there you have it.....other then lapping the NV5 and the individual ramsinks to a mirror finish that's "all" I've got planned. Thank you for sitting through my explanation, and I look forward to seeing some of you around from time to time as the mods start to take shape and come togethor. I expect to be recieve all of the above parts by the end of this week, but I will be sure to come back and post an update when the order does ship.....as it'll be two days later that the NV5 and all it's "add-ons" will arrive together.
Before I get into any further details about the project let me list off everything that I just put in an order for at www.bigfootcomputers.com about a few hours ago. All prices are in Canadian funds, so don't bother asking why they might seem a little high. Here we are.....
1) 1 x NV Silencer 5 (6800Ultra/6800GT/6800) $39.98 link
2) 1 x OCZ *NEW 8 PACK* BGA *COPPER* Ramsink Pack $24.98 link
3) 1 x 3.5g AS5 - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound $9.98 link
4) 1 x Panaflo 80mm "HIGH" 39.6cfm 32dba H1A Fan $19.98 link
5) 1 x 80mm Chrome Plated Fan Grill $2.95 link
6) 1 x Panaflo 60mm "HIGH" 19.1cfm 32dba H1A Fan $15.98 link
7) 1 x 60mm Chrome Plated Fan Grill $2.95 link
Alright, well obviously this mod is going to be based around the much praised NV5 Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer.
I have already had the privaledge of owning an NV5, but it was more to simply "try it out" to see how the cooler faired under different conditions. What I mean by that is that I started experimenting with a number of different mods to the cooler, in an effort to learn how it reacted to various design changes and airflow modifications. By the time i was "through" with the Silencer it was hardly useable, but I learned a great deal. I originally attempted cutting a hole in the plastic cover and placing a 60x25mm fan over the heatsink fins, in an attempt to bring some additional direct airflow to the warmest part of the cooler. All that I ended up doing was creating a struggle between The Silencers main fan and the 60mm addon fan, as the 60mm was blowing FAR more air then the Silencer's fan was, and the air was getting thrown about every which way. Removing that 60mm fan and simply allowing my Vantec Fancard to blow on the heatsink from 2 PCI slots down reared an impressive 6C drop in my load temps. I'm not going to get any more into my experiences with the cooler, but there area few more things that only through experimentation did I find out how to "remedy" to an extent.
Well, by now you've probably already figured out what the 60mm Panaflo H1A is going to be for huh?
The 80mm Panaflo H1A actually has quite a bit more of an interesting application. First off, any owners of an NV5 can really feel for what I'm saying when I tell you that the Stock Silencer's fan does NOT move enough air, as you can barely feel it coming out the back. My way of "fixing" this is to adopt the Tim Taylor school of thought: I know what this baby needs...MORE POWER!!!
The 80mm Panaflo H1A is going to actually become a replacement fan for the NV5's stock fan. Of course the Panaflo will not fit inside the enclosure for the stock fan, but instead it will reside atop the circular openning above where the stock fan used to sit. The Panaflo will be secured to the plastic directly with a mix of contact cement and everyday crazy glue.....which I also found through experience works quite well. Now you might be saying.....But Corny.....the fan is square, and the hole is round.....and don't worry, I've got it covered. What is going to happen with both the 60mm and 80mm fans is that the "screw tabs" are going to be cut off and sanded down.....leaving each Panaflo fan surrounded by a round fan casing. This will make the 80mm fan the right size to fit over the openning where the stock fan used to be, and will give the 60mm fan a great look also. To ensure that no air leaves the Silencer other then through the port on the end I am going to use some black Aquarium Sealant (silicone) around the base of each fan. I might get creative with the silicone and actually (almost) coat the sides of the fans with it also....so that it looks like its a "part" of the fan running down onto the Silencer. Kinda hard to explain, but I think it'd look cool. As for the grills, seeing as I will have already cut off the "fan hole tabs" (for a lack of better words) on both fans, I will more or less have to do the same with the wire grills. What's going to happen with the grills is that the screw "tabs" (there's gotta be a better word for that) on the grills will also be cut off, and the grill will be attached to the fan via the contact cement mix and the black silicone that will run up the sides of the fan and overlap onto the grill, holding it in place. I dont' know about you, but it's starting to look pretty good already.
The problems I ran into before with the 60mm fan "taking over" the airflow in the Silencer should not come about this time.....as I have made sure to set it up properly this time. This time the larger, main fan will be moving just short of 40cfm...whereas the smaller Panaflo will "only" be pushing 19cfm onto and over the fins directly. Considering the 80mm fan is putting out just over double the airflow as the smaller fan there shouldnt be any problems when it comes to air flowing freely thought the fins and the ducting thereafter, and at the same time, the 19cfm being blown by the 60mm fan should be enough to stop any air from fighting its way out.
That only leaves the ramsinks now doesn't it? Well, while this process isn't quite as long and drawn out as the fan incorporation.....it is just as vital as everything else. As you may already know, the NV5 has extensions of its copper base that are meant to make contact with the 6800's memory chips. This is a double edged sword in the sense that you are efficiently cooling the memory, but only while "donating" to the heat that the cooler has to deal with, raising both your cards ambient and core temperatures slightly. What is going to be done is I'm simply cuttong off the extensions of the NV5 meant to make contact with the memory and trimming back the plastic duct on the cooler, so that I can attach the ramsinks to each memory chip without making contact with the copper surface of the NV5. Not only will I be able to maintain a very nice memory overclock with those copper ramsinks, but both the ambient and core temperatures on the card will have been lowered.....allowing the Silencer to devote all of its work towards cooling the GPU, not having to worry about dealing with the rather warm running GDDR3 memory.
Well guys, there you have it.....other then lapping the NV5 and the individual ramsinks to a mirror finish that's "all" I've got planned. Thank you for sitting through my explanation, and I look forward to seeing some of you around from time to time as the mods start to take shape and come togethor. I expect to be recieve all of the above parts by the end of this week, but I will be sure to come back and post an update when the order does ship.....as it'll be two days later that the NV5 and all it's "add-ons" will arrive together.
