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scared VGA silencer

tell me more about GIANT III.. plz I wanna know.. mine arrives in 2 weeks all the way from the USA :rolleyes:
 
Originally posted by Shinare
You think the silencer is bad, I just swapped my VGA silencer for this. The VGA Silencer wont go onto a 9600pro but this one will... that seems a little odd to me that Arctic Cooling wouldnt make their Silencer a little more "universal" like this one is.
Click to expand...

Rev. 3 of the arctic cooling vga silencer fits the ati 9600 cards. It's either out now or will be later this month (according to arctic cooling's website).

*edit - it's looks to be a fairly simpe mod to make the rev.1 & rev.2 vga silencer's fit on a 9600 pro. Just need a dremel. Here's a description here (7th post): http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=9956
 
Shinare was it hard installing that giant3? i have never even taken of a heatsink from a videocard before.
 
Originally posted by bizzy420
Shinare was it hard installing that giant3? i have never even taken of a heatsink from a videocard before.
Click to expand...

I have not gotten the Giant3 in the mail yet. I am cross-shipping the Silencer for the Giant3. I sent a very well worded but upset email to the place I bought the Silencer from saying their website was VERY MISLEADING with respect to the card types the Silencer would fit on. Their website said "9500pro to 9800pro" which to me, 9600pro falls in between these numbers. Anyway, they sent me back an email (one week later) saying they apologize for the misrepresentaion on the website (they agreed that it did make it sound like it would fit the 9600pro) and offered to cross-ship the Giant3 for the Silencer as long as it was still in it's unopened retail packaging (which it was). Not too shabby since I bought the Silencer for $20 shipped ($15+$5). But I have had to pay shipping twice now on the thing.

So, I guess a little squeek from this wheel did get some grease after all.

But, in answer to your question, I amgine that it is going to be rather dificult to install it. I have heard that the Zalman ZM80C-HP as well as the Giant 2 are both probably the most difficult after market coolers to put on becasue of the weight, the heatpipe, and becasue of the mounting mechanism. If the heat pipe really does make it more dificult then having two to install should be a challenge! But I'm definatly up for that chalange if I can get 500MHz out of my 9600pro. (currently at 450/710 stock)
 
I know the 9700/9500 series have a little shim that is better to remove when putting on a new heatsink, is it the same with the 9800pro cuz im going to buy a vga silencer very soon
 
Well i put it on and guess what....artifacts all over the screen....I put the stock back on and the same exact thing....I did tighten it to much...im sure of it...just enough to hold it on.


UNREAL....i finally got a card that works and now its fuggin DEAD. I will NEVER use this cooler again.
 
did you leave the shim on when you installed it Highlife? bummer man. :(
 
Originally posted by Highlife
Well i put it on and guess what....artifacts all over the screen....I put the stock back on and the same exact thing....I did tighten it to much...im sure of it...just enough to hold it on.


UNREAL....i finally got a card that works and now its fuggin DEAD. I will NEVER use this cooler again.
Click to expand...

exactly what happened to me.
 
This fuggin POS...im going to give it to someone I HATE...

I really cant belive this....

Im SURE im DIDNT tighen it to much...i tighten it enough just to hold it on. I even checked it to make sure i was getting good contact with the heatsink and i was for sure. Im going to write Artic Cooling about this. I think it might have something to do with the power connector.

My card is working, but there are artifacts all over the screen.

I even tried unclocking the card....still all the same, there are little yellow lines throughout all my text..

Dave what store did you buy this from?
 
You folks are killing me !!

How on earth are you damaging/killing your video cards !!

It's not that freeking hard to install !!

You shouldn't tighten the screws on the retainer at though your torquing some car engine bolt - goodness
:rolleyes:

Just tighten it so that the metal strip barely touches the tops of the black rubber washer.

If you're squashing the rubber washers until they're bulging out, you've gone too far.

Good grief.

And once agian, here's my VGA Silencer installed, in case you missed it the last time :)

pic4.jpg
 
ITS THE SHIM. Same thing with artifacts happened to me with it. It didnt get better with stock cooling back on cause you arent using the UBER THICK adhesive that ATI used. I shut my card off immediatley after seeing aftifacts, popped shim off, and it works better than ever. Just broke 20k 3dmark01 with it tonight. If your card doesnt work, try popping off the shim before you buy another one. Trust me, that thing is WAY to high on the 9700 pro. Not one, little bit of contact.
 
ok Guys I`m here!

I can't believe what happening to other people with this thing.

Now I really don`t know if installing it is a good idea. At least not until I know what is the reason of killing those cards!

I'm thinking about selling the Silencer....

:(
 
I think we'll hold off with pushing you over the edge;)

Being [H]ard don't mean bein stupid.

I just reread this thread from the top, Has all the makins of a movie! Uncertainty, fear,suspense,intimidation Sequel!

A [H]ard community at its best.
 
Yeah, I'm scared to do it myself. Then again, I wouldn't use the extra overclocking benefits anyway.
 
I wrote to Artic cooling and going to find out what the hell is going on here. I would hold off till i hear something back, but to each his own.
 
Highlife.....let us know what they say. I`m going to wait for your answer and then i might sell it or keep it.

Let's see.

I`m really sorry for what happened.
 
Guys its the shim im pretty sure of it i had the problem with my 9700pro iceberq 4 pro , ati uses a thick pad of adhesive which is why the core makes contact otherwise the core will not contact the surface of your heatsink remove the shim before your card actually gets dammaged
 
I thought about removing it, but i checked to make sure it was making contact. I put some AS on the core and press the card on to the cooler with light pressure. I saw that the AS spread nice and even, the core paste imprinted in a perfect square, nothing uneven or anything.

Once i get my new card im going to leave the stock cooler on there forever. I dont care, i was happy with my overclock and wasnt planning on going more. I didnt want to remove the shim in case I needed to RMA the card. Now im glad i didnt.

I dont see how leaving the shim on will mess anything up at all. Im sure that the heatsink made contact. If you look at the card sideways you can clearly see the shim sits a hair lower then the core itself. I verified this before deciding to add the heatsink.
 
.. and that is the reason I opt for the Giant II/III.. it has a little thin aluminum plate popping out of the base so that whatever the case it makes good contact w/ the core!

Vga Silencer did not impress me one bit due to the whole cheap aluminum block thingie and plastic cover..

Sorry to hear about the loss of your cards though!:(
 
You shouldn't tighten the screws on the retainer at though your torquing some car engine bolt - goodness
Click to expand...

Shit! I knew I shouldn't have used the air ratchet to tighten the thing on!

Seriously though I didnt think it would be this hard. Is the Zalman ZM80C this difficult to install? If it is then I'll get my buddy to do the install, he is much more patient then I am.

I don't see what the problem with breaking your card is unless the Warranty is expired. If the thing breaks after you try to install the silence then just put the old fan back on, ship it back to whoever sold it too you and tell them that you are pissed off because their fucking video card doesnt work and that if they don't replace it then you will take your buisness elsewhere. I guarantee they won't check if the thing works or not.

The way I see it is that its there fault for not making the thing durable enough.
 
I was going to get the Zalman ZM80C but I realized after I ordered the Zalman cooler that it would not fit my Hercules 9800 Pro due to the stock ram heat sinks. So, I RMA'd the ZM80C and got the VGA Silencer instead.

Hercules9800Pro.jpg


I would have prefered the ZM80C because I think it's probably a superior design but that's just my theory.

Somebody actually suggested that I dremmel the stock ram sinks off - oohhh, that makes me flinch just thinking about it :eek:
 
Originally posted by NeoNemesis
Shit! I knew I shouldn't have used the air ratchet to tighten the thing on!

Seriously though I didnt think it would be this hard. Is the Zalman ZM80C this difficult to install? If it is then I'll get my buddy to do the install, he is much more patient then I am.

I don't see what the problem with breaking your card is unless the Warranty is expired. If the thing breaks after you try to install the silence then just put the old fan back on, ship it back to whoever sold it too you and tell them that you are pissed off because their fucking video card doesnt work and that if they don't replace it then you will take your buisness elsewhere. I guarantee they won't check if the thing works or not.

The way I see it is that its there fault for not making the thing durable enough.
Click to expand...

Its called conscience and ethics!
 
Originally posted by daveisconfused
exactly what happened to me.
Click to expand...

-------------------------------------------------------------

If you people figure something out, please report, because I can't afford another 9800P :(
 
I've heard really good things about the ZM80c but I just can't imagine taking a power tool to a video card... It just doesnt seem right.
 
you guys have officially steered me away from this product. I dont like to gamble that high a stakes.:rolleyes:
 
This is my take on the subject and only IMO!

Make your own judgement.

I would recommend a GIANT III over VGA Silencer anyday.

If you want to read up about the horror stories about VGA Silencer I direct you here

Yes, I know there are success stories in there too but see for yourself.

Giant III is not that loud when you turn the primary fan on low or medium. Its when it is set to high that it gets loud. You can find the reviews on the thermaltake site all of them state that it performs cooler. You can simply ignore the top 9000 rpm fan. The things going for Giant III are:

1) Dual heatpipes are sure going to be a hell lot better even if you dont put any fan on them.
2) The primary 60mm fan has fan speed control that can take care of the NOISE factor.
3) You get free copper ramsinks
4) It cools way better than VGA Silencer.
5) You can go wild overclocking using the top blower and setting fan speeds to highest on primary fan.
6) Better make IMO. I have seen the Giant II and it was very well crafted.
7) It has a protruding aluminum plate (w/ a better than Silencer finish IMO) that does not make you remove the shim on your video card.

Cons:

1) Weight.
2) Installation might require upto 1 hour.
3) Noise when set to highest levels but then again you are doing the extreme overclocking

VGA Silencer Pros:

1) It puts hot air out of the system in effect cooling other parts of system (maybe)
2) It is silent.
3) Installation time is less.

Cons:

1) Installation requires removing the thingie around the video and dvi adapters and many people have borked their cards doing that.
2) does not make proper contact w/ core if shim is high
3) Frankly, I think it has a cheap make, plastic cover w/ an aluminum block. (ONLY IMO)
4) Have to search for version number to know if it will install properly on your card.
5) Not too impressive overclocks except Hitman's one that I saw over here but that is because he got the bestest of cards
6) Horror Stories

Remember all of this is from what I have read over the internet. My Giant III arrives in a week or so from the states and I ordered it after a lot of research. I was going to order a VGA Silencer too just for kicks but then I chose against it because I cant simply bork my video card doing stupid experiments! I am not a pro but having used Giant II and running my 9700 Pro @ 9800 Pro speeds+ for over a year I think a Giant III will not disappoint me!

If noise and price is not the issue get the Giant III.
 
in the newsgroups there are 3-4 people who have had the same problem and have removed the shim. After removing it still happened.

its in alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati

They have wrote to arctic cooling, as have i, just waiting to hear back from them.

They should make the bottem contact point smaller to sit inside the shim. Removing the shim sucks..its attached by thermal tape and can its not easily removed. You can damage you core of your chip if you not careful. I cant belive Arctic cooling didnt pick up on this and change the design of the cooler. Very upsetting, I will not recommend this product to anyone nor will i ever buy their products again.

Also, just a question, but how do people think the stock cooler makes contact with the core? The contact point is bigger then the shim so you know its going to sit on the shim yet it still touches the core and cools the chip....enquiring minds want to know. Its kinda like saying you need to remove the heatspreader on the A64 to get a certain cooler to fit. Companies would lose out business on a product like that dont you think?
 
Originally posted by Highlife
Also, just a question, but how do people think the stock cooler makes contact with the core? The contact point is bigger then the shim so you know its going to sit on the shim yet it still touches the core and cools the chip....enquiring minds want to know. Its kinda like saying you need to remove the heatspreader on the A64 to get a certain cooler to fit. Companies would lose out business on a product like that dont you think?
Click to expand...

On my BBATI 9800P on the center of the heatsink there is a little raised part, so it clearly touches the core.
 
Originally posted by Highlife
in the newsgroups there are 3-4 people who have had the same problem and have removed the shim. After removing it still happened.

its in alt.comp.periphs.videocards.ati
Click to expand...

How do I view a newsgroup?
 
You have to setup the newgroups through your ISP...

I use Bellsouth and Outlook express. You will have to create a account and call your ISP for the settings.
 
Originally posted by AcneBrain
On my BBATI 9800P on the center of the heatsink there is a little raised part, so it clearly touches the core.
Click to expand...

On my 9700 AIW the stock heatsink is flat, no raised portion at all. My shim sits a tad lower then the core itself. I view it from the side and verified the contact with the cooler before i screwed it down.

The 9800 Pro stock heatsink is different to the 9700 AIW heatsinks.
 
on my 9500 and 9700pro the heatsink was flat and there was a thick chunk of heatpaste that allowed it to make contact
 
Yep same here hehe....its all flat with a huge piece of thermal tape...

again I know this made good contact....like i said before. I put the paste on the core and sat it on top of the cooler. I push it down with alittle pressure and the paste spread out nice and even on the bottem of the heatsink. It wasnt a huge amount of paste, just enough to cover the whole core. I used a buisness card and spread it out evenly. If it didnt make good contact I would of see it on the on the bottem of the cooler itself. It would spread out the paste if not.

There has got to be another reason for it. Maybe something with the fan and how it connects to the card. From what I read about it on www.arctic-cooling.com the fan draws alittle more then 3 watts. Dunno how much the stock cooler draws, but this card draws enough power at start up.

Another thing to is since it had artifacts when the silencer was on, I only let it get to the post screen and turned it right off, but yet even with the stock cooler back on it still has artifacts. If it wasnt making good contact with the VGA, i know the stock would be making good contact. I did replace some paste on before i put the stock back on. Another reason why I dont think it was the contact of the chip and heatsink that messed it up.
 
I just installed my VGA silencer on my 9800. First time replacing a GPU heatsink, and installation was easy as pie. Squeezed the push pins on old heatsink with my fingernails and the heatsink popped off easily. The thermal paste they used showed good contact with the old HS. Shim appeared to be precisely level with the core.

Cleaned off core, applied thermal paste, set video card face down onto the silencer, using toothpicks to guide the holes into alignment.

Put on the clip, screwed each screw gently turn by turn, didn't tighten very much. I saw no need to remove my video card bracket, so I just opened up the slot below so that the air could exhaust

When I put the card back into the machine, I got an error beep related to display cards, so I reseated the card and was able to boot up fine.

I'm running ATi Tool right now to find max core/mem clocks. So far, I'm running at 450 core and 360 memory. That's a 34mhz core improvement on my old OC and I actually squeezed another 10 out of the memory. So from 324/290 stock to 450/360

Most importantly, I believe these will be stable overclocks for long gaming sessions, unlike the OC with the stock heatsink which tended to show artifacting after an hour or two of gaming.


Next thing on my to do list is to break out the flexo sleeving and make some order out of the horrific mess of wires in my case.
 
I forgot to mention... before I installed my VGA silencer, I snipped off the little two pin connector for the fan and replaced it with a 4 pin molex so I could connect directly to the power supply instead of drawing through the card.
 
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