VGA Cooler Group Test on ATI X1900 SeriesIn
March 2006 we tested a selection of popular air cooled heatsinks for VGA cards, many of those products could be installed on NVIDIA and ATI products. Back then we tested the coolers on a 7800GT from NVIDIA and came up with a short-list of products to buy.
Today we go back to the test bench with the same collection of coolers, swapping the Accelero X1 for its ATI’s brother (X2) and adding the long awaited Thermalright V1-Ultra.
Testing in a different environment with different hardware might change the outcome of the test results compared to last time. Let’s find out.
Test SetupThe case and system used for this test is quite different from the last roundup, the small
Antec Lanboy has been replaced by a larger
Sunbeamtech Silent Storm. The small case used one 80mm output; the Silent Storm was set up with 1x120mm fan in-take.
Piotke's Test Setup |
CPU | AMD AM2 3500+ |
Cooling | Zalman CNPS9500-CU |
Mainboard | DFI NF590 SLI-M2R/G |
Memory | 2 * 1024 Mb OCZ PC7200 EPP |
Other | Powercolor X1900 GT Sytrin 460W PSU Maxtor 80GB IDE HDD |
in-take temperature was measured at 27°C for all tests (tests were done at the end of August), but temp fluctuations, different mounting and user error can account up to 1-3°C of inaccuracy in the obtained results. Please keep this in mind when looking at the results. Each heatsink was tested repeatedly; if I got questionable results the test was restarted.
Noise was recorded approximately 50cm away from the front of the closed case, ambient without VGA cooler running was 41.7dBA.
The VGA card was stressed by running Real-Time HDR continuously until temperatures.
Arctic Silver kindly send us their “Lumière” thermal testing compound which has the same color as Ceramique, but only a break in time of 30min!
Arctic Silver’s ArctiClean was used to clean off thermal paste between tests.
My system setup is similar to the Piotke's Test Setup picture on Page 1 of your review except my Zalman blow air directly to the back of the case.
TIA