PCI SLOT COOLERS

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Chalky

Do PCI SLOT COOLERS ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING? If I put one near my 9800 PRO will
it help get rid of that heat?

G
 
Do PCI SLOT COOLERS ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING? If I put one near my 9800 PRO
will
it help get rid of that heat?
Click to expand...

It'll remove hot air from the case, so that everything runs cooler overall.
Works fine (I have one in an old AT that doesn't have a mounting for a full
size rear fan), but an 80 mm fan mounted on the rear of the case is more
effective. Of course, if you already have fans at all fan mountings, then
the slot cooler will increase airflow yet more.
 
Dirk Dreidoppel said:
It'll remove hot air from the case, so that everything runs cooler overall.
Works fine (I have one in an old AT that doesn't have a mounting for a full
size rear fan), but an 80 mm fan mounted on the rear of the case is more
effective. Of course, if you already have fans at all fan mountings, then
the slot cooler will increase airflow yet more.
Click to expand...
I've tried several slot coolers in the past and, while fairly effective,
they all became very noisy after only a few months, Chalky/G. They may not
be very expensive, but it's an unwanted headache to keep changing them.

Dirk's comments about case cooling are appropriate: also, what I usually do
is cut holes and mount exhaust fans in the side of the case above the CPU
and cards, as far back as is practical (so they exhaust the air _after_ it's
passed over the cards/CPU, rather than extract it before they get cooled).
Then I put a hood over the fans so the air is vented backwards. They're not
noisy anyway, because you can still get good airflow with a larger fan at
lower speeds, but the hood directs the sound as well as the air backwards,
making for a satisfactorily quiet and effective solution.

I always find the best solution is to find ways to let air in at the front
and suck it out at the back. Many people also mount fans at the front as
well, to blow air in, but I find a well planned solution doesn't need this,
and front mounted fans are noisier than rear mounted fans.

You can see some informative documentation on cooling at
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_869_4348^1065,00.html, on AMD's site.

HTH patrickp
 
See, the thing is, I think my 9800 PRO is heating up my case to such a
degree that my CPU cooling fan is kicking into high gear and it makes a
really unpleasant high pitched whine. I suspect this because when the system
first boots up it is fairly tolerable, but after a few minutes of gaming the
system sounds like a hurricane. I really don't want to cut holes in my
system--it is a dell 2250 and eventually I may want to sell it used and
replace it in a year or two. I do have a VGA silencer that exhausts the heat
but I haven't installed it because I killed my 9700 PRO using it---but I was
overclocking it at the time.

I suppose I could try swapping out the CPU fan for something quieter, but
does that require a new CPU heatsink as well? What do you think I should do?

Chalky
 
See, the thing is, I think my 9800 PRO is heating up my case to such a
degree that my CPU cooling fan is kicking into high gear and it makes a
really unpleasant high pitched whine. I suspect this because when the system
first boots up it is fairly tolerable, but after a few minutes of gaming the
system sounds like a hurricane. I really don't want to cut holes in my
system--it is a dell 2250 and eventually I may want to sell it used and
replace it in a year or two. I do have a VGA silencer that exhausts the heat
but I haven't installed it because I killed my 9700 PRO using it---but I was
overclocking it at the time.

I suppose I could try swapping out the CPU fan for something quieter, but
does that require a new CPU heatsink as well? What do you think I should do?

Chalky
Click to expand...

have you seen this recently released fan card? i'd prefer one without
the lights since my case isn't see thru.. oh well.

plissken

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/cooling_devices/vantec_spec
trum_fc/




its called 'vantec spectrum fan card' if the link dosent work...
 
have you seen this recently released fan card? i'd prefer one without
the lights since my case isn't see thru.. oh well.

plissken

http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/cooling_devices/vantec_spec
trum_fc/




its called 'vantec spectrum fan card' if the link dosent work...
Click to expand...


Interesting idea, Plissken, but I think the OP needs to exhaust the hot air
rather than just move it around. Particularly in the possibly restricted
space of a Dell case.

Chalky, CPU fans are often replaceable without changing the heatsink: if the
fan is removable (i.e. unscrews or whatever), you should be able to change
it for another the same size - or even put a larger one in with an adapter
if you have the space.

AFAIK Dell don't seem to have a good name for cooling solutions, though
(never had one myself), both in terms of cooling components that that might
be lower in spec and number than could be desired, and in terms of cases
that tend not to allow room for good cooling practices.

If you just want to keep it for a bit and then pass it on, yes, a slot
cooler might be your best bet, but it does tend to be a short-term solution.

patrickp
 
See, the thing is, I think my 9800 PRO is heating up my case to such a
degree that my CPU cooling fan is kicking into high gear and it makes a
really unpleasant high pitched whine. I suspect this because when the system
first boots up it is fairly tolerable, but after a few minutes of gaming the
system sounds like a hurricane. I really don't want to cut holes in my
system--it is a dell 2250 and eventually I may want to sell it used and
replace it in a year or two. I do have a VGA silencer that exhausts the heat
but I haven't installed it because I killed my 9700 PRO using it---but I was
overclocking it at the time.

I suppose I could try swapping out the CPU fan for something quieter, but
does that require a new CPU heatsink as well? What do you think I should do?
Click to expand...

I got an Arctic Cooling unit for about £7. It puts the air OUT of the
case throught the neighouring PCI slot. It works but I reckon that the
fan could have been a lot more efficient.
--

Julian Richards
julian-richards "at" ntlworld.com

XP Home
L7S7A2 motherboard
Powercolor 9800 SE 8 pipelines with Omega drivers
1 GB RAM
10 GB + 80 GB HDs
CD+DVD/CDRW drives
 
See, the thing is, I think my 9800 PRO is heating up my case to such a
degree that my CPU cooling fan is kicking into high gear and it makes a
really unpleasant high pitched whine. I suspect this because when the system
first boots up it is fairly tolerable, but after a few minutes of gaming the
system sounds like a hurricane. I really don't want to cut holes in my
system--it is a dell 2250 and eventually I may want to sell it used and
replace it in a year or two. I do have a VGA silencer that exhausts the heat
but I haven't installed it because I killed my 9700 PRO using it---but I was
overclocking it at the time.

I suppose I could try swapping out the CPU fan for something quieter, but
does that require a new CPU heatsink as well? What do you think I should do?

Chalky
Click to expand...

My 9800 pro gets hot don't get me wrong, but I think you might look
at doing some cable routing, maybe try keeping the case open to see if
the CPU fan still kicks in. If it does, you may have to replace the
CPU fan anyway. Maybe even adding one of these...
http://www.pctoys.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1189

and / or one of these over the 9800?
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/cnpsvga3.htm

HTH,
 
Mike Moseng said:
My 9800 pro gets hot don't get me wrong, but I think you might look
at doing some cable routing, maybe try keeping the case open to see if
the CPU fan still kicks in. If it does, you may have to replace the
CPU fan anyway. Maybe even adding one of these...
http://www.pctoys.com/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductID=1189

and / or one of these over the 9800?
http://www.zalman.co.kr/english/product/cnpsvga3.htm
Click to expand...

Or you could go with this type of bracket from Zalman
http://www.pccasegear.com/prod669.htm

I had a PCI slot fan for years and my latest one was a huge one that took
two slots. But the thing was loud. When I got my 9800Pro I decided to take
out the slot fan and just use the Zalman bracket and 92MM fan. I drilled
holes in the side of my case to let fresh air in. The fan works great at
keeping my card cool. And the fan is quiet. JLC
 
Chalky said:
Do PCI SLOT COOLERS ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING? If I put one near my 9800 PRO will
it help get rid of that heat?

G
Click to expand...
In my case they did work very well. My case already had front and rear
fans and keeps moderately cool. But when running Morrowind the game
would crash to the desktop after a couple of minutes. Putting in a slot
cooler below my Radeon 9700 Pro completely removed the problem. I could
feel how hot the air was coming out of that fan. I think part of the
reason it works is that the hot air gets trapped under the video card
and the fan can pull it out of there letting in cooler air.
 
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