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Product:
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Arctic Cooling Products Showcase Review |
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Price:
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Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Revision 3 $29.95 (CAN) / $22 (U.S)
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Price:
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Arctic Fan Pro TC $10.95 (CAN) / $8 (U.S)
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Price:
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Arctic Fan Pro 2L $12.95 (CAN) / $9 (U.S)
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Supplied By:
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ADPmods
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Author:
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Hi-TEK
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Date:
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June 4th, 2004
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Rating:
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The process for installing the Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Revision 3 requires a series of steps that
can be completed in less than 30 minutes. For the purposes of this review, I will be using an ATI Radeon
9700 Pro video card. The first step is to remove the stock GPU cooler which is secured to the PCB board
via plastic clips. Once the stock GPU cooler was removed, the remainder of the previously applied
thermal paste was wiped off and the GPU was cleaned with an isopropyl alcohol wipe. The VGA Silencer
Revision 3 comes bundled with Arctic Cooling's own brand of thermal paste. A thin layer of thermal
paste is first applied to the GPU using a squeegee.
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Click image for larger view
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The top portion of the VGA Silencer Revision 3 is placed on top of the core of the GPU in order to
mount the clipping mechanism. One point to note about this product is that it only extends to GPU
cooling and does not cool the onboard RAM modules. If you wish to use third party heatsinks for
RAM it is recommended that you consult Arctic Cooling's compatibility list
for more information. The entire unit is secured to blue clamp, which resides on the bottom of the
card and is secure to the top portion of the VGA Silencer Revision 3 using two mounting screws.
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Click image for larger view
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Click image for larger view
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The onboard fan of the VGA Silencer Revision 3 conveniently fits into the 2-pin fan header on the ATI
Radeon 9700 Pro video card for power. There are additional grooves along the plastic housing of the
unit, which allow you to route and wiring. Once the unit is assembled the last remaining step is to
install the video card into any free AGP slot. To start performance tests, I assembled the following
pieces of hardware to complete the system:
- ASUS PC4C800 Deluxe Motherboard
- Pentium 4 2.8C CPU with a Thermalright SLK947U HSF
- ATI Radeon 9700 Pro Video Card
- 2 x Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 8 40 GB Hard drives
- 2 x OCZ PC3200 DDR400 256MBx2 CAS2.5
- LiteOn 52x32x52 CD-RW
- LG 52x32x52 CD-RW w/ SuperLink
- SB Live 5.1 sound card
- PCMods 4 switch Baybus
- Thermaltake Silent PurePower 480W Black PSU
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Click image for larger view
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Testing:
In order to gauge the performance of the modified ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card, I ran the card in its
stock configuration and new modification using Powerstrip v3.49
from EnTech Taiwan. This application program allows consumers to increase engine and memory clock
speeds for optimal performance. The latest release includes per-application cruise controls, in-game
clock hotkeys, clock power management, an OSD of current clock speeds, and simultaneous clock control
over multiple display adapters. By default the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video card is capable of running with
a memory clock of 310MHz (620MHz DDR) and engine clock of 325MHz. A successful overclock of this card
includes having no reported artifacts or visual abnormalities along with stability using normal application
programs. Ambient case temperature was reported at 30°C, with the low RPM setting of 1200RPM, I was
able to push the memory clock to 323MHz and the engine clock to 333MHz after 30 minutes of load testing.
By increasing the RPM setting to 2400RPM, the results were even more impressive moving the memory clock
to 332 MHz and the engine clock to 337 MHz stable. I did have to adjust the RPM speed from low to high to maintain
stability during testing but overall noise levels were tolerable.
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Conclusion:
The Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Revision 3 is a nice supplemental add-on kit for anyone seriously
looking to replace their stock video card cooling with good results. As with most products on the
market there is always an inherent risk associated with overclocking products beyond the manufacturer's
specification. The Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Revision 3 can handle increased loads for high
performance video cards which in exchange can improve gaming performance. The instruction manual is
good and provides all the necessary information on assembling this kit together. While the package
does include thermal paste, it would be a nice if additional RAM cooling modules were also provided to
cover all cooling aspects. The Arctic Fan Pro 2L and Arctic Fan Pro TC are cooling products that
provide good performance balanced with silent operation. Consumers will appreciate the that the
Arctic Fan Pro 2L differs from regular LED based fans currently on the market by incorporating a
3-position switch to control fan rotation. As previously mentioned, the benefit of this switch does
not directly effect fan illumination but consumers will have to remove their case panels in order to adjust
fan speed levels once this product is installed. The Arctic Pro TC is a smart fan that uses a built-in
temperature sensor to adjust fan speed rotation where required. During performance testing, the unit
was barely audible and can easily be compared to rival brands available from SilenX and QuietPC.
Overall Aside from a few minor issues, I'm rating the Arctic Cooling Product line an final score of
8.5 out of 10. If you have any questions
regarding this review be sure to visit the ADPMods
website for more information or discuss them in our forums.
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Pros:
- VGA Silencer has great aesthetically pleasing design
- Good documentation with all products
- Quality construction
- Minimal noise levels with all products
- Good performance in overclocked environments
- 3-Postion fan control switch on the Arctic Pro 2L
- Built-in temperature sensor which automatically adjusts fan speeds on the Arctic Pro TC
- Price
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Cons:
- VGA Silencer is not compatible with all video cards
- VGA Silencer does not provide RAM cooling modules
- VGA Silencer uses two PCI slots
- Case panel needs to be removed in order to adjust the fan speed of the Arctic Fan Pro 2L
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