Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer v3:

Artic Cooling was a relatively unknown company until the last year or so. They are based in Switzerland and came out of no where to create a unique cooler for video cards. There was something simlar on the nVidia GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, but that was SO loud it became the butt of many jokes at the time! I don't know if they borrowed that idea or not, but Arctic Cooling certainly did it right! Unlike the cooler on the 5800 Ultra, the VGA Silencer is VERY quiet! Arctic Cooling uses a fan simiar to what most people are used to seeing, and it doesn't need to spin very fast to do its job well.

You might look at the VGA Silencer and wonder why it is SO big.... The heat sink part appears to cover most of your entire video card. You can mark that up to early experimentation, as their newer series doesn't use as big a heat sink. ALthough the new series are copper, this model I'm looking at today is just aluminum.... What you see here is version 3 of their VGA Silencer, which will fit quite a few video cards, those being: ATI 9500-9700 (SE, Pro, XT, AIW) and ATI 9800 (SE, Pro, AIW) cards.

Although this cooler only attaches to the GPU/VPU and not the memory, it is able to send most of the heat generated out the slot below the videocard. They call this DHES, or Direct Heat Exhaust System. I have a pretty well ventilated case, and even though my case temperature did not drop, my CPU temp did drop 7'C! This version of the card does have a fan speed switch for low & high. I couldn't find a reason to keep it set to low, as even on high, I could not hear it over my Antec True 430 power supply.

Once you have it installed, you will lose the ability to use the slot immediately below your video card. Its not a big deal for most, as even I'd have trouble filling up all the PCI slots with useful cards. There is a semi-translucent shroud that cover most of the fan and heat sink, and is used to get the air going toward the oustide of your case. Also, there is approximately a 7mm gap between the shroud and the blackplate. Not sure if this is also the case on the newer ones, but it would not sway me from buying another!

Now we come to the installation of VGA Silencer. The original HSF on my Sapphire Radeon 9800 128Meg PRO was only held on by 2 push pins. Those are easily detached from the card, and that just left the thermal paste that was on the GPU itself. I usually try to remove the HSF when its not completely cold, as that will sometimes make it much more difficult to get the HSF off. With a little twist, the stock HSF was off and it was time to get the Silencer ready for its new home.

The thermal paste that comes with the Silencer is not conductive, so you can be a little sloppy with it. If you want to use your own thermal paste, like Arctic Silver 3, be very careful with it, as it is conductive and might not be worth the risk of using it over the paste that comes with the Silencer. Once you get a little paste on the HSF and the GPU, its time to lie down the HSF (face down), line up the holes on the video card and set that on the HSF, then screw on the bracket. The bracket has some pads on it to keep everything comfortably tight.

Now you're ready to put your video card back into your case. You'll have to remove the backplate below the videocard for the DHES. Once the card is back in, just bring the new exhast plate up and secure it in place. Viola, your done!

With everything running faster and hotter these days, it is nice to see someone come out with a unique solution that is quiet and doesn't cost a bundle!