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Need advise with silencing 8800GT

F

frankiee

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 31, 2008
198
94
Hello!

since my 8800 GT is very noisy under load, I wanted to replace the stock cooler with a better one. But I am reluctant to try anything because I had bad experiences with that in the past. One problem is that there is only very little room in the Mac Pro (2008). Or can I mount the gfx card in the second slot?

So has anyone successfully replaced the stock fan with another one? With what results? Maybe I also would try to overclock the card, if the cooling power is enough.

Any help would be appreciated! TIA!
 
Hi,

Could it be that your card is just damaged? Mine 8800 is as silent as it could be.

sash
 
The card is silent when not under load. But if you play some games under Windows for a while, it gets really loud.
 
I have always used after market coolers on my NVidia cards (in my pcs) - I am sure a nice Arctic cooling unit would be fine in the Mac Pro.

have a look in the PC fanboy forums and I am sure you'll find one that suits you.

Actually fitting them isnt too hard - generally involves unscrewing the stock cooler - then either putting the new one on (or with addition of ram sinks depending on the cooler design). Then screw it back together and hey presto - cooler and probably quieter card.

The last one I did for a friend (2 weeks ago) was a GTX card with an Aerocool Extreme - the fitting took all of 15 minutes and now his card is 20degrees cooler under full load and is a LOT quieter.
 
The Problem with the Mac Pro is that there is _very little_ room under the card. So I am sure not every cooler will fit, hence my question ^^ Another problem could be the different Power Connectors and cable lengths.
 
frankiee said:
The Problem with the Mac Pro is that there is _very little_ room under the card. So I am sure not every cooler will fit, hence my question ^^ Another problem could be the different Power Connectors and cable lengths.
Click to expand...

Ignore me if I am missunderstaning your concerns here.....

You have a 2008 model yes? then the Vid slot is designed to take a dual slot wide card (the Quadro is one such example) - as the main board is mounted in a BTX orientation then the cooler will me oriented towards the top of the case. You should find that no problem when using an after market cooler (as long as you dont try for one of the giant HS versions that hook over the back of the card). For instance my 8800GTX from my old PC with the Aerocool unit (three slots wide!!) will fit in the mac pro.

:) The Power connectors should not be a problem as the 8800GT in the Mac Pro is a NVidia reference board (thus uses the standard location/socket for the fan power to the cooler).

Even my Aerocooler had no problems and as 99% of aftermarket coolers require no extra power connectors then you should be fine

One cooler Id suggest taking a good look at is http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=283

One thing I will remain uncertain about on this cooler is the rear screws and clearance between the Mac case an the board (we are talking mm here but I havent the time to get the measure out and jury-rig a mockup in my mac pro) - looking at it i'd take a guess that it will fit.

hope this is useful :)

EDIT: Just had a thought - The Mac Pro has two 16x PCIe slots so if the cooler you choose does inhibit fitting due to its rear fittings; why not put the card in a higher slot (thats an ex-pc modders solution so forgive me if the mac pro wont like its only gfx card in a different slot) though I see no obvious reason for it not to work
 
costabunny said:
One thing I will remain uncertain about on this cooler is the rear screws and clearance between the Mac case an the board (we are talking mm here but I havent the time to get the measure out and jury-rig a mockup in my mac pro) - looking at it i'd take a guess that it will fit.
Click to expand...

That is exactly the problem I am talking about. I had a bad experience trying to fit an X850 with a Zalman Cooler in a G5 case (with similar room restrictions under the card) which did NOT fit due to the screws under the card.

But, if I can put the card in the upper slot this would be no issue. The only issue that could be remaining is weight - in the original config, the card seems to directly sit on the chassis, separated only by some rubber thing. So do you think this will be a problem? At least some coolers are a bit heavier than the original one.
 
in my experience weight would not be a problem as the card is supported by the rear bracket retention mechanism and the pci-e slot itself. for example the Quadro supplied by apple is a double card and is considerably heavier than the 8800GT even with an aftermarket cooler) - I would not worry about that.

I cant test the second slot thing, but I would guess a power off, move the card and see if the mac boots would answer that question. :)

glad to have been some use (poorly bunny isnt allowed to even work from home until she feels better) :(
 
yes, I can confirm, that the card also works in the upper slot without problems. Now, I wonder if you can flash a 1024MB 8800GT for mac. hmmm ...
 
well, yes it does not seem to work :(

FYI: Since I have the card in the upper slot, it also seems to be running cooler (Fan ist not as loud as before). Think heat circulation is better, bc the card has much more room on the underside. But since I actually want to max out my gaming experience, I will use a better fan and overclock anyway :cool:
 
Mackilroy said:
I do know, and the answer is no. :) For more info, check this thread.
Click to expand...

shame but as the 8800GT is almost as powerful as my old PC 8800GTX rev1.0 I wont mind. It will be nice if we get a 9800GX2 for the mac but I cant see it happening soon with the newer NVidia GPU's on the horizon.

The extra texture mem is useful in some games under Winslowz - Crysis etc... but not enough to go warranty voiding (my Mad Warranty Voider days are done)....
 
frankiee said:
The Problem with the Mac Pro is that there is _very little_ room under the card. So I am sure not every cooler will fit, hence my question ^^ Another problem could be the different Power Connectors and cable lengths.
Click to expand...

Why not just move the card up to the second PCI-Express 16x slot? That would leave you with ample space to fit a more efficient heatsink.
 
Pressure said:
Why not just move the card up to the second PCI-Express 16x slot? That would leave you with ample space to fit a more efficient heatsink.
Click to expand...

Um don't wish to sound sarcastic, but

frankiee said:
Since I have the card in the upper slot, it also seems to be running cooler (Fan ist not as loud as before). Think heat circulation is better, bc the card has much more room on the underside. But since I actually want to max out my gaming experience, I will use a better fan and overclock anyway
cool.gif
Click to expand...

:)
 
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