Thanks for posting your solution, this is what I ended up doing as well. I've been busy with work and haven't had a chance to post pictures, so thanks for sharing yours!
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X1900XT and TMG AT1
- Thread starter Fair Witness
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Thanks for posting your solution, this is what I ended up doing as well. I've been busy with work and haven't had a chance to post pictures, so thanks for sharing yours!
I want to put some input on this cooler since I also install it myself. I can't believe how quiet it is, the fan is spinning but make no noise at all. The nice design of the cooler, where it takes hot air and blow it out of the case is a big plus! Temperature is better then I expected it. Normal load it is at 38. Hours and hours of gaming it doesn't even pass it in the 50. I could say, this is even better then the Accelero X2. However, it would have perfect if it work for the Mac Pro without running the wire to the Optical Drive, or even cutting it to close the case shut. No surprise though, it is invented for the PC.
I did ended up buying two TMG though, so I have spend over $80 for the cooler itself. First one I messup with the X cross where the screws is mounted. I couldn't get it to screw flush, I believe the hole is a bit off. Then I open up to check thermal paste, that decreased it performance so I bought another one to install fresh.
I did ended up buying two TMG though, so I have spend over $80 for the cooler itself. First one I messup with the X cross where the screws is mounted. I couldn't get it to screw flush, I believe the hole is a bit off. Then I open up to check thermal paste, that decreased it performance so I bought another one to install fresh.
I just installed my TMG AT1
Originally i had bought and installed a Zalman vf-900cu, but STAY AWAY FROM THIS COOLER! It includes thumbscrews to hold the cooler in place, and they stick out a long way from the back of the card.
It might be a good alternative for a PC that has lots of space inside the case, but since the mac pro only has a few millimeters of space between the case and the back of the ATI card it would not fit in the bottom PCIe slot.
I hat to move my card to the second slot, forcing me to run it at 8x, and i was about to give up and just live with that until i saw this thread.
I ordered an AT1, and it arrived today. What a great cooler!
I had a huge problem though, the Zalman has separate ram heatsinks that you glue on, and i read about many people who ruined their cards trying to get them off again. I'm happy to say my card was undamaged after 15 minutes of painful twisting and tugging on those things. Using a sharp knife helped!
As for those of you complaining about the power cable - you already voided your cards warranty by replacing the stock cooler so why not take the time to cut the molex connector off your AT1 and cut the original connector off the stock fan, then splicing it together. Even if you don't have a soldering iron, you can twist them together and use tape or hot glue (or both!) to make sure it is insulated and staying together. (i would recommend buying a soldering iron though, those are really useful. just read a soldering tutorial online to get started...)
Connect red to red, black to black and leave the white one unconnected. That's all there's to it.
So now i have a dead silent card, that will automatically ramp up the fan speed if things get hot. Perfect!
Originally i had bought and installed a Zalman vf-900cu, but STAY AWAY FROM THIS COOLER! It includes thumbscrews to hold the cooler in place, and they stick out a long way from the back of the card.
It might be a good alternative for a PC that has lots of space inside the case, but since the mac pro only has a few millimeters of space between the case and the back of the ATI card it would not fit in the bottom PCIe slot.
I hat to move my card to the second slot, forcing me to run it at 8x, and i was about to give up and just live with that until i saw this thread.
I ordered an AT1, and it arrived today. What a great cooler!
I had a huge problem though, the Zalman has separate ram heatsinks that you glue on, and i read about many people who ruined their cards trying to get them off again. I'm happy to say my card was undamaged after 15 minutes of painful twisting and tugging on those things. Using a sharp knife helped!
As for those of you complaining about the power cable - you already voided your cards warranty by replacing the stock cooler so why not take the time to cut the molex connector off your AT1 and cut the original connector off the stock fan, then splicing it together. Even if you don't have a soldering iron, you can twist them together and use tape or hot glue (or both!) to make sure it is insulated and staying together. (i would recommend buying a soldering iron though, those are really useful. just read a soldering tutorial online to get started...)
Connect red to red, black to black and leave the white one unconnected. That's all there's to it.
So now i have a dead silent card, that will automatically ramp up the fan speed if things get hot. Perfect!
Originally i had bought and installed a Zalman vf-900cu, but STAY AWAY FROM THIS COOLER! It includes thumbscrews to hold the cooler in place, and they stick out a long way from the back of the card.
It might be a good alternative for a PC that has lots of space inside the case, but since the mac pro only has a few millimeters of space between the case and the back of the ATI card it would not fit in the bottom PCIe slot.
I hat to move my card to the second slot, forcing me to run it at 8x, and i was about to give up and just live with that until i saw this thread.
I ordered an AT1, and it arrived today. What a great cooler!
I had a huge problem though, the Zalman has separate ram heatsinks that you glue on, and i read about many people who ruined their cards trying to get them off again. I'm happy to say my card was undamaged after 15 minutes of painful twisting and tugging on those things. Using a sharp knife helped!
As for those of you complaining about the power cable - you already voided your cards warranty by replacing the stock cooler so why not take the time to cut the molex connector off your AT1 and cut the original connector off the stock fan, then splicing it together. Even if you don't have a soldering iron, you can twist them together and use tape or hot glue (or both!) to make sure it is insulated and staying together. (i would recommend buying a soldering iron though, those are really useful. just read a soldering tutorial online to get started...)
Connect red to red, black to black and leave the white one unconnected. That's all there's to it.
So now i have a dead silent card, that will automatically ramp up the fan speed if things get hot. Perfect!
That's nice, but with the TMG you can easily take it off and re-install the original ATI stock cooler! Where other would stuck on for good! Only 4 screws mounted on the X cross to hold it together. It also use none-sticky tape on the ram, so you won't have a problem taking it off. It come right off. So no, I won't go cutting the wire on the original ATI to void the Warranty because I can still put back the original stock cooler when needed. Just have to be careful the screw mounting it, is very tiny and damage easily if you twist it too hard. I have four screw damage. Use the right screw driver and tight it gently. It's all good now, not only have I have a great working cooler, but the original to put back on in for Warranty.
Clever. Probably better than what I did
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Thanks for all the pics and info on installing the AT1. I recently installed an AT1 to replace the stock cooler and am now much happier with it's whine noise gone.
The one place where I deviated from the guide, was that I didn't want to splice the AT1's fan cable. So I connected a 4 pin molex power cable to the optical bay area and spliced that. Works great so far...
The one place where I deviated from the guide, was that I didn't want to splice the AT1's fan cable. So I connected a 4 pin molex power cable to the optical bay area and spliced that. Works great so far...