Advice on replacing broken fan on x800 Pro or upgrading?

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:05 am

Hi guys,

Quick question...I have an x800 pro and unfortunately, it has a broken fan. Now, even Minesweeper causes it to overheat :< Ok, slight exaggeration, I was able to stumble through the LOTOR stress tess this weekend (set at 800x600) but when I try to play most recent games any higher I of course get artifacts and ultimately the VPU crashes. Are there kits available for a fan repair? Or should I just bite the bullet and buy a new card do you think? I've had this one for a while but I thought it was a pretty good one.

I also notice it won't play Ghost Recon Advanced Warrier because it doesn't have SM 3.0 (I think it said SM? sorry, whatever it was, my card has 2.0 and not 3.0). I suppose this is the trend with the new games and I won't be able to play many of the new ones coming out?

If I sound like a noob, it's because I am

but thanks for the help

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:26 am

I have an x800 xt and I know what you meanon the sm 3.0 its the shader model aka pixil shader 3 or whatever. its a newer version that only nvidia 6series and ati 1k series and up support. the x800 is a great card otherwise, if the games have more than one rendering mode. Depending on the pro that could be unlocked to an xt also. I'd say shoot for a nvidia 7 series card like an 7800 or 7900 for around 200 dollars used or something if you want to replace it otherwise. Arctic Cooling Silencer revisions 3 I think is the right number but you can look it up on their website. Its a great cooler for the x800 series also the zalman vga fans work great I'd say one of the fatality series if you go with one of htose. all of them will work great in the end. x800's are known for running hot though without good cooling. They can take hot temps comparably to other cards.

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:32 am

wow that was fast! thanks for the advice, that's exactly what I was looking for...I do think I'll just go with a fan kit, one of the two you mentioned. Maybe someday if it's well cooled i'll be bold enough to try unlocking and overclocking

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:54 am

hrrmmm the silencer v. 5 rev 2 looks best, but it seems to be sold out everywhere...newegg, svc, pcextreme are the three i tried so far. newegg wont have any in stock until the end of april it looks like :< pricewatcher doesn't have anything listed either. anyone have any suggestions on where else i might be able to pick one of these up? thanks.

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 1:52 pm

try searching arctic silencer 5 revision 2 on froogle and see what it comes up with I think it has a few form decent sellers though not the big ones like newegg. I think ones on sale for 19.99 but may not be the most reliable seller of all of them. however if you look up reseller ratings on the sites before you buy then go for it. just remember credit cards are the way to pay for stuff on the internet. that way you have some fraud protection. Though I've never had a problem from any site i've ordered from. that cooler is the same one I have though, make sure it stays clean and try some arctic silver 5 with it for better results.

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:16 pm

yup, unfortunately i tried froogle before and all it came up with was pcextreme...which has a decent price ($25) but they are all sold out.

http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=arc ... t-restrict

thanks for the help though

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:18 pm

p.s. congrats on winning that gfx card...i was just checking out the contest forum and saw you got one. glad your altruism has been rewarded in a roundabout way

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:25 pm

Froogle Results without Checkout[/url]

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:31 pm

ooooh ok thanks...i didn't realize that was even an option.

edit sorry that was an nvidia model i referred to...looks like e powerhouse pc is the only available one from a site with ratings.

xoxide is out of stock as well. i guess there is a silencer 5 rev 3 out now, so maybe arctic isn't manufacturing the rev 2 any more.

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:41 pm

nope they are using accelero now which is supposed to be much much better.

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:48 pm

o rly? (insert owl here)...i didn't realize accelero was a better option...in that case, this should work for an x800, right?

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=125

oddly enough it looks cheaper as well, at least according to the msrp on arctic's site?

edit:

oof.

"According to Arctic Cooling, Accelero S2 will be available by the end of March 2007. Price tags should be reading $22 or 18 Euros."

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Arctic-C ... 8015.shtml

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 4:51 pm

not sure if that one is better than the silencer but I meant the accellero x2 which won't fit on an x800/x850

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:01 pm

looking around the s2 isn't even due out until march. no reviews on it yet.

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Tue Feb 27, 2007 5:31 pm

Yep...I think I might just wait, after all March is only a couple of days away. If it doesn't pan out then I'll get one of the Silencers once they are restocked.

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:03 am

I would go for the Zalman VF900 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835118001

I have a x850 pro that i flashed to the xt. I originally put the arctic cooling silencer and the fan died on me. it didnt even last me a year.

I also thought the zalman was better designed and easier to install.

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:09 am

Thanks Matt -- those reviews on NewEgg look great.

Mind if I ask you another question? When I bought this card, according to NewEgg it was an x800 pro (OEM). Every program seems to identify it as an 800 GTO, including ATI tray tools. Is that normal? I don't even know the difference between the two, but from what has been written I guess overclocking is an option, provided I get cooling first? Might there also be a way to hack the SM 2.0 to 3.0? Or that might be a bit greedy?

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:50 pm

sm 3.0 is a no go on the getting it from any x800/x850 series but there might be some pipelines to get unlocked either from teh x800 gto or the x800 pro since I have a gto. the the zalman should work great. Both x800 gto and x800 pro have 12 pipes and the same core as the xt I think but you have to check something to see about unlocking pipes. if you want to know more about that possibility then we can tell you but thats all for now.

pitumbo · Post by **pitumbo** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 2:54 pm

cool, good to know. of course, i won't be trying anything until i get a cooling solution, but after that i would definitely be interested in trying some overclocking. i'll google it and see what comes up...i saw your post on OC with ATI tray tools (interesting results) so I'll read more of your old posts too.

thanks again for all the help.

dgood · Post by **dgood** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:08 pm

cool yeah there are plenty of posts about x800 pro and xt flashing but yeah check the overclock first before you even think about anything but make sure your temperatures are ok first. Ati Tool or Ati Tray tools will work Ati tool can give better diagnostics about yoru card from waht i've noticed but I've gotten better overclock results with teh other.

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Wed Feb 28, 2007 3:53 pm

here are some discussions that helped me do my flashing on my x850. i know you have a x800, but i think there was good refernce to both cards. if not, well, it is good reading anyways.

http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopi ... 01&start=0

http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=4285