Sorry for the lack of pictures, but here I go: (I found a pic for you - godfoot)

Recently I built an Athlon 64 3200+(socket 754) system for my main PC. The intent was to use it as a dual boot between Windows XP Pro, and Windows 64 (beta). In the course of researching parts, I determined that an nVidia video card would be the most compatable solution. I chose an FX5900XT from Chaintech. Since I wanted a system that I could work on, and keep on top of my desk, I picked out an Antec Aria case, and filled it with a Gigabyte GA-K8VT800M motherboard, 2x512M Corsair Value Select (CAS 2.5) memory, 160GB WD Special Edition, and my trusty Audigy Gamer sound card.

After numerous Far Cry sessions, and the install of Doom 3, I started to tire of the variable speed drone of the Chaintech SA5900X's (http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/p...o=14&PISNo=255 ) cooling fan, so I started surfing the silent PC forums and reviews until I came across Arctic Cooling. There I found the answer to my sound problem, hopefully...

Check out their site here: http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga1.php

The ARIA has been reviewed ad nauseum, and I won't go into the well documented issues regarding the case, suffice to say that I have added extra air flow to the P/S, and that is about it. Back to the NV Silencer 3...

My order came in from NewEgg, two days after they dropped the price from USD 32.00(delivered), down to USD 28.00. The package included the fan/heatsink/shroud combo, and a tube of (arctic silver 3 copy cat) thermal paste.

Attaching the cooler to the video card was fairly easy, remove the retaining pins and carefully twist off the old heatsink/fan combo, clean off all residual thermal compound from the GPU, apply the supplied thermal past to the GPU and RAM, and attach the power connector before mounting the NV3 to the original mounting holes.

Installation in the ARIA was a bit involved, and required some dremel work. (Most any other case would not be a problem, even a Shuttle) The top edge of the fan sroud needed to be trimmed by 1/4" to clear the DVD drive. The installed height of the NV3 is about 1/4 higher than the PCB for an AGP card. The good news is that the fan doesn't hit the optical drive. (note: even a short drive would still interfere with the NV3 in an ARIA case.)

Performance can be summed up in one word, Great! The only noticeable sound from the system is now the AMD stock heatsink/fan. The temps of the 5900XT dropped from 57-58C to 50-51C overclocked, and stock dropped to 42C from 50C. Overall a huge improvement. A great side benefit is the drop in internal temps due to the exhaust exiting out the rear of the case instead of inside. The side benefit is that the AMD 64 now doesn't kick up its' speed from the video cards heat.

Over all, I would give Arctic Cooling a 9.5 out of 10, only because the shroud needed trimming to fit my system. The packaging, quality and performance are all above average, and the product delivers.

That's my 2 cents, thanks for reading.

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Nice review for a first.
How about going a bit more in-depth next time when describing the testing involved?

I'm confused... how did it conflict with your DVD drive?

I'll post a pic after I get home from work, but the clear plastic around the fan is taller than the height of the video card, and the location of the AGP slot puts the video card under the 5.25 bay with only about 1/4 in of clearance above the card. The pic will help out.

Sorry I was too lazy to pull it out of the case, but here is a pic. As you can see, the fan is HUGE, and the space under the 5.25 bay is small.



Also, did some gaming and logged high and low temps.

Chaintech SA5900X (FX5900XT)
Room Ambient 19C
Idle 32C
Load (Far Cry) 46C

All settings stock:
Core: 375mHz
Memory: 700mHz

Edit: "All temps were taken with the ARIA case fully assembled, vs the original test with both side covers off"

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Quote: Originally Posted by godfoot Nice review for a first. How about going a bit more in-depth next time when describing the testing involved?

I agree, my scientific method was lacking, I was just so happy with the performance, I forgot to dig into the why/how/when, of a review. When I find another product that I truely love, I'll do my best to dissect it for all of you who crave knowledge.

Thanks for the input, I will get better.

I see what you mean now, I was picturing an ATX case and got extremely confused. Oh, and I'm thinking about getting one of those because they seem a lot better and quieter than what I have. I popped one of those thermaltake kit things on my ti4600 and it's very loud and doesn't cool the core off any better so I can't overclock as much. The ram sinks it came with work nice, though.

I have about the same setup as you, but I have an MSI 5900xt, not chaintech. Anyways, I just recently put in the Artic Cooler 3 to help with overclocking more than noise, but isn't it a wonder addon? What kind of benchmark scores do you get with your card after overclocking with the nice cool temps?