A few questions (gpu / ram)

[htid]

Firstly, ill say that i have no experience whatsoever with cooling so if this is a n00b question then sorry!

So, im thinking of buying the XFX7900GTX XXX Extreme thats oc'd to 700mhz, and of course it has the stock cooler (which i take to mean the fan on the top that comes with it). But from what a read, the regular 7900GTX is fairly loud (i guess the 50mhz oc means the fan spins even faster therefore making even more noise?), and i want something quiet, so i was thinking of something like the arctic cooling accelero X3 (i know its not out but hexus said it was at CeBit).
Right, so, does this mean that the stock cooler stays and the accelero just makes it cooler but with another fan (adding yet more noise) or does it mean u take off the stock fan and replace it with the accelero, that being quieter id assume? Also, i saw the corsair nautilus water cooling system...same again, does this mean i remove the stock fan and basically the card is then near silent? If someone could just gimme a bit of info about that id be very greateful!

Second thing, short and sweet....is there a way to check what type/speed ram i have without taking the side off and physically looking?

Thanks alot if anyone replies!

Chris.

[kidzer]

Aye, changing the cooler means replacing the stock one totally.

Some require the backplate on the PCB to be removed aswell, some don't though.

Haven't done it myself, but I don't think it would be too hard to do, and generally yes, aftermarket coolers are quieter than their stock counterparts.

Hopefully that helps!

David

[FatalSaviour]

The 7900GTX that I've got, (although admittedly haven't used yet) has the same cooler as the 7800GTX 512MB version, which is about as silent a cooler as you can get. I have the same cooler on a ScanFX 7800GTX 256MB card that I am using at the moment, and have found nothing that can compare to it on a (lack of) noise level.
Are you sure it's the 7900GTX that you're referring to? Perhaps it's the 7900GT's that you're talking about? Or a regular 7800GTX?
Otherwise, could you please let me see these reviews that you've been reading...I haven't heard anything about this and would like to see what people have said
The stock cooler that I believe comes with the card you mentioned is this one: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/310/4/ ?

[Hans Voralberg]

All the 7900 range use the same cooler afaik, and they're quiet according to most reviews s oi doubt you would have to change it. But using the Accelero means taking the whole HSF setup off ,replace it with the Accelero.

For the ram ,use CPU-Z.

[FatalSaviour]

Oh, and for the RAM, check out a program called CPU-Z (www.cpuid.com). If you look under the Memory and SPD tabs, it will be able to tell you the speed that your memory is running at, the latencies, and usually the Manufacturer of the RAM.

[htid]

Thanks all of you! Ok maybe i was wrong about the cooler on the xfx then! Thats good to hear, cheaper for me! I might have read the 7900GT instead...ah i dunno, it doesnt matter now.

Ill check out cpu-z, used to have that but forgot!

Thanks again,

Chris.

[FatalSaviour]

All the 7900 range use the same cooler afaik, and they're quiet according to most reviews s oi doubt you would have to change it. But using the Accelero means taking the whole HSF setup off ,replace it with the Accelero.

For the ram ,use CPU-Z.

AFAIK, the 7900GT's use a silly little cooler (compared to the 7900GTX anyway ) with a whiney little fan?

And I hope you're pleased with whatever you end up buying Chris, I can vouch for the 7900GTX being about as quiet as you can get on air cooling in my experience .

[htid]

Thanks alot Fatal. While we are at it, i have another question...

Are you just using this card for gaming? Im just curious because im buying this card to be predominantly used for 3d (modelling / animation / rendering etc) because im a 3d computer animation student. Yes, i know i could buy a workstation card instead, but i will be playing games with the card too. I think a gaming card will work better for 3d than a 3d card will, for games.

So the question is, do you have any experience using the 7900GTX with 3d apps like XSI, Maya, whatever? If so, what do you think?

Thanks again,
Chris.

[FatalSaviour]

Unfortunately, I don't personally use any 3d apps. Photoshop and Flash are about the limit of my creative expertise.
Maybe you might try in Hexus' creative section as well? I'm not sure if that would be a more suitable place for you to get a more specific answer, you can but try I suppose.
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Cheers