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Cooler for 4850?

B

bonsai

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 27, 2008
Messages
1,282
I'm looking for a decent but quiet aftermarket cooler for my 4850.

The accelero rev2 looks to be a nice option. There's the HR-03gt which is better, but is it $50 better?

I'd love to be able to go passive cooling, but with how hot this card gets, I don't think that's an option. Has anyone gone passive with either of these coolers? How'd it perform?
 
I have the Accelero S1 v2 and it is a VERY nice cooler.

With it "passive" in my system, the load temps were only getting up to about 46c.

I did have one fan blowing up at an angle in the general direction of the card though.

I did end up adding two other fans that are sitting under the video card and on top of my sound card that are blowing up towards the video card as well now. They are held up by plastic motherboard tray spacers.

Load temps on the card now max out at 42c which was the idle temp with the non-reference ASUS cooler that it came with.

I did some testing and found out that if I actually mounted the fans closer to the card, it will drop the load temps by another 2c as well.

These new load temps are with the card overclocked a fair bit more than what it would do before. Load was done by running the F@H GPU client.

Passive is definitely an option with this cooler if you have good airflow through the case.

Over the stock reference design, look for at least a 30-40c drop in load temps on a 4850.
 
If you're after the best bang for the buck, then the Accelero is untouchable - especially when it comes to passive performance. I have a Thermalright T-Rad 2 and only get the average temp that you see for the Accelero. Granted I didn't pay that much for it and I'm using a single 120mm fan as opposed to the dual 92mm fans, in hindsight now I wish I could have saved a few bucks here and there and just bought the Accelero instead.
 
I have the HR03-GT and oc'ed my 4850 to 800/1100. but then, you can always spend the extra money on a better card like 4890.
 
Bakku said:
I have the HR03-GT and oc'ed my 4850 to 800/1100. but then, you can always spend the extra money on a better card like 4890.
Click to expand...

LOL!

$30 versus ~$200 seems to be quite a stretch of a range there. ;) Even if he does sell off his card he won't get much for it since AMD slashed the prices of the 4850 to be in the $100 range, brand new.
 
The one big thing I really like about the HR-03gt is that you can invert it. That would probably be better for airflow as most of the moving air is up towards that side of the case. It might be a better passive heatsink. But then again it's almost twice as much as I could find an Accelero. I might just go with the Accelero and see how it performs in my case.
 
I bought the card even before 4870 came out, and I havent checked the price on newer cards lately. Not really sure how much they are selling at right now.
 
Just a follow up:

I finally picked up the Accelero from Newegg for $25 and got it installed. I love it. My temps went from 80C idle + 92C load (stock fan settings) to 42C idle and 54C load. This is passive without any additional fan at all. I finally feel like I can safely overclock the card without either running the fan at 100% or risking hard crashes. I have a small overclocked now, and it raised temps only a few degrees. :) I'm very happy with this cooler.

On another note, any tips on getting the memory and voltage transistor heatsinks to stick a little better? With the stock sticky tape they don't seem very secure which has me wonder how well they actually cool, especially the voltage transistor ones. It seems like they could fall off at any moment. (I stuck them to the small black chips, not the larger grey ones)
 
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One trick is to run the card looping through a hot benchmark like 3dmark or Furmark for 15 minutes just to get your card hot enough. Then shut down and pull out the card and press firmly down the heatsinks to make sure the glue is melting in and making good contact.

Another trick is to use a hair dryer and aiming it at the areas that need the glue on the heatsinks to melt. Generally the same principle really, just be careful of what you're doing with the hair dryer though. ;)

Glad you're liking your cooler. :D
 
I've got a thermaltake Duorb here and am getting a 4850 would that work fine? has anyone tried it as i know it will fit on the card.
 
It will work fine. The DuoOrb was one of the first coolers that was readily available and fit the HD4850 since its release.
 
I think the product works great. The two fans give the board (RAM & VRM) some good air and they are not that loud. Its easy to install and if you make sure you get good contact with good thermal compound you can get good idle temps. Mine (actually my roomates) are 41c and load about 56c. I have two 4890's going in crossfire in my roomates computer so running two orbs are not that loud. (My computer is running something else in my sig).

The heat sinks that come with are junk.

So if you purchase this or any other cooler you might consider this selection of heat sinks - especially the long one that covers the VRM. They all stick on very well, don’t come off and do the job.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thgtx28vrsi.html


The VRM heat sink is right under one of the orbs fans.
 
JSpyder said:
I think the product works great. The two fans give the board (RAM & VRM) some good air and they are not that loud. Its easy to install and if you make sure you get good contact with good thermal compound you can get good idle temps. Mine (actually my roomates) are 41c and load about 56c. I have two 4890's going in crossfire in my roomates computer so running two orbs are not that loud. (My computer is running something else in my sig).

The heat sinks that come with are junk.

So if you purchase this or any other cooler you might consider this selection of heat sinks - especially the long one that covers the VRM. They all stick on very well, don’t come off and do the job.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thgtx28vrsi.html


The VRM heat sink is right under one of the orbs fans.
Click to expand...

The OP has an HD4850, whose VRMs do not run nearly as hot as a 4890's would.

OP - TRad2, Accelero S1 rev 2, Thermaltake DuoOrb are all great heatsinks. The S1 rev 2 can commonly be had for $20 shipped.
 
What about the Zalman GV1000? Awesome looking heatsink that performs quite well!
 
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