Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 Review

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Punisher77

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 23, 2004
Messages
260
I saw the Accelero X2 on sale at NCIX.com and after reading a few reviews I decided to buy it.

Here's a little picture review of my installation...

The X1900XT with the stock cooling off and the X2 sitting ready.
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I took all of the old heat sink compound off with some Isopopyl Alcohol and this is how the core looked.
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After cleaning the GPU I put the memory pads on (don't worry, I took the sticky tape off after the picture.. ;))
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The X2 normally vents the hot air back into the case so I attached a Vantec Stealth 80mm case fan onto the grill of the X1900XT so that the hot air blows out the back of the case. I left 3 slots open on the back of the case to accomodate the fan. The stock cooler is next to the X2 for comparison.
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Here's the card back in my case with the open slots for the hot air exhaust.
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And finally some eye candy of my rig. ;)
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The results were impressive as my 680/750 X1900XT dropped from 84 degrees under load to 69 degrees. That's a 15 degree drop in full load temperature!!! I'm going to try increasing the voltage and going for an even higher OC.

The X2 is whisper quiet and the installation was a breeze. I highly recommend it as a replacement for the stock cooling. :D
 
Nice review, im about to do the same.
But will u lose your warranty if u replace the stock cooler?
 
Flow said:
But will u lose your warranty if u replace the stock cooler?
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I'm pretty sure you do but the stock cooler comes off very nicely so it's easy to put back on if you need to ship it back to ATI. :)
 
Admittedly, they made it for BTX cooling setups...but I think they're making a mistake with their core customer base by not having Silencers with the exhaust available for the newer video cards.
 
my X1900XT never gets past 70c with stock cooler.. though I do have the fan running at 86% at all times.. even idle, with the rivatuner fan unlock option.
 
SharpieFiend said:
What are the temps like with your 80mm fan turned off?
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I haven't done any tests yet but I might take some readings later. I don't think it's a great idea to keep all that heat in your case.. ;)
 
Tetrahedron said:
my X1900XT never gets past 70c with stock cooler.. though I do have the fan running at 86% at all times.. even idle, with the rivatuner fan unlock option.
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Wow, that must be pretty loud. I had my fan turned way down before the upgrade and I still found it annoying. I'm not sure if the X2 is doing variable fan speeds right now but I want to find out tonight when I play around with ATITool for some voltage increases.
 
I have to say the X1900XTX really works well with water, wont even touch 50deg now

im running my cpu and gpu on a black ice pro + silenex fan running at 50% so its silent =D
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
I have to say the X1900XTX really works well with water, wont even touch 50deg now

im running my cpu and gpu on a black ice pro + silenex fan running at 50% so its silent =D
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Nice :)

What kind of OC are you doing? Any increased voltage?
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
I have to say the X1900XTX really works well with water, wont even touch 50deg now

im running my cpu and gpu on a black ice pro + silenex fan running at 50% so its silent =D
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Agreed. Running a triple BIX and 3/8" tubing, the highest the core has ever hit on mine is 38 degrees...in 33 degree heat. I'll take that any day.
 
Punisher77 said:
Wow, that must be pretty loud. I had my fan turned way down before the upgrade and I still found it annoying. I'm not sure if the X2 is doing variable fan speeds right now but I want to find out tonight when I play around with ATITool for some voltage increases.
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actually its not that loud to me, my opinion of course ;) i like to hear my puter scream with noise.. makes me think its actually doing somehting.. lol... like a dragster.. if you had a drag car that was silent, i dont think it would be 'as' cool :)
 
Tetrahedron said:
if you had a drag car that was silent, i dont think it would be 'as' cool :)
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That's why electric sports cars never took off... ;)

I've recently been trying to make my computer more quiet so this X2 is a great addition to the setup I have. I don't have anything over 28db right now and it's pretty much perfect. I would like to drop that a bit more if possible. I think when I hit the low 20s then I won't really be able to hear anything since it's already under my desk.
 
nice review + nice cooler :) were seeing temps we want to see now and whisper quiet :)
 
Punisher77 said:
I haven't done any tests yet but I might take some readings later. I don't think it's a great idea to keep all that heat in your case.. ;)
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You're right - it's not - but I was wondering if it made any real difference.
 
Punisher77 said:
Nice :)

What kind of OC are you doing? Any increased voltage?
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on water I was able to get 70mhz more out of the core, 801mhz on core same ram though 850, the cpu i also was able to push from 2880 ->3.01ghz
 
Digital Viper-X- said:
on water I was able to get 70mhz more out of the core, 801mhz on core same ram though 850, the cpu i also was able to push from 2880 ->3.01ghz
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So you're sitting at 800/850 right now? Default voltage?
 
^^EDIT^^ default vcore's 1.475 in 3d, no?

Excellent! I may just order one of these tonight. $30 bucks for pure silence...MMMmmm.

I too would love to see temps if you took the fan out and closed the slots up. <--if possible :D

Also, what's your case cooling situation like? I think I see 1 80mm exhaust? How bout intake? Also, when you say 84c load, what's your ambient and "loaded" game/bench of choice?

Thanks!!
 
Jodiuh said:
I too would love to see temps if you took the fan out and closed the slots up. <--if possible :D

Also, what's your case cooling situation like? I think I see 1 80mm exhaust? How bout intake? Also, when you say 84c load, what's your ambient and "loaded" game/bench of choice?

Thanks!!
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I have an 80mm exhaust (in addition to my OCZ 520w Powerstream) and two 80mm intakes that pass over my 3 HDs.

I was running that test using the rthdribl real time HDR demo. I still need to do some more tests with games and I'd like to take the rear fan out of commission for testing in addition to playing with the voltages a bit.
 
Punisher77 said:
I was running that test using the rthdribl real time HDR demo.
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AFAIK, running that in a window didn't change my 3d clocks/volts. But does Full Screen? (I'm at work)
 
Punisher: 2 things I want to ask you about, 1. is do the memory pads come with the new cooler or is it something you buy? and what are they for? 2. My coolermaster case comes with: Rear: 80 x 80 x 25mm x 2 ( Exhaust ); 1800 rpm fans, do you think those fans will do the job without adding a fan like you did, (since I don't have enough room to do your method)?

Sorry, i'm new at this stuff and not exactly sure what the memory pads are, they look like double sided tape to me, lol.

Last thing, can the new cooler fan be controlled by the ATI Tool? or does it sit at one speed?
 
racingdc9 said:
Punisher: 2 things I want to ask you about, 1. is do the memory pads come with the new cooler or is it something you buy? and what are they for?
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The memory pads are there to ensure contact between the memory and the heat sink. I believe they are thermally conductive (pretty dumb if they're not). They come with the X2.

racingdc9 said:
2. My coolermaster case comes with: Rear: 80 x 80 x 25mm x 2 ( Exhaust ); 1800 rpm fans, do you think those fans will do the job without adding a fan like you did, (since I don't have enough room to do your method)?
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I think it mostly depends on where they are. The exhaust for the X2 blows into the MB which would eventually move down and towards the back of the case and then back up to the top of the case (hot air rises). If you have an exhaust near the video card you might not need it but I wanted to vent the hot air out of the case as quickly as I could so I put the extra 80mm fan.

racingdc9 said:
Sorry, i'm new at this stuff and not exactly sure what the memory pads are, they look like double sided tape to me, lol.
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That's exactly what it looks like to me too. ;) Hopefully it does more than that! You can see from the pictures that the stock ATI cooler has the exact same thing.

racingdc9 said:
Last thing, can the new cooler fan be controlled by the ATI Tool? or does it sit at one speed?
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I did some tests last night and it doesn't look like the fan is controllable like the ATI stock fan. It just runs at 100% all the time. It's not a big deal though since the fan is really quiet.
 
Jodiuh said:
AFAIK, running that in a window didn't change my 3d clocks/volts. But does Full Screen? (I'm at work)
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Even if it wasn't using my OC the temps still dropped by about 15 degrees from before/after.
 
Both of my exhaust fans are right above the vid. card. they are stacked on one on top of each other. I think they should be ok, they're rated to 1800 rpm, I wonder if I upgrade to the vantec fans like yours which are at 2000 rpm, maybe the extra rpm's will vent more heat out. What do you think.
 
racingdc9 said:
Both of my exhaust fans are right above the vid. card. they are stacked on one on top of each other. I think they should be ok, they're rated to 1800 rpm, I wonder if I upgrade to the vantec fans like yours which are at 2000 rpm, maybe the extra rpm's will vent more heat out. What do you think.
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The RPMs don't really mean much. What you need to look at is the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) rating of the fan. That's what really tells you how much air is moving around.
 
I have the accelero and it dont work that well, I must be doing something wrong cuase your results are pretty good with it, hmm I think I need to get some as5 and more fans.
 
Punisher77 said:
Even if it wasn't using my OC the temps still dropped by about 15 degrees from before/after.
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I wasn't talking about OC here. The card has 2d and 3d speeds. Tho I'm probably just miscommunicating. :p What's your max temp after a 3d2k5 run? That'll help me out, hehe.

I just ordered one anyway, I'll find out soon enough. I just can't stand this hair dryer. :(
 
Jodiuh said:
I wasn't talking about OC here. The card has 2d and 3d speeds. Tho I'm probably just miscommunicating. :p What's your max temp after a 3d2k5 run? That'll help me out, hehe.

I just ordered one anyway, I'll find out soon enough. I just can't stand this hair dryer. :(
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Yeah I didnt bother at first, then my freind played fear while I watched tv, lol man I had to turn the volume up it was so loud.
 
Jodiuh said:
I wasn't talking about OC here. The card has 2d and 3d speeds. Tho I'm probably just miscommunicating. :p What's your max temp after a 3d2k5 run? That'll help me out, hehe.

I just ordered one anyway, I'll find out soon enough. I just can't stand this hair dryer. :(
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I also found that the ATITool and the Catalyst Control Panel were reporting different temps. I've been using the ATITool because I like how it just sits in the system tray...

I'm going to play some Oblivion tonight so that should put the card through its paces... ;)
 
Shinryu said:
I have the accelero and it dont work that well, I must be doing something wrong cuase your results are pretty good with it, hmm I think I need to get some as5 and more fans.
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Are you venting your heat or keeping it in the case?
 
I installed an X2 last weekend and have had problems with my system crashing even when I turned the ATI CCC Overclocker to default settings. My screen looks like a starburst. My case was unusually hot also.

I finally turned off the Q Fan Control in the BIOS and now the CPU fan is cranking away. I have also left the side panel open and haven't had any crashes since. My case is room temperature again.

As for the question about variable speed, yes I do think it changes. Using Overclocker there was a definite increase in pitch every time I cranked the fan to 100%. I don't feel that the standard CCC setting for automatically adjusting the fan speed provide much help.

I think part of my problem is getting air into the case so I am considering setting the case on a platform and possibly drilling holes in the bottom. When the case was closed the rear 120mm fan was barely moving air. It is connected directly to a molex connector so it should not be affected by BIOS settings.

I think the 90mm fan is a good idea if you have the room. The Accelero blows the warm air against the mobo and is trapped under the video card. If a small fan can move the air out the back before it heats up the rest of hardware I think I should be in good shape.
 
i finally got around to taking some pics of the insdie of my case. just thought i would share. i have two drive cages in my stacker, so that is two 120mm fans in the front of my case, right in front of the graphics card and the CPU.

as you can see in the picture, i put another 120mm fan right in front of the graphics card to get the air flowing along. great thing about the stock ATI cooler is that it is DHES (direct heat exhast system) so i set it up so that i force air from that fan into the front of the DHES and then it goes out the back (hence the cardboard cutout that you see, really high tech there!!). this works GREAT for the PWM IC's on the ATI card. and the onboard ATI cooler use to cycle (it would get to 55C and turn up the fan, then cool down and turn down the fan) when it was idle, it doesn't do that anymore.

that 120mm fan is a thermaltake smart case fan. it can be contolled in three ways 1) full blast 2) rheostat 3)external thermal probe. i have the thermal probe jammed underneath the ATI's HSF and as close to the die as possible. so that as i play games, etc, the fan speeds up forcing more air into the HSF and keeping the card cooler. the stock HSF doesn't spin nearly as fast anymore (and hence is MUCH quieter). almost so quiet that i might not need to get an aftermarket HSF for the ATI.

ambient temps are about 20C. before adding the fan, the GPU would get to the upper 70's (approaching 80C) and the onboard fan would get to about 40% (becoming very loud). with the fan forcing air into the GPU cooler, the temps stay in the low 70's and the onboard fan stays around 30% (much quieter).

and if you are wondering about the wiring, it really isn't as messy as it looks. i have all the power wires running down the back side of the case so they are out of the way. the only ones getting in the way really are the IDE cables. can't do much about that till i get some more SATA drives.

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Punisher77 said:
Are you venting your heat or keeping it in the case?
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Well I didnt really have any fans to vent the hot air coming from the accelero out of the case, any ideas how I should vent air out in a antec p180?
 
Shinryu said:
Well I didnt really have any fans to vent the hot air coming from the accelero out of the case, any ideas how I should vent air out in a antec p180?
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I left the PCI slots open and just used an 80mm fan to blow the air out the back.

I think venting the air is pretty important with this cooler.
 
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