HR-03 Rev. A and HD4850

C

covertash

Gawd
Joined
Apr 24, 2006
Messages
991
Hey everyone!

I managed to score a Thermalright HR-03 Rev. A for less than $12 on clearance from Micro Center, hoping that it will fit my HD4850. Checking the Thermalright site, it should fit fine provided that I also purchase the Thermalright 8800GT PWM-Heatsinks, which I just placed my order for as well. However, my question is, will the performance for the Rev. A differ greatly from the GT version seeing as how the Rev. A only has 4 heatpipes as opposed to 6 on the GT?

I know I'll find out soon enough, but I won't be installing this cooler until after my heatsinks arrive in the mail later this week. So I was curious if anyone has any experience with this particular version of the HR-03 and the HD4800 series video cards. Any insight anyone can share is greatly appreciated. Thanks! :)
 
The GT version will perform better due to the extra heatpipes. However, the version of the cooler that you purchased is still more than enough to handle the amount of heat the 4850 will put out.
 
the 8800GT PWM heatsink pack is a rip off (in UK at least) you can use any sort of heatsink that fits the vid ram onto the VRMs.

normal HR-03 should not have a problem at all with the cooling
 
Thanks for the replies! :cool:

Regarding the PWM heatsinks, they weren't too bad. They were only $6 here and I needed extra fans anyway so the shipping cost became more proportional to the amount of items I bought. But yeah, if it wasn't for that I agree. Considering that I only paid around $12 for the HR-03 Rev. A itself, the PWM heatsinks would have cost $11 total shipped all by themselves. However, most everywhere would have been the same for me too even if I had gotten other brands whether if I shopped online or retail. :(
 
omfg man dude that's a crazy steal on the hsf. Where can i cop me some? They still available?
 
I only saw one Rev. A, and that's the one I snatched up. There were a bunch of Plus versions but I only saw them marked as the full retail price of like $55. But who knows, the price may be significantly different at the register since my Rev. A was labeled for $14.31 but rang up $11 and change. :D

This was in the Micro Center in Paterson, NJ. I thought that all Micro Centers had discontinued the whole Thermalright product line so I was quite surprised to see them there. So basically it's highly YMMV. But if possible, maybe give them a call and see if they can check for you assuming you have one near you. If you can use the Plus version maybe they can even transfer it to your local store.

Best of luck. :)
 
Just wanted to give an update on the HR-03 Rev. A on the HD4850. :)

I finally picked up my Thermalright 8800GT PWN heatsinks and sure enough as LuckyNV said, I feel kind of ripped off. For $5 it was just a small package of tiny heatsinks which probably could have been better spent on a full set instead.

With that aside though, the installation was pretty straight forward. The most time consuming part was carefully cleaning off the memory chips and MOSFETS with 91% alcohol to ensure that the heatsinks would stick on properly. So far so good! :D Using a bit of Ceramique on the GPU, making sure the base of the HR-03 was firmly in contact, and securing it all down, I fired her up and was greeted to absolute silence! :eek: I opted not to put a fan directly on the heatsink as I am using the installation type 1 where the heatsink sits on the back of the video card. Putting a fan on there would blow the hot air right into my my CPU's heatsink. Instead I zip tied a 120mm Scythe Slip Stream in the empty 5.25" bay spaces in my Rocketfish tower and aimed it at the heatsink. All is well with temps! :cool: My results in playing Crysis:

Before (40% fan speed):
Idle - 52-54C
Load - 90C

After:
Idle - 43C
Load - 61C

Keep in mind this is for the Rev. A, which only has 4 heatpipes as opposed to the 6 heatpipes that are on the GT version! These results are impressive for me, and the best part of it all is that there is no longer the whine/squeal associated with the stock HD4850 cooler! For about $17 spent in total for the HR-03 Rev. A and the associated PWN heatsinks it was more than worth its price for the performance and silence! :cool:
 
covertash said:
Just wanted to give an update on the HR-03 Rev. A on the HD4850. :)

I finally picked up my Thermalright 8800GT PWN heatsinks and sure enough as LuckyNV said, I feel kind of ripped off. For $5 it was just a small package of tiny heatsinks which probably could have been better spent on a full set instead.

With that aside though, the installation was pretty straight forward. The most time consuming part was carefully cleaning off the memory chips and MOSFETS with 91% alcohol to ensure that the heatsinks would stick on properly. So far so good! :D Using a bit of Ceramique on the GPU, making sure the base of the HR-03 was firmly in contact, and securing it all down, I fired her up and was greeted to absolute silence! :eek: I opted not to put a fan directly on the heatsink as I am using the installation type 1 where the heatsink sits on the back of the video card. Putting a fan on there would blow the hot air right into my my CPU's heatsink. Instead I zip tied a 120mm Scythe Slip Stream in the empty 5.25" bay spaces in my Rocketfish tower and aimed it at the heatsink. All is well with temps! :cool: My results in playing Crysis:

Before (40% fan speed):
Idle - 52-54C
Load - 90C

After:
Idle - 43C
Load - 61C

Keep in mind this is for the Rev. A, which only has 4 heatpipes as opposed to the 6 heatpipes that are on the GT version! These results are impressive for me, and the best part of it all is that there is no longer the whine/squeal associated with the stock HD4850 cooler! For about $17 spent in total for the HR-03 Rev. A and the associated PWN heatsinks it was more than worth its price for the performance and silence! :cool:
Click to expand...
Somehow I figured you were in the Paterson store. I saw them a few months back when they were actually in the $14-20 range, bought a few, and passed along the savings to the rest of the Forum. Glad they got more. :)
 
mavalpha said:
Somehow I figured you were in the Paterson store. I saw them a few months back when they were actually in the $14-20 range, bought a few, and passed along the savings to the rest of the Forum. Glad they got more. :)
Click to expand...

Yeah, sadly all I saw was just that one Rev. A that I snagged. However, if the Plus versions are on clearance too then it might be worth checking out for those that have the appropriate cards.

As a side note, that was the first time that I had been to that store in Paterson, and I have to say, I almost shed a tear. It's every [H]ard members' wet dream in there! Such a beautiful thing to be able to see all the hardware in person as opposed to only the Newegg photos. :D
 
you could get some sweet colling with the cooler on the back of the GPU, with air flowing from front of the case towards the CPU, the HR-03 will be cooled at the same time , so it improves airflow in the case.

I always hate the fact that the coolers on the GPU are where they are, if you use 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan in line with the CPU and GPU heatsinks, it would be plenty to cool most normal setups
 
tuberc said:
you could get some sweet colling with the cooler on the back of the GPU, with air flowing from front of the case towards the CPU, the HR-03 will be cooled at the same time , so it improves airflow in the case.

I always hate the fact that the coolers on the GPU are where they are, if you use 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan in line with the CPU and GPU heatsinks, it would be plenty to cool most normal setups
Click to expand...
Look up BTX, and curse the fact that it never caught on for the DIY audience. :)
 
tuberc said:
you could get some sweet colling with the cooler on the back of the GPU, with air flowing from front of the case towards the CPU, the HR-03 will be cooled at the same time , so it improves airflow in the case.

I always hate the fact that the coolers on the GPU are where they are, if you use 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan in line with the CPU and GPU heatsinks, it would be plenty to cool most normal setups
Click to expand...

Yeah, like I said in my post, I actually zip tied a fan in the empty 5.25" bay spaces and aimed it towards the direction of the GPU/CPU area. Overall, it has helped to control temperatures very nicely. :)

I'm looking to mod my case over the coming weeks as well. I want to cut vent hoes at the top panel in my Rocketfish tower to help further exhaust all the hot air that just seems to pocket at the top. Hopefully, this should help improve temps overall throughout the system. :cool:
 
Another update:

I removed the zip tied fan from the 5.25" bays that I was aiming towards the heatsink, and instead placed it on the HR-03 Rev. A to help remove the heat off the heatsink (probably what I should have done in the first place :D). This in turn has netted me a max load temperature of 45C instead of the previously mentioned 61C while playing Crysis, which puts this in line with the HR-03 GT revision! :eek:

So a recap of temps while playing Crysis with room temp at 25C:

Before (with no fan directly on cooler):
Idle - 43C
Load - 61C

After (with fan directly on cooler):
Idle - 35C
Load - 45C

Not too shabby for a revision that lacks 2 heatpipes compared to its bigger brothers, and definitely incredible for the ~$20 that I paid in total for all the aftermarket parts! :cool:
 
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