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quiet Radeon 4870 cooler

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DeerSteak

Gawd
Joined
Aug 7, 2008
Messages
707
I like my machine quiet. I have some super-quiet Noctua 120mm fans, and my CPU cooler is a Scythe Zipang 2 on my Phenom II. A couple weeks ago, I got a Radeon 4870 on Newegg to replace my 8800GT, and while it's not bad at idle, it's a freaking vacuum cleaner under load.

I've been hunting for a good (active) cooler for it. I know the Zalman VF1000 is recommended widely, including by [H] but my (limited) experience with Zalman heatsinks and fans is that they're not really as quiet as they claim. At one point I had a 9500 in a system, and the only way I could get it to cool adequately (an E6600 OC'd to 3.2GHz) was if I turned up the fan until it was unacceptably loud.

Does anybody who shares my insane passion for silence have an aftermarket cooler on your 4870? How does it do? Did you need to make any modifications?

EDIT

I found the T-Rad2 and I think it'd fit the bill with some quiet 92mm fans or maybe another Noctua 120mm. What I need to find out though is do I NEED to buy the VRM cooler? That puts the whole cooling solution somewhere around $90. For that much, I might just take a chance on a VF1000 and its like $8 add-on for the VRM.
 
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Does the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 fit the 4870? Can it handle it? If so, it fits the bill (minus the active part). You'd have to set up a fan to blow air towards the back of the case across the fins, or strap a fan to it. Wide fin spacing though, and works damn well. Cheap too. Slot consumption doesn't seem to be a problem, since you're looking at the TRad2 anyways.
 
Leman said:
Does the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 fit the 4870? Can it handle it? If so, it fits the bill (minus the active part). You'd have to set up a fan to blow air towards the back of the case across the fins, or strap a fan to it. Wide fin spacing though, and works damn well. Cheap too. Slot consumption doesn't seem to be a problem, since you're looking at the TRad2 anyways.
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yes the accelero S1 can handle the 4870.. it really just depends on the fans you use.. just strap pair of high cfm low noise 120mm fans on it.. like the 1200rpm yate loons or what ever..

also yes with the 4870 it is a requirement to have vrm heatsinks.. the card will not run without them since they run extremely hot.. im not sure but i believe the accelero S1 comes with them but you would have to check..
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
yes the accelero S1 can handle the 4870.. it really just depends on the fans you use.. just strap pair of high cfm low noise 120mm fans on it.. like the 1200rpm yate loons or what ever..

also yes with the 4870 it is a requirement to have vrm heatsinks.. the card will not run without them since they run extremely hot.. im not sure but i believe the accelero S1 comes with them but you would have to check..
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If he's going to use the accelero S1, he should re-use the vrm plate from the stock cooler. The included sinks with the S1 aren't enought to cool RV770 vrms. There's a bounch of information over at http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/
 
Thanks for answering the big question about the VRMs. I have an XFX 1GB that runs at stock speeds, and I hadn't taken off the shroud to see if the VRMs had a sink or just got air. Good to know it's under there and I can reuse it, at least with the Accelero.

Does the Accelero have any sort of standard fan mounts? I know about that turbo module, but I've read it's a bit loud, at least by my standards. Also, what's the difference between the Accelero S1 rev 2 and the Accelero S2? Should I avoid one or the other?
 
The S2 is smaller and isn't compatible with high end cards.

I don't believe there is an official fan mounting kit.

The XFX card probably has VRM sinks. Not sure about the sink construction though.
 
Try checking out the Scythe Musashi. I've had two (sold one) and the thing is silent on my 4850. It includes fan controller knobs and the lowest setting is well below ambient in my apartment. Considering I'm running my e8400 passively (HR-01+) the Scythe does a great job staying quiet.
 
dude, that looks perfect. What are you doing for your VRMs, kencheeto? Did you keep a stock heatplate on them?

edit: nevermind, the manual shows that it comes with VRM heatsinks. I think this is probably my best bet, and the price at $40 is certainly right. Sweet!
 
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DeerSteak said:
dude, that looks perfect. What are you doing for your VRMs, kencheeto? Did you keep a stock heatplate on them?

edit: nevermind, the manual shows that it comes with VRM heatsinks. I think this is probably my best bet, and the price at $40 is certainly right. Sweet!
Click to expand...

It does come with heatsinks (and I use them), but I've read that people have more success keeping the stock red heatplate on there. Core temps are certainly much lower though and the silence is awesome.
 
Just when I think I have my mind made up, I find something else. That something in this case is a $24 Accelero Twin Turbo. I've been reading alot of reviews that say it's very quiet, too. Hmm. Doesn't look like I can go wrong with either of those, though the price of the AC unit is very tempting.
 
I've heard good things about the twin turbo as well- like you say, either should be just fine. Great price on the AC for sure.
 
I installed an accelero s1 rev 2 2 days ago on my 4870. I paid 35 at the microcenter and it wasn't the TT version! Cooled passively it's not the greatest, granted that should be pretty obvious. However, strap a quiet 120mm fan to it and it's freakin amazing. My idle and load temps both dropped about 15-20c with the cooler + fan AND it's pretty much silent. The plastic 'caps' at the top and bottom of the heat sink have little gaps that are perfect for using zip ties to mount fans.

My only gripe with the cooler is now the heat isn't being exhausted out the back, so after awhile at load GPU and CPU temps are about 8c higher than before. The GPU temps are still lower than stock even after it's all warmed up, but my CPU temps have gone up more than I would like. I'm considering adding another intake and isolating the CPU/GPU.
 
Oh, hey, I didn't really think about the extra heat. What do you think would be the best thing to do with that? A PCI slot is free above the card, so maybe one of those PCI slot fans? My CPU doesn't get terribly hot (55-57C under four-core Prime95 load), but another 8*C would bother me.

Since my cooler is top-down and the side of my case has a vent, the CPU should get mostly fresh air. but I certainly don't want the temps to raise that much.
 
DeerSteak said:
Oh, hey, I didn't really think about the extra heat. What do you think would be the best thing to do with that? A PCI slot is free above the card, so maybe one of those PCI slot fans? My CPU doesn't get terribly hot (55-57C under four-core Prime95 load), but another 8*C would bother me.

Since my cooler is top-down and the side of my case has a vent, the CPU should get mostly fresh air. but I certainly don't want the temps to raise that much.
Click to expand...

If your case has good airflow, then temps shouldn't rise too much. maybe 2-3C. But if you don't have great airflow, then a slot fan should work. Just be warned, they tend to not be made with high quality standards, and tend to break down after a while. When i had a Ultra Grid case, I went through 4 in 2 years, all from different manufactures.
 
Ordered the Accelero. For $32 shipped via Priority Mail, I did not think I could go wrong.

I've read in another thread that the heatsinks have fallen off the RAM for a few folks. I've got some Arctic Alumina that I'll use for those. Other than totally voiding my warranty (since it's not removable) I don't see much downside.
 
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