[Report] Shaman VGA Cooler in FT02 Enclosure, Inefficient - Advice needed

[bbross]

Hi all,

First, I don't know if it's the right place to post this, so if the thread needs to be moved, please do so.

I wanted to report my experience of using Thermalright's Shaman VGA cooler in a 90° rotated environment like Silverstone's Fortress FT02 case.

Put simply, it does not work well.

I've mounted it on a HD 6970 reference design rev2 (blue PCB). The card is overclocked to 950 / 1450, stock voltage. Stress tests are run with Afterburner's embedded Kombustor utility.

First, I ran a test in the standard position, by putting the case on its front panel, so the card would be horizontal and Shaman's fan would blow upwards.

Idle : 33 °C
Kombustor 5 min : 57 °C
Kombustor 10 min : 57 °C
Kombustor 20 min : 57 °C

Shaman is a GREAT cooler in its meant positioning. This result also tells us the cooler is properly mounted.

I then put the FT02 back in its normal position, so the video card now hangs vertically, with Shaman's fan blowing to the card horizontally.

Idle : 33 °C
Kombustor 5 min : 67 °C
Kombustor 10 min : 85 °C
Kombustor 15 min 30 sec : 97 °C - test aborted.

There you. Some first hand test results.

I had a hell of a time finding such information at the time of shopping for my build's parts, so I thought I would post them back.

Now I need to either buy a VGA cooler that will work well in the FT02 setting, or to buy a new case.

Given related cost, I'd prefer the former. But do you happen to know of such an aftermarket cooler ?

 

[FaRKle0079]

I've seen good results with AC's coolers. Guess TR cheaped out on the heat pipes and didn't put wicks in them...

 

[bbross]

Guess TR cheaped out on the heat pipes and didn't put wicks in them...

Is it potentially with only some Shamans, or is it by design ?

 

[Vittra]

People have such widely varying results in the FT02 that I don't really know what to think. Some people have used Shamans and Arctic Cooling aftermarket coolers on their GPUs without any problem, and some have had major cooling issues like you bbross.

The gigantic FT02 thread over the course of time has seen people on both sides of the fence post their results. Here's an example of a positive one:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1429251&page=115

I've seen negative ones as well but I don't recall where exactly at the moment.

I'm starting to wonder about the quality control of these aftermarket coolers and if some aren't quite up to the standard of others (perhaps the wick or potentially lack of in some), of which the flaws become much more apparent in Silverstone's 90 degree oriented cases.

 

[sadbuttrue]

What other components do you have? My Shaman works like a charm in the Raven RV-02. The top fan exhausts huge amounts of hot air, despite running at 5v in the following test.

6950 unlocked @ 1.175v / 940 / 1350
Ambient - 22c
Idle - 35c
Kombuster 5min - 54c
Kombuster 10min - 58c
Kombuster 20min - 58c

Run 1280x720 @ 0xaa for maximum heat

Specs
Raven RV-02 with 3xPhobya 700rpm fans + Papst exhuast fan
Scythe quiet drive HD enclosure mounted vertically with foam, blocking off entire hd section
Prolimatech Megahalems with Noiseblocker PK2 14cm fan mounted to bottom
6950 + Shaman

The above setup provides unobstructed airflow from bottoms fans -> shaman -> cpu cooler -> exhaust. I run the 18cm fan below the PSU slower (at 5v) to prevent interference to the exhaust flow.

 

[Kisakuku]

Don't really know what to say. I have FT02, reference GTX 580 at stock clocks with Shaman and VRM G2, idles at 31C. I just ran Kombustor 2.0.0, 2560x1600, 8x MSAA, DX11 for 10 minutes. After 3 mins, the GPU temp stabilized at 53C and didn't budge. I have a pretty slow ramp up for fan speed in Afterburner, so the fan was only at 920 RPM.

I had my Shaman drop-shipped from Thermalright HQ in SoCal, maybe they sent me special wicks?...

 

[bbross]

Wow that's great to have that many answers ! Thanks guys !

What other components do you have? My Shaman works like a charm in the Raven RV-02. The top fan exhausts huge amounts of hot air, despite running at 5v in the following test.

[...]

Specs
Raven RV-02 with 3xPhobya 700rpm fans + Papst exhuast fan
Scythe quiet drive HD enclosure mounted vertically with foam, blocking off entire hd section
Prolimatech Megahalems with Noiseblocker PK2 14cm fan mounted to bottom
6950 + Shaman

I have a very similar setup :

FT02, stock AP181 on low settings, stock exhaust fan, no case mods
I've got 2 extension cards, 1 Asus Essence ST and 1 WiFi PCI card
i5 2500k, Megahalems, Gentle Typhoon AP14 undervolted in push / pull config.

I'll run some more tests with higher air flow in the case tomorrow. I'll see what I get.
IMO the ever increasing temp in the vertical setup suggests that the heat can't be evacuated, either from the core (shaman's fault) or from the surrounding air (air flow's fault). I am afraid it would be the former...

Don't really know what to say. I have FT02, reference GTX 580 at stock clocks with Shaman and VRM G2, idles at 31C. I just ran Kombustor 2.0.0, 2560x1600, 8x MSAA, DX11 for 10 minutes. After 3 mins, the GPU temp stabilized at 53C and didn't budge. I have a pretty slow ramp up for fan speed in Afterburner, so the fan was only at 920 RPM.

I had my Shaman drop-shipped from Thermalright HQ in SoCal, maybe they sent me special wicks?...

Thermalright would not be the first computer-components company to silently release different versions of one of its products, producing the good ones at first for online reviews and comments, and the bad (cheaper) ones afterwards.

I would be utterly disappointed as they were one of my favourites.

 

[sadbuttrue]

Try with just 1 fan pushing air from below on the megahalems. I found the second fan caused more heat to build up inside the case, as the air wasnt pushed thru the exhaust fan, but rather circulated inside the case.

Running the front 2 fans at high speed and the rear fan at low speed may also help.

 

[sadbuttrue]

ignore: double post (forums broke?)

 

[Kisakuku]

Forgot to mention that my AP181 case fans are running at 600 rpm, slower than the low setting. I replaced the exhaust fan for an Akasa Apache PWM one, it was at 650 rpm during that Kombustor run (not that the exhaust fan matters much in this case). So I don't have low GPU temps due to crazy case airflow.

Any way to exchange your Shaman without taking a big hit?

 

[WorldExclusive]

Any way to exchange your Shaman without taking a big hit?

I would recommend exchanging it too. You could get one that's not flawed or has better wicks.
It's a gamble but it would be interesting if you get different results from the same model cooler.

Try with just 1 fan pushing air from below on the megahalems. I found the second fan caused more heat to build up inside the case, as the air wasnt pushed thru the exhaust fan, but rather circulated inside the case.

Running the front 2 fans at high speed and the rear fan at low speed may also help.

I had similar results also when I had the Mega. Then I went with the Kyle Method and bought a H60. It's mounted at the top of the case so it dumps all of the CPU heat out without any of it being trapped inside.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

I would send an e-mail to thermalright.

 

[FaRKle0079]

Forgot to mention that my AP181 case fans are running at 600 rpm, slower than the low setting.

I doubt that's the problem. You're only running 100rpm lower than the "low" setting.

Have you tried remounting your Shaman?

 

[Kisakuku]

I doubt that's the problem. You're only running 100rpm lower than the "low" setting.

Have you tried remounting your Shaman?

I'm not the OP, I don't have a problem.

 

[bbross]

I have run more tests today.

I have removed the "pull" fan off of the Megahalem, and I have set the 3 180mm intake fans on "high".

I also have put back the exhaust fan at 12V.

Idle: 32 °C
Kombustor 5': 59 °C
Kombustor 10': 71 °C
Kombustor 20': 77 °C

Obviously, higher airflow helps, but the noise is unbearable. I don't see any stabilization in temperature either. It rises more slowly, but it still endlessly increase.

Now putting the AP181 back to the "low" setting.

Idle: 33 °C
Kombustor 5': 63 °C
Kombustor 10': 74 °C
Kombustor 20': 79 °C

Same again, no stabilization.

And now putting back in the "pull" fan on the CPU heatsink.

Idle: 32 °C
Kombustor 5': 62 °C
Kombustor 10': 74 °C
Kombustor 20': 83 °C

Apparently, the second CPU fan doesn't help cooling the system. It's even a bit the contrary but it's not dramatic either.

Obviously the most important factor for my system reaching 90+ °C in 20 min of Kombustor was the undervolted top exhaust fan. That's already an interesting lesson, but the questions regarding the quality of my Shaman remain.

Try with just 1 fan pushing air from below on the megahalems. I found the second fan caused more heat to build up inside the case, as the air wasnt pushed thru the exhaust fan, but rather circulated inside the case.

I seem to come to the same conclusion. But I can't understand why, as the 2 fans are right on the same vertical axis than the top exhaust fan. Is it linked to the case or to the Megahalem ?

Any way to exchange your Shaman without taking a big hit?

I would send an e-mail to thermalright.

Will definitely do. I'll see if I can RMA the thing. I don't know if I'll buy any other TR product if it appears to be true that they have different revisions of the same product silently being sold at the same time.

Have you tried remounting your Shaman?

Yes Sir, I have. No success.

I had similar results also when I had the Mega. Then I went with the Kyle Method and bought a H60. It's mounted at the top of the case so it dumps all of the CPU heat out without any of it being trapped inside.

What's "Kyle Method" ?

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Will definitely do. I'll see if I can RMA the thing. I don't know if I'll buy any other TR product if it appears to be true that they have different revisions of the same product silently being sold at the same time.

I doubt that there are different revisions floating around. It's probably more of a quality control issue.

What's "Kyle Method" ?

Mounting the radiator on something like the H50 to exhaust like anyone with common sense would do despite what Corsair recommends. I'm not sure what that has to do with this thread.

 

[mandryd]

Hey guys,
I didn't realize that my post was being referenced (by vittra). I have to take back my statement on that initial review. When I initially was using it, my temps were pegged at 43c at full load on furmark. It was incredible.
If i do furmark now, With idle temps at 42C, furmark makes them climb to 80C and then the vidcard gets throttled. I'm not sure why it worked so well early on but now doesn't work a year later. Thus, I'm in the same boat and looking for a different vga cooler.