PC Upgrades

[Beardroid91]

You can also try a cooler like this for the video card

Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme IV



http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/products/coo ... me-iv.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

You'd have to be nuts to use that cooler on a high-end graphic card, from what i've see / read it does a really bad job of cooling the ram/vrm chips... The last gen was better, they had glue on cooling fins for each chip!

But i had forgotten about Arctic Cooling, if i can get a hold of the Arctic Accelero Xtreme 7970 (last gen), then i would be happy, but it is nearly impossible to find in store - which doesn't need about 50$ to ship it... But i have sent the guys at Arctic online store an email about my project and my concerns about the Accelero Xtreme IV, so lets see what they have to say to that

So if i had to pay 50$ for shipment, half the coolers original price .. then im just going watercooling

And lastly this monster is 28 cm long.... !!!
___

Just to show the difference:

Accelero Xtreme IV


Accelero Xtreme 7970 (gen 3)

[MadManCK]

Shipping is only about 10 if you order directly from arctic

http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/shipping-costs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I had this type cooler on my GTX570 and it was quiet and never reached more than 58 degrees. Bu you do need the space to build it in your case.

That ATI package looks very good with all the ram and mosfet coolblocks. But the new one comes with a coolbackplate. But you need to cool the ram on the front side as well....
Those heatsinks can be ordered separately as well. Check spare parts.
http://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/accelero-xtr ... tml#?bild2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

90 degrees under load is a lot. Even if modern chips can handle those temps, it is better for the longlivety of the card to cool it down a notch.

[Beardroid91]

If only you could get those spare parts anymore

Hmm i hope Arctic can work something out for me, it did in the buy option that it would need to be on request

[Beardroid91]

I did some more looking and found this special 79XX version of the Alpenfoehn Peter, but it is a 4 slot monster!! It has 12x 6mm heatpipes

It is 25,6 cm long and my graphic card is 26,67 cm so with some slight modifications i should be able to fit it

Oh and it comes with ram/vrm cooling fins, but the fans 2x 120mm or 2x 140 is optional



4+ slot cooler



But i think it is way to big

[MadManCK]

Most video card coolers have either 8cm or 9.2cm fans on them.

Big advantage of bigger fans is that you can run them at lower speed with a similar airflow. And you wont have troubles with the height of the card. In addition to that you can pick your own fans for it.

Looks like a very cool solution.

[Beardroid91]

Heh yeah, the more i think about this cooling the more it worries me that this cooler might be to big and heavy, and that it might bend the PCB

Also having to look at a huge cooler isn't really what i want to see in my case .. plus thinking about it, my case wouldn't be able to provide enough fresh air to the fans on the huge cooler - being that they are so low that the intake fan wouldn't hit them.

The watercooling solution seems to be the best option imo., about price area +/- 25'ish euros anyway

So now im looking more into watercooling it

But just this little mandatory copper plat GPU die raiser is 4$ + 8$ for shipping

28.5 x 28.5 x 0.5 mm



So i'll be doing some research now found a forum with 1500+ pages about the NZXT Kraken G10

I also found the temps of a XFX 7970 using the Kraken G10 and a Corsair H60, so i could get to similar temps, it ran at load 50-60*c and stock temp under load is is over 80*c

[Beardroid91]

Graphic card water / air cooling hybrid setup

Okay now after countless hours of research i believe im getting to be at the point where im ready to start making this project reality.

But once i have started, then there is no turning back..!

The parts i would need is quite expensive - as you'll see, but i believe that this is the way to go, as my graphic card - much as i've already done - it still runs to hot and that raises the overall temp. in my case and that is bad news for the CPU, which gets 67'ish hot.

Just to clarify, this project is about ditching the stock air cooler on graphic card and going for a watercooled / air hybrid solution, a Corsair H55 will cool the graphic core with the use of the NZXT Kraken G10 pumphead mount. In addition to that i'll remove the heatsink on the stock cooler, which the fan blow on from the aluminium back panel that cools the VRAM and VRM chips, and maybe put some additional heatsink fins on the backpanel plate.

I've see / heard about others on the modding forum who has done something similar with success, i plan on doing pretty much the see as the guy in this (Tutorial) did.

XFX HD 7950 PCB

It should® by easy enough ... i hope, but ever if i can't separate the heatsink and the backpanel - then no big deal, i'll just put some aluminum or copper heatsinks on the ram and vrm chips

To the parts i will be using for this project - when i get the courage to do it

Part's i'll need for my project

So as i said this isn't cheap, but it is an really interesting project - so i don't really care, i just want to do it

But anyway now you know what i "plan on doing" this summer, if i doesn't get sidetracked by other things

[MadManCK]

Doesn't the Kraken adapter come with a fan already?

http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/138- ... acket.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to their site it does. So the additional fan junk is not needed

EDIT: unless you opt for the super silent PWM fan control option off course. Even more quiet.

Looks like a cool project. And you can use it on next video card as well.

PS Forget about using the stock plate and use heatsinks instead.

[Beardroid91]

The plan was to use a PWM controlled fan the graphic card could use as i can't see the RAM and VRM temps. but once i get it setup then i'll some heatsink fins on above the chips, cause i'd rather be safe than sorry

Besides the fan is dead cheap - but the more im thinking about it then any old AMD cpu have a 60 to 80 mm PWM fan on, i have 2-3 of those stock AMD cpu coolers i could use, i will have to see about that.

Besides im not planing on keeping the logo wing on the Kraken, i cut it of and the parts i don't need and keep the bare minimum of the mount, and use the cards original cover with some modifications on the card, because it looks pretty good

[Beardroid91]

Just up here in Danmark where i live, it is 30*c and when i played 30 min of Grid AS the graphic max out at 97*c and avg. was 90*c

CPU was at 70*c at the time it hit 97*c

So now im convinced im doing this upgrade now!