Cooler for 7900GS

[Kerotan]

Hi, I have the XFX 7900GS 256MB, and I'm looking to replace the stock cooler with something that will run a little cooler but most importantly, quieter.

Ideally I want a cooler which would exhaust hot air out of the back of my case, I actually prefer if it was dual slot. The only problem is, I don't know if the cooler I'm thinking of, the Akasa Vortexx Neo, is compatible with the 7900GS as only the GT is listed.

Can anyone confirm this or put forward recommendations for other coolers, preferrably <£30?

[Mithrandir]

The AC Accelero S! rev 2 seems to be a good option.

£21 HERE for passive heatsink and the fans, possinly cheaper from ebay.

More info HERE

[Kerotan]

Cheers, That does look good, but I'm worried it would just blow the heat straight onto my soundcard in the PCI slot below? My case is an Antec 900 but I'm not using the side panel fan because I can't fit one with a tall HSF on my CPU.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What about the Akasa Vortexx Neo??

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=810140

[Howard - AKASA]

Hi, I have the XFX 7900GS 256MB, and I'm looking to replace the stock cooler with something that will run a little cooler but most importantly, quieter.

Ideally I want a cooler which would exhaust hot air out of the back of my case, I actually prefer if it was dual slot. The only problem is, I don't know if the cooler I'm thinking of, the Akasa Vortexx Neo, is compatible with the 7900GS as only the GT is listed.

Can anyone confirm this or put forward recommendations for other coolers, preferrably <£30?

Hi Kerotan - I have not tried the 7900GS yet but the GPU & Vram keepout area's- it look the sames as the Referance design 7900 GTX and we didn't have any problem with it .
I believe that you should have no trouble but you did not state it's Brand (weither OEM or referance)
layout. On OEM layout could have mechanial issue due - especially the choice of components like capacitors which is a cost engineering option could limit our coolers usage.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What about the Akasa Vortexx Neo??

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=810140

Doh!!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Hi Kerotan - I have not tried the 7900GS yet but the GPU & Vram keepout area's- it look the sames as the Referance design 7900 GTX and we didn't have any problem with it .
I believe that you should have no trouble but you did not state it's Brand (weither OEM or referance)
layout. On OEM layout could have mechanial issue due - especially the choice of components like capacitors which is a cost engineering option could limit our coolers usage.

Does the Vortexx Neo fit the HD3870 OK?? Also is it the same overall height as the stock heatsink as I have a SFF Shuttle SD37P2??

[Kerotan]

Hi Kerotan - I have not tried the 7900GS yet but the GPU & Vram keepout area's- it look the sames as the Referance design 7900 GTX and we didn't have any problem with it .
I believe that you should have no trouble but you did not state it's Brand (weither OEM or referance)
layout. On OEM layout could have mechanial issue due - especially the choice of components like capacitors which is a cost engineering option could limit our coolers usage.

Hi Howard, thanks for replying, this is a picture of the card I have at stock, but I can't find any pictures of the XFX 7900GS without the stock HSF on.


To compare this to the reference 7900GTX, I have included a picture of that stripped:


The RAM appears to be in the same place, and all the capacitors at the end of the card look to be "behind the line" as it were. I think I will give the Vortexx Neo a try as I have heard good things about this cooler

[Howard - AKASA]

Hi Howard, thanks for replying, this is a picture of the card I have at stock, but I can't find any pictures of the XFX 7900GS without the stock HSF on.


To compare this to the reference 7900GTX, I have included a picture of that stripped:


The RAM appears to be in the same place, and all the capacitors at the end of the card look to be "behind the line" as it were. I think I will give the Vortexx Neo a try as I have heard good things about this cooler

Hi Kerotan, your card has intact keep zone and looks like no mechanical fouling (fan header /capacitors) - (the layout looks a bit like Quadra 1400) & the Video DDR locations are the same so no problem persieved on the alumiumium cooling plate, so happy times ahead for you if you choose to fit the Vortex Neo. It is great to be in turbo mode & flat-out and being able to here the game audio for SRP £25 but if your not a gamer then fit a fan controller and take the fan down from 2500rpm to 1500K for real quit operation

[Kerotan]

Right, well to be honest the install was not at all straightforward lol.

Out the box the Vortexx Neo is a cracking little cooler, comes with everything you need to get it up and running, even some el-cheapo thermal paste, but I used MX-2

Once I had stripped and cleaned my 7900GS, I went to fit the cooler, and the fancy XFX logo bar on the side of the cooler was where I first ran into problems. However, I wasnt too worried, and two screws later I was ready to try fitting the cooler again. I immediatley ran into problems due to XFX fitting some stupid bar over the DVI ports where they decided in all their wisdom to place a barcode

I had to cut through about a mill thick steel with a blunt junior hacksaw, trying to keep the filings off the PCB which was near impossible as they seem to seep through masking-tape and card cladding like water! Once I was finished- I was rewarded with this:



I was loath to try and file it in line with the rest of the bracket [couldnt cut any closer due to fouling the saw on the DVI ports] knowing the filings that would produce so I left it proud, thinking my problems were over. However to my great annoyance I found that the cooler was still catching on the tiny bit of the barcode stump that was left, so I had to cut a little bit out of the cooler, as it was easier than cutting the card (I know I could of cut the cooler to begin with, but the barcode would of acted as a splitter, blowing hot air straight onto the DVI ports and circulating it back into the case). You can see the results of my handiwork here:



The cooler had to be screwed down pretty tightly to make goof contact with the core, and I noticed when I looked at the card that the PCB was no longer a parrallel true, so the cooler was obviously catching on something- It was a number of capacitors placed on the board, but the bend was only slight and not enought to cause me worry or prevent easy installation into a PCI-e slot:





And the finished item [It is a great looking cooler imo ]



The idle temps aren't bad either:



I would still recommend this cooler to anyone, it is quiet, works well and looks the business if you have a windowed case, however Akasa's compatibility list must be taken as gospel! That said, if you don't mind chucking your warranty out the window by installing a 3rd party cooling solution you can hardly complain!