8800GT third-party coolers

[RoBe]

Someone remind me what RMA stands for?

return merchandise authorisation i think. Sending something back to the seller cause it's faulty

[D.M]

Hi guys,

I am looking into getting a 8800GT but am worried about the noise and heat issue.

Are all 8800GT's the same fitting wise if I was to use a Thermalright HR-03 GT or the Accelero S1, also out of these 2 which is the best?

Also if I buy a third party cooler what else needs purchasing as well?

What are VRM sinks and ram sinks?

As you can tell I've never done this before but want to have a go but would appreciate some wisdom first

Thanks,


Peace

[sawyen]

Hi guys,

I am looking into getting a 8800GT but am worried about the noise and heat issue.

Are all 8800GT's the same fitting wise if I was to use a Thermalright HR-03 GT or the Accelero S1, also out of these 2 which is the best?

Also if I buy a third party cooler what else needs purchasing as well?

What are VRM sinks and ram sinks?

As you can tell I've never done this before but want to have a go but would appreciate some wisdom first

Thanks,


Peace

I guess now the only 2 benefit I can see with the HR3-GT now is..

1. easier installation, its pretty much dead easy.. but all you need to make sure is a clean, non oily surface or the ram sinks and VRM sinks wont stick..

2. SLI support.. Accelero S1 will have a tough time with that..

[D.M]

I'm not running an SLI setup and i'll be using a Coolermaster Cosmos so size isnt an issue.

What should i use to clean the chips with?

Also as per my last post are VRM sinks the same as ram sinks?

Thanks

[sawyen]

VRM sinks are slightly differnet but they all sort of works the same way..

The installation details will tell you all about it..

To clean the surface well enough, probably just use some 50/50 isoprop/H2O mix or perhaps nail polish cleaner. I used isoprop most of the time as they dry very very fast..

I forgot to wipe one of the VRM chips and ended up my sinks dont stick at all.. and those oily residues map all around my sink adhesive rendering it useless.. so remember to make sure everything is spanking dry and not oily..

If you're going to install the HR3-GT with the large sink on the backside, then installing either large sinks of the chip sinks first will be no different.. but if you are going to install it with the large sink facing the frontside of the card, my recommendations would be to install the large sink first then install the mem sinks..

[D.M]

VRM sinks are slightly differnet but they all sort of works the same way..

The installation details will tell you all about it..

To clean the surface well enough, probably just use some 50/50 isoprop/H2O mix or perhaps nail polish cleaner. I used isoprop most of the time as they dry very very fast..

I forgot to wipe one of the VRM chips and ended up my sinks dont stick at all.. and those oily residues map all around my sink adhesive rendering it useless.. so remember to make sure everything is spanking dry and not oily..

If you're going to install the HR3-GT with the large sink on the backside, then installing either large sinks of the chip sinks first will be no different.. but if you are going to install it with the large sink facing the frontside of the card, my recommendations would be to install the large sink first then install the mem sinks..

Thanks for your help Sawyen

Just one last question if I may?

Its kinda vague when Thermalright or whoever sells these aftermarket coolers just state that it fits say the 8800GT? Will it fit all 8800GTs or are some better than others? I was wondering if people could let me know what make and model GT they are using with these units? I dont wanna waste time and money buying something thats not compatible.

Many thanks again,

Peace

[sawyen]

I guess just as long it is similar to the OEM card and nothing too fancy it will fit fine..

I think 99% of the time it'll fit fine as I have yet seen more than a couple which differs from the current card layout..

The only 2 I can think of with slightly changed PCB layout are..

1. Gainward Golden Sample GLH
2. Gigabyte Ultra Durable lines where the only difference are along the VRM chips locations (im not too sure.. you'll have to check) and solid state capacitors..

[D.M]

Thanks again for all your help. I'll give it a go and post on Hexus if I have any issues

Peace

[cptwhite_uk]

I've installed the Accelero S1 and fan* as mentioned http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...ml#post1296743

Idle temp has dropped from 56C to 39C approx. and the system is now whisper quiet, I had grown use to the stock cooler, now I can see the difference it really is a noisy little git.

Gonna fire up some games and see what happens - will post load temps in a bit, but for now very happy for £20 all in

For reference I mounted the fan using some tie wraps, its a bit hap-hazard and I plan to improve it using some foam pads and elastic bands at a later date. Will post some pictures in a bit!

[D.M]

I've installed the Accelero S1 and cooler as mentioned http://forums.hexus.net/hexus-hardwa...ml#post1296743

Idle temp has dropped from 56C to 39C approx. and the system is now whisper quiet, I had grown use to the stock cooler, now I can see the difference it really is a noisy little git.

Gonna fire up some games and see what happens - will post load temps in a bit, but for now very happy for £20 all in

For reference I mounted the fan using some tie wraps, its a bit hap-hazard and I plan to improve it using some foam pads and elastic bands at a later date. Will post some pictures in a bit!

Thanks cptwhite_uk,

Pics would be really useful for me, also did you just buy the Accelero S1, or did you buy other stuff to use with it? if so what and where did you buy it?

Thanks again,

Peace

[cptwhite_uk]

DM - see the link i posted above, which shows what I bought from Ebuyer (page one, post 10 of this thread if you want to find it manually)

[Chunter]

here's mine..zalman vf1000

[Shooty*]

My Hr=05-sli has turned up today, so I'll try and and get y'all some pictures this weekend

[cptwhite_uk]

Double post

[cptwhite_uk]

Better late than never Here's some pics of my 8800GT with Arctic Cooling Accerelo S1 + fan (as discussed on page one of this thread). Tie wraps didn't work as well as I'd expected due to their inflexibility. Instead I intend to replace them with rubber bands, with the fan sitting on some sticky sided foam pads (the kind of pads which seperate glass panels during transportation, will be ideal if I ever get around to it.)

This gives me 40C idle and 51C load - definately not the best temps in the work but more than acceptable for £20, and I'm pushing up the overclock - now stable at 660 core. Unfortunately I can't overclock the memory as it seems to corrupt at about 890 (had to underclock by 10Mhz, but it's not worth the hassle of RMA-ing it)

Another thing to point out is the fan is 3 pin, and the GTs seem to have a special 4 pin (not standard PWM 4 pin you get on motherboards). So the fan is powered via the motherboard, this probably accounts for the 50C at load, but that's fine by me as the noise level doesn't change and 50C is acceptable anyyway .

This is VERY quiet, only the CPU fan makes any noticeable amount of noise now..and that's a Coolmaster Hyper48 which is meant to be quiet anyway.

[Shooty*]

Right, it's done. *phew!*

Before I changed the cooler, I ran GPU Caps Viewer Fur stress test at 800 x 600 on the 8800gt. It reached 90 degrees c in about a minute, maybe less. I, sadly, didn;t note the idle temp: 54 or something.

I just put the S1 on it, without fan. Idle is 42 degrees c. 5 minutes of fur test in GPU caps put the temp up to 64 degrees. From 59 up to 64 went very slowly. Will run a longer test later. On balance, I think I will get the turbo unit to go with it, but that's not bad for air, eh?

Here's some shots:

Photo 1 - inside of case (Thermaltake Tsunami Dream) without card. Note the northbridge cooler: had to go with an Hr-05-sli as the previous northbridge was too tall for the S1

Photo 2 - A naked 8800GT. Phwoar! Except for the asbestos like material they insist on using.

Photo 3 - A naked, scrubbed 8800Gt.

Photo 4 - Mounted in the case

Photo 5 - Close up. You can see where the northbridge is under the cooler. (A8n SLI deluxe)

Installation was easy. The only problem, and it really is in my view, is that with this case, use of the S1 and an 8800gt renders 2 of the HD cages of the Tsunami case unusable. With the HR05SLI, that's 3 unusable cages out of 5, so I've had to put one drive in the floppy bay and will need rubber washers as it is grinding like hell.