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VGA Cooler Mini-Roundup
August 18, 2006 Jake Lenin22 Ratner

Summary: Like the CPU industry, prices are rapidly falling in graphics industry -- high-end cards like the X1900 XT can be found for under $350, while the X1800 XT 512MB is below $200 and the 7900 GT is quickly approaching $250. Prices have never been this good. A lot of these high-end cards however generate a lot of noise, and so many enthusiasts are swapping out the stock coolers for aftermarket units and finding that the new coolers generate less noise with lower GPU temps. In this article, we're taking a look at four aftermarket VGA coolers from Arctic Cooling, Thermaltake, and Zalman, with prices ranging from $22-$60. See how the new coolers compare to each other, as well as stock cooling in noise and performance in this article!


IntroductionPage:: ( 1 / 12 )

ATI’s flagship consumes the most power due in part to its 48-pixel shader architecture and more complicated eight-channel memory controller, consisting of eight 32-bit memory controllers. Previous GPUs with a 256-bit internal memory interface relied on just four 64-bit memory controllers. ATI has also added dedicated logic for flow control with their dispatch processor and branch unit in each pixel shader quad. All this adds up to a GPU that contains 384 million transistors.

In comparison, NVIDIA’s GeForce 7900 GTX only contains 278 million transistors, resulting in a power consumption of a mere 85Watts. While NVIDIA employs a massive aluminum cooler with 4 heatpipes and a huge 80mm fan, ATI uses a smaller, all-copper cooler with a poorly designed 60mm fan that must spin much faster than NVIDIA’s 80mm fan to pull the same amount of air. This results in noise levels of over 60db when ATI’s cooler revs up to full speeds.

While ATI’s solution effectively cools the X1900XT(X) and X1800XT cards, the vacuum-like noise is practically unbearable when the fan is running at full speed. NVIDIA isn’t completely off the hook however, the stock cooling on the GeForce 7900 GT and 7600 GT can get pretty noisy as well.

This is where third party manufacturers create replacement coolers. Arctic Cooling, Thermaltake, and previously reviewed Zalman have created alternative solutions that either provides better performance, lower noise levels, or preferably, both. Today we’ll be looking at Arctic Cooling’s Accelero X1, designed for the nVidia’s 6800 series, 7800 series, and 7900GTX cards, the Accelero X2, designed for the X1800 and X1900 series cards, and finally the Thermaltake Tide Water compact video card water cooler, compatible with all current video cards. With street prices on the Radeon X1800 XT below $200 on Price Grabber, and the X1900 XT quickly falling below $350, we figured now was a good time to revisit the performance you could get from these new coolers.



Accelero X1 – Design & InstallationPage:: ( 2 / 12 )

The Accelero models are a major change compared to the Silencer models. The major difference is that the Accelero coolers no longer exhaust air out of the case. Initially this may seem like a major step backward, heating up the case. However Arctic Cooling had a specific reason for doing this. The Accelero Coolers are designed to work with the BTX form factor. Although we may never see it in mainstream use, Arctic Cooling decided to future-proof its coolers.

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Because the only differences between the Accelero X1 and X2 are the mounting holes, we will only display the X2 cooler, but when it comes time for installation, both coolers will be thoroughly covered.

The Accelero coolers come with the unit itself, screws and washers, thermal pads, and instructions.

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A new feature of the Accelero units is the six (6) copper heatpipes that help move the heat away from the all-copper base and onto the numerous large aluminum fins. The cooler comes with pre-applied MX-1 thermal paste made by Arctic Cooling. At the top of the cooler is the 60mm fan used for previous versions of the Silencer coolers. The Accelero coolers also come with the power connector plug customized to its card. The X1’s power cable fits into the 6800, 7800 and 7900 series port right on the PCB. The X2’s power cord fits into the X1800 and X1900 series boards. That is the second of two differences between the Accelero coolers. Let’s get to the installation process.

Installation of the Accelero X1

We are going to test the Accelero X1 on the BFG 7900GTX. Although it isn’t NVIDIA’s hottest single card (that honor goes to the GeForce 7800 GTX, consuming 100Watts), it is NVIDIA’s newest, and has a gigantic and effective cooler. The 7900GTX’s cooler, borrowed from the Quadro 5500 (NVIDIA’s professional graphics line) is larger, with a larger fan and more fins. Therefore if the Accelero was to even tie the stock cooler, we would consider the Accelero a successful design.

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The 7900GTX has nine (9) screws that hold the cooler to the GPU and board. The black ones are the outside screws, and the four silver ones are the inside screws, holding the core of the cooler affixed to the GPU. There is also a screw next to the DVI pots on the side of the board. Unscrew that first. Then carefully unscrew first the outside and then the inside screws on the back and pull the cooler away from the board. Unplug the power cable from the board as well.

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The first picture has the cooler assembled, and the next has the cooler removed. Next, using rubbing alcohol (90% isopropyl) and Q-tips clean off the GPU core to look like this:

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Next, remove the paper covers off of the thermal pads and place them over the RAM chips. This process is quite annoying as the thermal pads stick to your fingers, and doesn’t want to come off. Although this process should take about 30 seconds, it took well over 3 minutes to complete due to the poor design of the pads. Remove the covering on the cooler’s core that protects the layer of thermal paste and line up the cooler with the mounting holes. Place the Accelero X1 down the board and turn over the card carefully.

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The screws included with the Accelero X1 have two different sizes, 6mm and 8mm. For the four inside screws, you will need to use the 6mm variant. Thread them through a washer and place each one in the opening. Then screw each one evenly in. Next, take the 8mm screws, thread them through a washer and repeat the previous step with the 5 outside points. Make sure you tighten all of screws until they don’t go any more without using excessive force.


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Turn over the cooler and plug in the power cable right into the board. The two pin connection fits the 6800 series cards while the four pin power cable fits the 7800 series and 7900GTX cards. Once assembled, your result should be similar to ours.


Accelero X2 InstallationPage:: ( 3 / 12 )
Since we covered the Accelero design, we’ll get to the installation right away.

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ATI has 8 screws on the back. Four hold together a small backplate and the core, and another four hold the cooler to the PCB. First remove the outside and then the inside screws, pull away the heavy cooler, and unplug power cable.

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After the stock heatsink is removed, clean off the existing thermal paste. Here is a size comparison between the 7900GTX and the X1900 coolers. The larger fan, more fins, and 4 heatpipes help the GTX cooler stay quieter, while the X1900 cooler sounds like a jet engine when the fan pulls away heat at max load.

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Apply the thermal pads onto the RAM chips. This process is once again extremely annoying because the pads stick to anything they touch. Line up the X2 with the mounting holes and place it on the board. The screws that come with the Accelero X2 are only one length, 6mm. Thread seven (7) of them through washers and flip over the card slowly.

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Screw in the screws starting from the four (4) inside ones and then three (3) outside. Note, in the above photo they are not screwed in. It just shows how they are supposed to look like. Flip the card over again and plug in the power cable which is customized to fit only the X1800 and X1900 cards.

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Thermaltake Tide Water Design & InstallationPage:: ( 4 / 12 )
Thermaltake manufacturers almost every accessory imaginable for computers. They make cases, enclosures, case fans, CPU and video card coolers, chipset cooling, power supplies, water cooling for the CPU and now all-in-one video card water cooling, a first for the industry. Thermaltake managed to fit a pump, reservoir, radiator, and fan in a dual slot plastic box. There is a “Plus” model containing an additional water block to cover an SLI or CrossFire solution. Although small size does limit performance of the radiator and fan, we’ll have to see how this new idea fares against the standard air coolers.

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The Thermaltake cooler features and all-copper radiator and an all-copper (nickel plated) water block. The fan has an intake on both sides, and exhausts air out of the case. The fan looks similar to the one used by ATI, however it’s smaller in diameter and the fins are shaped differently. There is a small reservoir with green coolant and a small pump right above that. Black tubing runs throughout the assembly and is surrounded by metal coils to prevent kinking.

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The radiator has many fins placed close together to fit as many as possible in a small space. The copper water block is not as finely finished as the Accelero coolers’ bases or the perfectly reflective base of the Zalman VF900. The block came with stains on the outside. Although that won’t hurt performance since the core won’t make contact with the outside, it isn’t a good sign either way.

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If there is low coolant, which can be measured through the window in the side of the assembly, it is easily replaced by unscrewing the cap to the fill port and pouring in new coolant. At the top of the cooler there is a switch that regulates the fan speed. Low speed is 1700RPM and high speed is 3000RPM. Faster fan speeds usually helps lower temperature levels but also raises noise levels. So Thermaltake gives users a choice for less noise and less cooling, or better cooling and more noise.

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The fan and pump run from a Molex connector that is sleeved.

Tide Water Installation

Follow the steps outlined previously to remove the stock X1900XTX or 7900GTX cooler shown in the Accelero X1/X2 installations. We’ll be installing this cooler on an X1900XTX because it consumers more power and generates more heat than the 7900GTX. However, installation is the same for any card.

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The Tide Water comes with two pairs of mounting bolts, with accompanying nuts. One pair is for NVIDIA cards and the other for ATI cards. Since NVIDIA cards have mounting holes with a smaller diameter, their mounting bolts have a thinner beam. There are also screws that hold down the water block to the mounting bolts and of course, washers. For cards with four mounting holes near the core, pick two that are diagonally opposite of each other. Stick a mounting bolt through a washer and PCB and then secure it from the opposite side with a matching nut. Do the same for the other mounting hole.

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Next, you must move the extensions off of the water block to reach the mounting holes. Slightly loosen the screws holding the extensions to the water block and move them over the mounting bolt. Then take a screw and tightly fasten the extensions on both sides, so the block cannot move. The finished results are above and below.

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What you may notice is that there is no cooling for the RAM, unlike all previous coolers. Thought RAMsinks are included with the “Plus” model of the Tide Water, they are not included with this model. Including them and raising the price another $5 would have been much smarter than forcing the end user to purchase their own.



Zalman VF900-CuPage:: ( 5 / 12 )
The following text is reprinted from our original Zalman VF900-Cu review, if you’ve already read that article you’ll want to skip ahead to the next page.

On paper, the VF900’s specs are quite impressive:

  • Pure copper heatsink base and fins maximize cooling performance.
  • Use of two high performance heatpipes maximizes heat transfer.
  • Circular heatsink formed by radially aligned ultra-thin(0.2mm) fins minimizes airflow resistance
    and maximizes heat dissipation surface area for excellent cooling performance.
  • Fan installed in the heatsink cools not only the VGA chipset and VGA RAM, but all other VGA
    components.
  • Does not exert any excessive force on the VGA card due to the product¡¯s light weight.
  • Improvement in the installation structure provides excellent compatibility and easy installation.
  • Adjustable fan speed controller(FAN MATE 2) enables control of noise and fan speed.
  • Does not generate noise or vibration in Silent Mode.
  • Dimensions : 96(L) X 96(W) X 30(H)mm
    - Weight : 185g
    - Base Material : Pure Copper
    - Bearing Type : 2-Ball
    - Speed : 1,350 ~ 2,400rpm ¡¾ 10%
    - Noise Level : 18.5 ~ 25.0dB ¡¾ 10%


    The VF900 weighs 85g less and is 30mm less wide than the VF700. Many aspects are left unchanged though. The fan size is the same, as well as its dual ball bearing design. Zalman also uses the same ZM-RHS1 heatsinks for the RAM (a.k.a. ramsinks) for both series. The installation method and mechanism, which we will discuss later, remains the same as well.

    Another important accessory is the Zalman Fan Mate 2 unit. This has been included with most of Zalman’s coolers VGA and CPU coolers. It is a mini fan controller, giving you full control of the fan’s speed, not just 12V/5V (full speed/silent) like many others. It is also extremely small, so it can be mounted almost anywhere in your case, as long as cable length permits.

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    The included thermal paste from Zalman by far isn’t the greatest. If you want another 2-3 degrees shaved off, use Arctic Silver 5. On top of that, you have to spread out Zalman’s thermal paste across the core, while with Arctic Silver, all you need is a drop about half a grain of rice size in the center of the core. The extra $5 for better paste is well worth it.

    The Zalman VF900 is compatible with most video cards today – it can even fit on cards up to 4 years old! (Ti4xx). However because its price tag is about $40, the cooler would be worth more than some older video cards.


    Test Setup and Test ParametersPage:: ( 6 / 12 )
    AMD 3000+ “Orleans” AM2 @ 2.71GHz
    Foxconn C51XEM2AA
    1GB Corsair PC8500C5
    Antec SP2.0 450W
    Antec Sonata 2 Case

    7900GTX w/ AcceleroX1
    X1900XTX w/ Zalman VF900 (retested); Accelero X2; Thermaltake Tide Water

    We used ATI Tool to monitor both the 7900GTX’s and X1900XTX’s temperatures. “Idle” temperature is defined as letting the card sit for 15 minutes inactive and recording the average temperature achieved. “Load” temperature is defined by looping 3DMark06 graphics tests for 25 minutes and taking the maximum temperature achieved during the point.


    Test ResultsPage:: ( 7 / 12 )

    GPU Temperatures






    Noise and Case TemperaturePage:: ( 8 / 12 )

    Case Temps



    Noise results



    Ballistics Report for AcclerosPage:: ( 9 / 12 )

    Accelero X1/X2

    Pros

    Great performance: The Accelero was able to best all other coolers except the Tide Water, both at 100% fan speed. It was able to provide a maximum temperature rise (Delta T) of only 13C. The 6 heatpipes and different shape helped Arctic produce the best air cooling for video cards. The Accelero X1 was able to marginally best the performance of a much larger stock cooler from the 7900GTX.

    Very Low Price: The Accelero coolers can be found as low as $22 online, which is almost half the price of the Zalman VF-900 and almost three times less than the Thermaltake Tide Water. The Accelero provides equal performance to the Zalman and slightly worse performance than the tide Water.

    Easy Installation: Aside from the sticky thermal pads, the Accelero installation involved only a couple steps. They had the least parts of any cooler and we installed them faster than the other coolers.

    Low Noise: The fan on the Accelero coolers seems to have been borrowed from the previous generation Silencer coolers, which were legendary for their silence, hence their name. The Arctic Cooling Accelero managed to have the lowest noise level produced at dynamic and full speeds (27db and 38db respectively.) From a closed case, they are inaudible at ~1m.

    Cons

    Large Size: The Accelero coolers are tall, they rise above the video card making it impossible to fit in SFF cases and maybe even some horizontally oriented cases (desktop).


    Ballistics for Thermaltake Tide WaterPage:: ( 10 / 12 )

    Pros

    Performance: While we were expecting more from Thermaltake's Tide Water cooler, technically it did stiil achieve the lowest temperatures of all coolers that we tested, hitting temps of 56C at full load and the lowest temperature rise of 10C over idle. Therefore, in terms of performance, Tide Water clearly delivered, cooling our Radeon X1900 XTX to cooler temps than any other cooler that we've tested.

    Cons

    Size: The Tide Water takes up two slots in addition to an extra two slots taken by the video card. All other coolers don’t require more than two slots. The cooler was also very bulky and barely fit in the Antec Sonata case, a very popular mid tower case today.

    Noise: To achieve the Delta T of only 10C, the Tide Water’s fan had to be set to full speed which generated noise of 55dB from .5m. In comparison, the Accelero X2 achieved Delta T of 13 with only 38dB from .5m.

    Price: At $60 the Tide Water is the most expensive of the coolers tested today. At almost three times more expensive than the Accelero Coolers, while providing only 4C decrease in temperatures at high noise levels really makes this cooler an unattractive buy.

    No RAM cooling: The Accelero and Zalman, and obviously the stock coolers covered RAM cooling effectively. The Zalman had RAMsinks, while the Accelero and stock coolers covered the RAM with the cooler itself. The Tide Water left the RAM bare. Including some cheap aluminum ramsinks would have been a huge improvement.


    Ballistics Report for Zalman VF900Page:: ( 11 / 12 )

    Pros

    Good Performance: The VF900 achieved similar performance to the Accelero. While it achieved a 3C advantage over the Accelero at dynamic speeds, it trailed by 1C at full speeds. The Zalman tended to have a rather high Delta T because it sustained a lower idle temperature than the Accelero, but similar load temperature.

    Compact Size: The Zalman VF900 is the smallest cooler tested. Unlike the Accelero, it doesn’t rise above the video card and will fit in any case, SFF or not. Despite its size, it was able to achieve good performance from its all copper construction and numerous fins.

    Low Noise: Although slightly louder than the Accelero cooler at both dynamic and full speeds (28dB and 40dB), the Zalman is not audible from within a closed case from .5m. It is very suitable for an HTPC or SFF system.

    Cons

    Price: At $36 online, the Zalman VF900 is about 64% more expensive than the Accelero. So the only reason for spending the extra money would be for the Zalman’s compactness, for a SFF system or such.


    Final VerdictPage:: ( 12 / 12 )

    The Arctic Cooling Accelero X1 is designed for NVIDIA’s 6800 series, 7800 series, and 7900GTX cards performed extremely well. Although it would be pointless to buy an Accelero X1 for a 7900GTX because the performance is equal, the Accelero X1 would work wonders on the 7800 series cards which had single slot coolers and consumed up to 100W. Arctic Cooling’s Accelero X1/X2 coolers were a breeze to install, containing the least parts of all coolers tested today. As well as greatly reducing idle and load temperatures, the Accelero X2 completely eliminated the piercing whine produced by the stock X1900/X1800 cooler at moderate to full speeds. The only issue with the Accelero coolers is that they divert from the standard Arctic Cooling VGA cooler design by not exhausting hot air out of the case. This however is explained by the BTX design. The Accelero’s performance, price and warranty (6 years) make it our most recommended VGA cooler today, hence it earns our Bull’s Eye Award.






    Thermaltake came up with a great concept: a complete watercooling enclosed in a two slot box. This idea needs major polishing in the value department however. Although Thermaltake did achieve the desired goal: clearly Thermaltake's Tide Water bested all the air coolers in this roundup. However, it did not achieve the desired performance you normally expect of a watercooling system, especially for almost 3 times the price of the Arctic Cooling Accelero, we were expecting a much bigger performance edge.

    Another issue with the Tide Water is its size. Although it is small for a water cooling system, it is huge for a cooler that only covers one object in the case. In addition to that, it barely fit in a standard mid tower and took up 4 slots total. We did a review on the Sapphire X1900XTX Blizzard featuring Thermaltake’s single slot version of the Tide Water. The card and cooler took up only two slots total, and still managed to achieve the same temperature level results as the larger version of the Tide Water. So in conclusion, we would only advise the Tide Water to someone who must have the best cooling available at any cost, we'd like to see Thermaltake either give the Tide Water a major performance update or huge price cut, or both.

    With the arrival of the Accelero, Zalman’s much more expensive VF900 was superseded overnight. Thought it provides excellent performance and noise levels, the Accelero provided equal performance in both categories for over 60% less money. Loyal Zalman customers will definitely be satisfied though. Zalman’s small size is its only advantage, so it will fit anywhere.

    Overall though the Accelero coolers are our recommendation of choice as of now.

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