I have an Asus GTX580 Direct CUII. It is an excellent cooler and never goes above 62C under load. But it is massive. It takes up 3 slots.
If spending £103 on a cooler is an option for you, I can heartily recommend this: http://www.scan.co.uk/products/arctic-accelero-hybrid-graphics-card-cooler-for-enthusiasts I got two of them just this weekend for my SLI GTX 570's. Fitting it is not an easy task by any means, and they are fairly big - it will partially obscure a third slot below the card, you could only manage a very small card in there. On the other hand, I can't argue with the results - my GPUs have gone from 85 C under full load with the stock coolers sounding like they were going to take off, to high 40's to low 50's under load with the coolers never even needing to go above the idle 40% fan speed. I don't even hear them over the general fans in the case.
The Gelid Icy Vision works very well and is £29 http://www.cclonline.com/product/64...A-Cooler-for-High-end-ATI-and-Nvidia/CLR0197/ Here is a thread where it was fitted to a GTX580. Read from the 30th post http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=225015&highlight=Gelid+Icy+Vision
580 stock cooler is good enough at its job and high 90s temps dont really require spending £100 on a cooler you would be better selling the card and putting the £100 + money towards a 670. Most likely your high temps are a lack of airflow Enough from what i remember my 2 in sli before i watercooled were 90 and 95c in a high air cool case.
I agree. Buying an expensive heatsink replacement is just silly. I don't see what's all the worry, it works perfectly and as expected. Nvidia designed and tests their GPU to run for very very long time under max temperature. You'll upgrade your GPU way before it even breaks. My old GeForce 6600 GT runs at 75C idle, it's been what...8 years in use, and still runs strong, it's being used on my Dad computer. You guys worry way too much.
Well that's put my mind at ease! I was just a little worried because I read on other forums that it was too hot for the card. I think I will leave it for now and possibly upgrade to watercooling. As Apocalypso mentioned, my case can handle a pretty neat watercooling loop. Plus, I'm not too impressed by the current generation of cards. I'll wait to see what Nvidia and AMD bring next year, but that's another discussion!
If temps are your only concern, then stick with the standard cooler. As GoodBytes points out, you don't really need it to run at lower temperatures. I only spent the cash on replacement coolers for the sake of noise.
Yes, I agree. But that is not the topic of conversation. My recommendation for aftermarket heatsink are to get soon or at the moment of purchase of your new GPU. Buying one now is silly. Money can be spent on next gen GPU card. If you want quietness during idle, or reduce noise from an OC, then the best thing to do, is to control your GPU clock to minimum, normal, and OC overclock profiles when needed. In my case: -> idle: GPU at minimum speed, fan at minimum speed (30%). -> games: GPU at normal performance, fan set to auto. -> The Witcher 2: GPU is overclocked, fan is set to auto. I have music and sound going on during game play, so fan noise doesn't bother me.
Yeah, I have to see what the kids are doing or, heaven forbid, have conversation with the wife while playing BF3
