Today I replaced my ageing P180 with a HAF922 case, with a couple of 120mm fans added to the side-panel over a cloth air filter black-nastied to the panel. The cooling effect is excellent - far better than with the P180, and considerably more quiet, too. So much so, that I've been able to dispense with the fan on my AC Freezer7 Pro and would like to do the same with my HD4870. The obvious candidate would be the Accelero S1 Rev 2 and possibly the turbo fan attachment (or a bodge imitation thereof...) but I have read conflicting stories around the net about their suitability for this card, specifically the VRM and RAM cooling, or lack thereof. Anyone using it successfully with this card? I currently need the fan on the standard cooler set at 50% speed to get down into the 40's °C (due to the warm weather) - so it's the noisiest bit of my rig by some margin. JD
I have one and think its fantastic considering the price! In a Lian-Li PC-A17 with a 120mm fan on its keeps my 4870 512mb @ 790mhz core and 1100mhz mem: Idle - 38'C Load - 51'C The VRM HS included does need a littel modding to fit but is not too hard (just cutting of a fin and dilling a hole). VRM temp;s are high @ 110'C with this, but they are rated for 120'C so should be OK. Failing that you can hack up the stock ref coolers baseplate and use that and get good results. Nothing wrong with the RAM sinks. You just have to make sure you clean the surface of the chips properly before sticking them on. One will need a bit of bending to fit a heatpipe though.
For vrm and and ram cooling if your not happy with what would or would not be supplied and you don't want to mod the heatsinks, you could always try these: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/vgacoolers/zm-rhs70 http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/vgacoolers/vga-heatsinks I personally have the Scythe kit and there is more than enough heatsinks in it to sink a battle ship. As Rocket_Knight64 says, you could cable tie a low noise 120mm fan to the cooler. If you want to neaten things up with your fan filter then you could use these: http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/casefanaccessories/fansis-fan-filters They're easy to clean and you don't have to remove the fan or all of the filter to clean them. I found they don't impede airflow very much either.
stock cooling on the 4870 really is poor and was what put me off the purchase of the card all together. The akasa vortex neo is an active cooler, but is far quieter and the card would slow the card down when at idle. What you dont want is a passive cooled 4870, even if its got good airflow around it, it'll still try to cook itself, well unless you live in a wind tunnel....
Thanks for your thoughts, guys. I'll decide later today, when I've read some reviews and specs. Ady, I have one of those from the Zalman VF900 that's on my old 1950XTX, so I suppose I could use that for VRMs. I'll check it out. JD
JD, I'm guessing you mean these: http://www.zalman.co.kr/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=136 Yep, they should help out but as Burnout21 says, the card does get a bit toasty so I would at least try getting some air to the card just like this person did: A low noise cable tied 120mm fan would be helpful.
Nah, Ady, I meant the FET one; http://www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/vgacoolers/zm-rhs70 Anyway, I ordered the Accelero today, and as I only get free post from Scan if the order is over 20 quid, I got the Turbo Fan coolers, too - I don't lose anything then (Post would have cost more... ) Chars all JD
I attached one of these to my card a year or so ago, and haven't had any problems. There was one glitch during installation - I think one of the heatspreaders supplied wasn't short enough and hit the pipes of the main heatsink. For this heatspreader alone I used a Zalman low profile one and it was plain sailing after that. This was a while ago though, so the manufacturer may well have changed their package now so you don't have to take this step. In terms of performances it is very good. Better performance than stock (with the twin turbo pack at least that I was using) and much quieter too Edit: Here are the low profile heatspreaders I used. You get a mixture of them, including low profiles (you only need 1 or 2).