Aftermarket VGA Cooler questions

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turn_pike

Senior member
Mar 4, 2012
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Salutations AT-er !

Ever since I sent my HIS 6870 for RMA and received a new one back it has been working great... except when it's not. For one its hot, idling at 65 c on an ambient room temp at around 28-30 c.

1. When playing games I need to run MSI Afterburner, create a profile to crank the fan to 80% otherwise the fan would stay at 30% leading to a graphic driver crash.
Is this normal ? I thought Catalyst would automatically accelerate the fan as the GPU heats up.

2. I also find it strange that once the card reaches around 80-84 celc. the driver would crash. I remember asking the support about it and they said it should be good up to 105 c. Any ideas what I can do about it ?

3. In any case the gpu fan is now showing signs of dieing, making weird noises, would spin very slowly at times, etc. Not exactly sure why though I suspect my 3 weeks stint with bitcoin mining while living in the sizzling heat of Hawaii might have something to do with it.

I dont have enough cash nor do I want to buy new graphic card until the mid-end next generation cards are available. I've been looking at some 3rd part coolers. My plan is to buy something that would be quiet and good enough to replace the stock cooler in my next card.

Does anyone here have some experience with either the 75$ ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III or the 90$ ARCTIC Accelero Hybrid Extreme. They would be my first choice if Newegg can make their 15$ discount when using their mobile app work with the free shipping from Shoprunner.

Advice from those who have had experience with mid-end aftermarket coolers living in tropical region (everyday ambient of 30c would be ideal) or during summer would be very welcome. Some of the reviews I looked at have obscene ambient (like hardware secrets and their 11c ambient temp)
 
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turn_pike

Senior member
Mar 4, 2012
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Aye the TT II would be my go to choice after the 15$ discount for items over 50$ is dead.
That said, its only 35$ delta.

How much of a difference does the Xtreme III make compared to the stock cooler in terms of noise and temp ?
 
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Face2Face

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2001
4,100
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turn_pike said:
Aye the TT II would be my go to choice after the 15$ discount for items over 50$ is dead.
That said, its only 35$ delta.

How much of a difference does the Xtreme III make compared to the stock cooler in terms of noise and temp ?
Click to expand...

I am not sure which cooler you have on your HIS 6870. My old HIS 6870 was the model with the single fan and black shroud. That model was pretty much junk IMO, so a xtreme III would be a night and day difference. The Xtreme III coolers are pretty much silent at 50% fan speed and below and they are probably the best air coolers on the market. Keep in mind they are about 11" in length, so they it may not fit into your case. I still think it's complete overkill, kind of like putting drag radials on a stock Civic LX, but its your money. Either cooler will provide much much better cooling over the factory cooler.
 
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Mushkins

Golden Member
Feb 11, 2013
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TBH if you already RMAed the card once and the replacement is acting up like this, I wouldn't be putting an aftermarket cooler on it, i'd be asking for a full refund and buy a different card entirely. If it's idling at 65C and crashing when the sensor says 85C, that sensor probably isn't reading the temps right in the first place, I wouldn't trust it and I wouldn't trust the card not to have other defects or have been damaged from the overheating. You could very well sink all that money into an aftermarket cooler, then void the warranty by putting it on and still have a dud card.
 
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Face2Face

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2001
4,100
215
106
Mushkins said:
TBH if you already RMAed the card once and the replacement is acting up like this, I wouldn't be putting an aftermarket cooler on it, i'd be asking for a full refund and buy a different card entirely. If it's idling at 65C and crashing when the sensor says 85C, that sensor probably isn't reading the temps right in the first place, I wouldn't trust it and I wouldn't trust the card not to have other defects or have been damaged from the overheating. You could very well sink all that money into an aftermarket cooler, then void the warranty by putting it on and still have a dud card.
Click to expand...

Valid point. I had to RMA my HIS 6870 two times before I got a decent one back. This is card I had. I hope that you don't have the same one - It's just garbage...

hd-6800-series-182380-33029.jpg
 
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turn_pike

Senior member
Mar 4, 2012
316
0
71
3587_001_1_1600.jpg


This is the model I have. And yea it's pretty junk :(

Now that newegg's 15$ discount is dead I guess I'd go with the Twin Turbo II model instead. The TT 3 length is also a concern as my case is pretty small.

The only reason I havent RMA-ed the damn card is because the first time around it took about 5 weeks. So when it started acting up again, I opted for the path of least resistance and simply cranked up the fan speed manually. It does work, it's just hot and loud. And now it's out of warranty ..

PS
Is it even possible to attach the TwinTurbo II or III fan to this card and then detach it to put on another card ? Heard it uses some kind of a glue instead of screwed backplate.
 
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Face2Face

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2001
4,100
215
106
It will use screws and nuts as a retention mechanism. They give you thermal glue to attached the small aluminum heatsinks to the vrm and memory chips. I would not use this method becasue they are a pain to get off and they take forever to dry. This would do the same job and be easier to take off down the road. If you don't want to spend the extra money then just use the thermal glue.
 
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