Arctic-Cooling Accelero X2 vs. Thermalright V-1 Ultra

[Capt Caveman]

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=537

 

[Arkane13131]

The report given by them I find inconsistent with other reports around the web. One site gave the accelro a terrible review when compaired with the VF900. Another site claimed the VF900 was only 1C warmer than the same 6800gt with a V-1ultra. Also if you hunt around... I have yet to find another review of the VF900 that put it at only a 1C difference from the VF700.

When it comes to temperature and cooling... it is very situational. I prefer something that cools the ram on my card so the V-1ultra didn't seem appealing.

I also wanted something quiet and reliable.

So personally I purchased the VF900 as it doesn't take much space...it is quiet...it cools very well.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Arkane13131
The report given by them I find inconsistent with other reports around the web. One site gave the accelro a terrible review when compaired with the VF900. Another site claimed the VF900 was only 1C warmer than the same 6800gt with a V-1ultra. Also if you hunt around... I have yet to find another review of the VF900 that put it at only a 1C difference from the VF700.

When it comes to temperature and cooling... it is very situational. I prefer something that cools the ram on my card so the V-1ultra didn't seem appealing.

I also wanted something quiet and reliable.

So personally I purchased the VF900 as it doesn't take much space...it is quiet...it cools very well.

The thing that I find interesting about the review is that in a closed case scenario, all the coolers performed about the same (stock actually wins). Yet, in their conclusion Legionhardware recommends the V-1 Ultra as the "ultimate performing air-cooled heatsink"...

I actually just ordered a VF900 myself. Generally, I have preferred the coolers that exhaust the hot air out the back because Lian-Li v1200 isn't the best case for video card cooling. However, I just installed an EX-34A, and I think this will provide me with the extra airflow I need.

 

[Arkane13131]

I have a thermaltake tsunami dream case. it has 2 120mm fans 1 infront bottom one in back by the cpu and an 80mm on the side. I find the card slots to be a dead spot so Im getting a....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835888602

small exhaust fan to lower overall case temps and just keep the airflow moving. I dont mind giving up 1 PCI slot as currently I have enough room for the VF900 and 3 extra unused PCI slots. will mount the blower as low as i can without the sound card coming between the fan and the videocard. heh 10$ shipped... if it works...great! if it doesnt... damn..thats like 500 paintballs. ; ;

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Arkane13131
I have a thermaltake tsunami dream case. it has 2 120mm fans 1 infront bottom one in back by the cpu and an 80mm on the side. I find the card slots to be a dead spot so Im getting a....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835888602

small exhaust fan to lower overall case temps and just keep the airflow moving. I dont mind giving up 1 PCI slot as currently I have enough room for the VF900 and 3 extra unused PCI slots. will mount the blower as low as i can without the sound card coming between the fan and the videocard. heh 10$ shipped... if it works...great! if it doesnt... damn..thats like 500 paintballs. ; ;

I actually have the "Plus" version of the V1200, and it comes with a squirrelcage type fan that is next to the video cards. It works ok, but I think my case was lacking air intake. The ex-34A breaks up the look of v1200 a little bit and cost me an optical drive bay, but it seems to fix that problem. Lian-Li builds a very high quality case, but I'm honestly not as wowed by it as all the reviewers were that I read before I bought it. NV5 Silencers were pretty much a necessity when I was running dual 7800GTXes because of the lack of airflow around the video cards.

Edit: we've totally jacked this thread...

 

[Capt Caveman]

FWIW - it's good to know about other cases and their cooling, no thread jack imho.

I'm very much interested in a quieter cooler but so far, I've been very pleased with the cooling of the stock cooler on my HIS X1900XTX. It pushes some serious heat/air outside of the case. And even though, I have 4x120mm fans in my P180 case, I'm reluctant to consider buying one of these aftermarket coolers b/c of my motherboard, I can put my X-Fi card in the slot next to my X1900XTX w/out blocking the fan/airflow w/ the stock cooler.

 

[Arkane13131]

well really if the stock cooler is doing a good job in your case... and you dont need aditional cooling.... awesome.

i just wanted to bump up the cooler potential so I could do the infamous 7900gt volt mod.

(it was a ghetto thread jacking btw lol but atleast its on the subject line of cooling the video card)

 

[Capt Caveman]

Yeah, but I'm trying to find a good reason to go to watercooling. Wish the stock cooler sucked more.

 

[Arkane13131]

LoL
because of voltage limitations and the lifespan of water cooling...i dont advise it >.> its so damn expensive..are you going to insanley overclock this card?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
FWIW - it's good to know about other cases and their cooling, no thread jack imho.

I'm very much interested in a quieter cooler but so far, I've been very pleased with the cooling of the stock cooler on my HIS X1900XTX. It pushes some serious heat/air outside of the case. And even though, I have 4x120mm fans in my P180 case, I'm reluctant to consider buying one of these aftermarket coolers b/c of my motherboard, I can put my X-Fi card in the slot next to my X1900XTX w/out blocking the fan/airflow w/ the stock cooler.

The stock cooler isn't a poor performer IMO, it certainly does the job. It's just kind of loud, and the constant RPM fluctuations make it more distracting becasue of the pitch variations. As soon as you get immersed into the game, "WWWWAAHHHHHRRRR!", the fan kicks in to remind you that you're just geek in front of your computer instead of a fearless warrior in the land of Cyrodiil. Other than that, the X1900XTX rocks.

I agree with you about knowing about other people's cases. I like to know what kind of results people are getting with different hardware. I've also noticed too many review sites leaving the case out of the specs when testing gpu coolers or simply testing on an open bench. Don't they realize that the environment has a big impact on the results?

 

[Bullhonkie]

Originally posted by: nitromullet
"WWWWAAHHHHHRRRR!", the fan kicks in to remind you that you're just geek in front of your computer instead of a fearless warrior in the land of Cyrodiil.

:laugh:

I agree with you about knowing about other people's cases. I like to know what kind of results people are getting with different hardware. I've also noticed too many review sites leaving the case out of the specs when testing gpu coolers or simply testing on an open bench. Don't they realize that the environment has a big impact on the results?

Even something as simple as taping up the vent holes on the rear of my P180 by the expansion slots resulted in my 7900GT load temps climbing by 4C.

 

[NoDamage]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

The thing that I find interesting about the review is that in a closed case scenario, all the coolers performed about the same (stock actually wins). Yet, in their conclusion Legionhardware recommends the V-1 Ultra as the "ultimate performing air-cooled heatsink"...

The case graph is referring to the case temps with each of the coolers installed, and the CPU graph refers to the CPU temps. The video card temps at the top are already in a closed case. Obviously the case/CPU temps are going to be a bit higher with the Accelero and V-1 Ultra due to their design.

 

[the Chase]

Did anyone catch the fan speeds that each card was run at for the load tests?

 

[Barkotron]

Originally posted by: the Chase
Did anyone catch the fan speeds that each card was run at for the load tests?

Doesn't seem to be listed, does it?

I use the V1-Ultra on an X1900XT @670/790 (today, at least ) in an Antec P180 with the rear vent thing taped up and the fans on everything controlled with the Zalman 6-channel thing.

For desktop stuff at idle, the fan at its lowest speed (no idea what it is, but 5V is the lowest level on the controller) is very, very quiet, to the point where the loudest thing in my system was the buzz from my old CRT (thankfully replaced now) and keeps the core between about 48C and 53C, depending on how hot the day is, whether the heating is on etc. If I turn up the fans, it's noisy, but nowhere near as loud or obnoxious as the stock cooler - with everything on full, temps are mid-70s after a couple of hours of Oblivion. It's possible to pull back a bit on the fan speed and reduce noise further and sacrifice slightly higher temps, but mid-80s shouldn't be a problem for the card.

Case temps haven't really gone up noticeably - the fan on the top of the v1-Ultra is set to suck through the heatsink by default, as is only sensible, and this means that air coming off the sink goes straight into the path of the rear 120mm exhaust fan and doesn't get the chance to hang around the back.

The only thing I don't like about it on this card is the lack of cooling the voltage regulators get. Before I did anything with them, I was seeing temps over 110C on them! I stuck on a bunch of the Zalman ramsinks and upped the speed of the case intake fan, and this has made a massive difference under load - mid-80s tops, and I've seen 91C once one evening when my fiancee decided it would be a good plan to turn the house into some kind of sauna. I'd say if I added a low-power exhaust in the slot below, it would make a lot of difference (and if anyone knows of a pci-slot-backplate exhaust thing which can be run off of a 3-pin fan header, please let me know) - at the moment there's kind of a big "dead" area under the card which I feel probably needs to be addressed before I'm totally happy with the machine.