Beneficial to replace cooler on Sapphire 7970 GHz edition?

[balane]

My card;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202001

Honestly, this cooler is just too loud for me. I play any game and the thing sounds like a hair dryer. I make a fan profile in Afterburner but then it gets hot and the sound levels are borderline bearable.

I would like to try a better cooler on my card but I really don't know if it would be an upgrade or just marketing hype. Has anybody used it? I definitely want lower noise primarily but increased cooling would be a real boon as well.

This is the cooler I'm looking at;

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835186064

I want to stick with an air cooler.

Thanks.

 

[Jovec]

Since you are talking about replacing the cooler yourself, I would first remove your current stock cooler then clean and replace the TIM. I got a 10C+ reduction on custom Sapphire 7950 by doing this.

 

[balane]

Excellent idea, I have some Gelid GC Extreme on hand. I'll give that a try first. I assume that by lowering the temps with TIM I can even further reduce fan speeds in Afterburner thus yielding my desired result. Thanks for the tip, I didn't know it could make that large a difference.

I would still like to hear opinions on that cooler over the Sapphire one however.

 

[spat55]

Well the cooler should be fine, mine makes an annoying clicking noise sometimes, but I can get past that. Have you blown it with compressed air? That would be the first thing to do, then if it is still to loud then put some new thermal paste on it like Jovec just suggested. If those don't do the job and it is still to annoying then go for a new cooler, but just remember it might void your warranty...

 

[RussianSensation]

Something is definitely amiss. My cards are quiet even at 1150mhz overclock and the GPU temps do not exceed 80*C. How is your case airflow?

 

[raghu78]

OP no point in spending so much for a cooler. if the TIM reduces temps stay with the vapor-x. otherwise sell the card and get a HD 7970 with a better cooler .

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161412

The iceq x2 cooler is good. but the card is massive at 311 mm long. keeps temps around 60c. this card comes at 925 mhz, but 1100 - 1150 mhz is a fairly easy OC. especially with voltage tweaking

http://www.legionhardware.com/artic...z_edition_7950_iceq_xsup2_boost_clock,12.html
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[balane]

Something is definitely amiss. My cards are quiet even at 1150mhz overclock and the GPU temps do not exceed 80*C. How is your case airflow?

Case flow is really good. I have 3 x 200mm fans and a 120mm fan, never had any problem with any card before. You can really hear this card ramp up when I start playing a game. I've heard others state this card can get loud so I don't believe it's just mine. The card is only a few weeks old and it was loud from the get-go. There's no dust on it.

I'll try the TIM change and keep my fingers crossed for now.

Nobody is using the Accelero eh?

 

[balane]

Update: Replaced the original TIM with the Gelid and temps dropped 6 to 8 degrees Celsius immediately. This was just enough to keep the fans from ramping up the curve of my fan profile. Temps stay in the mid 60's now, things are quiet and I'm happy with it.

 

[raghu78]

Update: Replaced the original TIM with the Gelid and temps dropped 6 to 8 degrees Celsius immediately. This was just enough to keep the fans from ramping up the curve of my fan profile. Temps stay in the mid 60's now, things are quiet and I'm happy with it.

good. see if you can improve case airflow and cooling. those are very important in keeping low ambient temps which affect chip temps.

 

[peonyu]

Excellent idea, I have some Gelid GC Extreme on hand. I'll give that a try first. I assume that by lowering the temps with TIM I can even further reduce fan speeds in Afterburner thus yielding my desired result. Thanks for the tip, I didn't know it could make that large a difference.

I would still like to hear opinions on that cooler over the Sapphire one however.

I have this cooler and my card [Vanilla Radeon 7970] is at 1200mhz / 1.18v, temps never go above 75c and the cooler hardly makes any noise. Not a bad buy for $50.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835426031


I had the Accelero on a older card and its awesome, but overkill imo. Also the size of the thing is something to consider, if you dont have plenty of room in your case you will have to cram it in there..

 

[balane]

I have this cooler and my card [Vanilla Radeon 7970] is at 1200mhz / 1.18v, temps never go above 75c and the cooler hardly makes any noise. Not a bad buy for $50.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835426031


I had the Accelero on a older card and its awesome, but overkill imo. Also the size of the thing is something to consider, if you dont have plenty of room in your case you will have to cram it in there..

Well then, perhaps I was overreacting with my card. My temps were in the lowish 70's before (With the fans loud.) and I wasn't comfortable with it. Now I have it in the upper-mid 60's under load and it's decently quiet. Maybe I could have adjusted my fan curves some more and let it run warmer. I'm glad I replaced the compound though because I'm content with the current balance of fan noise and temperatures.

I guess I'm not entirely certain what the safe range for today's GPU's are.

 

[RussianSensation]

Well then, perhaps I was overreacting with my card. My temps were in the lowish 70's before (With the fans loud.) and I wasn't comfortable with it. Now I have it in the upper-mid 60's under load and it's decently quiet. Maybe I could have adjusted my fan curves some more and let it run warmer. I'm glad I replaced the compound though because I'm content with the current balance of fan noise and temperatures.

I guess I'm not entirely certain what the safe range for today's GPU's are.

The VRMs can rock on at 100-110*C for years. The GPU is safe at 85*C without problems 24/7 99% load for years. Most of the time now what fails on a videocard are the fan bearings. Most GPUs today should be rates at 95-105*C.

 

[Stuka87]

The VRMs can rock on at 100-110*C for years. The GPU is safe at 85*C without problems 24/7 99% load for years. Most of the time now what fails on a videocard are the fan bearings. Most GPUs today should be rates at 95-105*C.

That or electrolytic caps. Once they dry up all sorts of things go wonky. But they are used less and less these days.

 

[railven]

A little late for this thread, but I have a Reference Sapphy 7970 that I replaced the stock cooler with that Accelero (course I got a great deal for it) and I'd definitely recommend it as a cooler. Highest OC I ever got my 7970 was to 1265/1600 @ 1.225v/1.6v and the cooler was dead silent @ 100%, temps never broke 65C in that setup.

My second card is a Sapphy 7970 Dual-X (I was kicking myself afterwards for not just buying the Vapor-X. I believe both the Dual-X and Vapor-X have the same fan assembly, just different heatsinks.

My Dual-X @ 25% is louder than all my case fans. This is why I use my Dual-X as my slave with ZeroCool so I never hear it during normal PC use and during gaming my speakers/headphones will drown it out.

I also re-TIM'd and dropped about 5-6C, but I only had AS5 on hand.

 

[Mushkins]

Sapphire cards were my go-to brand since the Geforce 5600 days. Unfortunately their coolers have always been pretty loud compared to the competition :/