HD 7850 Asus DirectCU II vs Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo II

[MisterMac]

...so i caved since i realized my bank account wasn't as healthy as previously thought and decided not to wait for gtx 670 and just go ahead with a 7850 direct cu II.


It shall be arriving today and be picked up by me after work (5 hours and counting....).


Now, my friend has a spare Arctic Cooling Twin Turbo II.


What would be best for OC'ing - the asus directcu or the twinturbo?


I will be aiming for 1300 ala don karnage - in newly build very heavy fanned Raven 03 case... so fingers crossed.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

IMO No custom cooler even comes close to a proper Arctic Cooling setup. Though with some manufacturers voids warranty, but if you go with the right manufacturer, arctic will beat any custom cooler in both noise and temps.

With my current high oc of 7970, I am yet to ever touch 60C full load gaming with my arctic, mostly mid 50s+- full gaming load.

VRM temps do near 100C or so though, even more than that often.

But 1300 isn't a sure shot thing for any card anyway.
It may or may not happen depending on your card.

 

[MisterMac]

however thats with the triple fan version i assume ?
this would be the dual one only...

Core temps is impressive, but aren't VRMs damaged from 100C?
That sounds kind of bad.

geuss ill test it once i get



also aiming is not "i'm going to period" aak, you should know

 

[Don Karnage]

All depends on the core. Some will do 1300. Some won't

1200 is pretty guaranteed

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Vrms don't get damaged by 100c unlike core. Unless you plan to use for a few years aka 1.5+ years I guess

 

[MisterMac]

Id hope it lasts me atleast that, since i plan on CF after new years.

so 100c is definately horribad i take it then.

My cards should last me longer than one tick\tock.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

100C is on the higher side but not all that high. 100C on VRMs is like 90C on fermi core, doable and acceptable but not desirable.

And your cooling and ambient temps make a difference of about a max of up to 20-25C, so my 100 might mean sub 90 for you which would mean mostly sub 85 for you which is ideal.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

IMO No custom cooler even comes close to a proper Arctic Cooling setup. Though with some manufacturers voids warranty, but if you go with the right manufacturer, arctic will beat any custom cooler in both noise and temps.

With my current high oc of 7970, I am yet to ever touch 60C full load gaming with my arctic, mostly mid 50s+- full gaming load.

VRM temps do near 100C or so though, even more than that often.

But 1300 isn't a sure shot thing for any card anyway.
It may or may not happen depending on your card.

I'd take a direct cu over a artic cooling. Artic coolers are nice but lack proper vrm and memory cooling. Sure you get the little aluminum glue on pieces but I'd take a factory vrm and memory cooler anyway. And the direct 2 is nearly as good on temps/noise and improved vrm/mem cooling

 

[aaksheytalwar]

I read online that Asus direct cu ii 7970s were getting 100+c vrm temps as well

 

[MrTeal]

The coolers themselves are great, but the VRM sinks are kind of cursed by having to be usable on so many different cards. Sometimes just leaving the stock VRM cooler on and using the AC is a better solution.

However, in this case it looks like there are no heatsinks on the VRMs and that they just multiple lower power fets in the GPU power supply. If that's the case, even the ones that come bundled with the AC TT2 will be an improvement.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

There is nothing as a stock VRM cooler. If go with AC you need those heatsinks, there is no other option. You will know if you use AC once. The stock cooling is just the total block, to install AC that block needs to be removed.

 

[Concillian]

I'd take a direct cu over a artic cooling. Artic coolers are nice but lack proper vrm and memory cooling. Sure you get the little aluminum glue on pieces but I'd take a factory vrm and memory cooler anyway. And the direct 2 is nearly as good on temps/noise and improved vrm/mem cooling

As an owner of the ASUS DCII 7850, I can tell you there is nothing cooling the VRMs or memory outside of whatever air "runoff" comes from the main heatsink. The VRMs themselves are bare, no heatsink. The fan is also not directly over the VRMs, but the AC cooler DOES have fans directly over the VRMs.

The AC will do a better job with the VRMs, but my stock HSF seems to do a fine job at 1250ish, but will be using an AC setup just for better VRM cooling and for being even quieter. You'll likely hit the powertune limit by 1300, but 1200+ should be quite doable.

 

[blastingcap]

After a certain point air cooling gets so pricey you might as well go with the stock cooler for the directcuII or sapphire OC or some other good cooler for cheaper, or just suck it up and go water.