Impressed with passive cooling

tren001

Member
Feb 6, 2005
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I just built a new computer centered around an i5 Haswell CPU. For the GPU, I was trying to grab the fast disappearing Radeon 7870s and ended up with an on sale XFX 2 Gb model, which works fine but the reviews for this card sure weren't kidding when they reported a loud fan. Any slight load on the GPU (say an ancient game like Half-life source) will turn the fan speed up to 100% and it sounds like a small leaf blower is going off under my desk.

So I decided to install aftermarket cooling, and ended up buying an Arctic Accelero S1 Plus passive cooling, since the whole reason for all of this is the loud active cooling on the stock board. I was kind of worried about how effective a passive cooler is going to be, so I went for the full shebang and got some pure copper VRAM heat sinks as well as the Arctic "turbo module" (basically a low noise 1000 rpm fan you strap to the passive cooler).

It was fairly easy to install, even for a total novice like me. I just disassembled the stock cooler, unplugged it from the card, cleaned the thermal paste off, and screwed the passive cooler on.

I was fairly impressed with the results:

Stock cooler:
Idle: 37C
Half-life (40% GPU load): 50C (with the fan on full blast leaf blower mode)
Furmark (100% GPU load): I stopped the test after about a minute at 65C and the temps still going up with no sign of plateau

New cooler:
Idle: 29C
Half-life (40% GPU load): 40C (fan is always on, but basically silent)
Furmark (!00% GPU load): plateaued at 59C over a 15 minute test

I guess I don't have a "pure" passive cooler, since I did 3 extra things to the stock Arctic cooler:

1. added the "turbo" fan (which is basically silent) - $10 extra
2. chucked the aluminum VRAM heat sinks and replaced them with copper ones - $17 extra
3. I also pried off the plastic cover surrounding the cooler in an effort to aid heat dissipation

So I wonder why there aren't more passive coolers on the market. It seems to achieve the same results with a much simpler design. If you're card is not too hot in the first place, go pure passive ... or choose to add a low noise fan to further help heat dissipation.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my results. It did, however, turn my $140 graphic card into a $200 card with all the money I spent on the cooler, but I had fun tinkering with it this evening, so it was all worth it in the end!
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
1,448
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I just built a new computer centered around an i5 Haswell CPU. For the GPU, I was trying to grab the fast disappearing Radeon 7870s and ended up with an on sale XFX 2 Gb model, which works fine but the reviews for this card sure weren't kidding when they reported a loud fan. Any slight load on the GPU (say an ancient game like Half-life source) will turn the fan speed up to 100% and it sounds like a small leaf blower is going off under my desk.

So I decided to install aftermarket cooling, and ended up buying an Arctic Accelero S1 Plus passive cooling, since the whole reason for all of this is the loud active cooling on the stock board. I was kind of worried about how effective a passive cooler is going to be, so I went for the full shebang and got some pure copper VRAM heat sinks as well as the Arctic "turbo module" (basically a low noise 1000 rpm fan you strap to the passive cooler).

It was fairly easy to install, even for a total novice like me. I just disassembled the stock cooler, unplugged it from the card, cleaned the thermal paste off, and screwed the passive cooler on.

I was fairly impressed with the results:

Stock cooler:
Idle: 37C
Half-life (40% GPU load): 50C (with the fan on full blast leaf blower mode)
Furmark (100% GPU load): I stopped the test after about a minute at 65C and the temps still going up with no sign of plateau

New cooler:
Idle: 29C
Half-life (40% GPU load): 40C (fan is always on, but basically silent)
Furmark (!00% GPU load): plateaued at 59C over a 15 minute test

I guess I don't have a "pure" passive cooler, since I did 3 extra things to the stock Arctic cooler:

1. added the "turbo" fan (which is basically silent) - $10 extra
2. chucked the aluminum VRAM heat sinks and replaced them with copper ones - $17 extra
3. I also pried off the plastic cover surrounding the cooler in an effort to aid heat dissipation

So I wonder why there aren't more passive coolers on the market. It seems to achieve the same results with a much simpler design. If you're card is not too hot in the first place, go pure passive ... or choose to add a low noise fan to further help heat dissipation.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with my results. It did, however, turn my $140 graphic card into a $200 card with all the money I spent on the cooler, but I had fun tinkering with it this evening, so it was all worth it in the end!

There had been several heatpipe coolers developed over a few generations since the GeForce FX 5XXX and comparable Radeon cards. I had put a ThermalRight model on my 8800 GTX card. For that unit I'd built a motherboard duct which added a Zalman "OP-1" fan to the intake that covered the front of the NVidia card. The duct covered both the VGA dn CPU cooler -- the TRUE 120. I think the load temperatures for the 8800 never reached 50C in load testing.

If you replace the VRAM heatsinks, though, it's important to be sure of the thermal adhesive for the replacements. I had one of the replacement heatsinks come loose on a card, and found it hanging precariously over a disk controller card I'd installed . . . :oops:
 

tren001

Member
Feb 6, 2005
186
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There had been several heatpipe coolers developed over a few generations since the GeForce FX 5XXX and comparable Radeon cards. I had put a ThermalRight model on my 8800 GTX card. For that unit I'd built a motherboard duct which added a Zalman "OP-1" fan to the intake that covered the front of the NVidia card. The duct covered both the VGA dn CPU cooler -- the TRUE 120. I think the load temperatures for the 8800 never reached 50C in load testing.

If you replace the VRAM heatsinks, though, it's important to be sure of the thermal adhesive for the replacements. I had one of the replacement heatsinks come loose on a card, and found it hanging precariously over a disk controller card I'd installed . . . :oops:

Well those forged copper $17 Enzotech heatsinks came with 3M thermal adhesive so I think they should be nice and secure, particularly after the VRAM gets a bit of heat in them after turning the computer on. Possibly wasted some money as I could have just used the aluminum heatsinks which came with the Arctic cooler, but they do look much cooler!

In terms of passive cooling overall, I just wonder why at least half the products on the market isn't passive based. A passive cooler is both quieter, and safer too, since there's no moving parts. Even if the fan I've strapped to the cooler breaks, it will still function moderately well, whereas the fan based coolers will become completely useless if the fan quits.
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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GPU fan noise is the reason I bought a watercooling kit to begin with and why I continue to have one. A desire for top end graphics and open headphones and quiet when working led me to watercooling and I have been using it for years now. Slow fans on large areas of metal are better than space constrained blower coolers, both in terms of actual temperature achieved and in terms of noise.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
1,448
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GPU fan noise is the reason I bought a watercooling kit to begin with and why I continue to have one. A desire for top end graphics and open headphones and quiet when working led me to watercooling and I have been using it for years now. Slow fans on large areas of metal are better than space constrained blower coolers, both in terms of actual temperature achieved and in terms of noise.

I won't totally disagree, but it depends on strategy and application. People here had recently cited pump-and-fan noise as a water-cooling irritant.

Now that we're in this "water-vs-air" debate again, I started looking into "parts-availability" for a large bong cooler. You can actually get "clear" see-through PVC pipe. But the widest diameter is 6". I was trying to imagine 8". . . . OF course, I saw where somebody just hooked up their water-loop to a water-cooler like this one:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_476072-8615...RL=?Ns=p_product_qty_sales_dollar|1&facetInfo=

"Wow, Watson! Your computer . . . so fast! Such low load temperatures!"

"Great, isn't it? You must be thirsty . . . Wanna drink?"
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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Some pumps are noisy if you don't isolate them from the case, but typically its a simple matter of a foam pad to attach the pump too and its silent. The fan noise is just a factor of radiator space and design. You want thick radiators with high fins per inch and combine it with low speed fans, fans that do not make mechanical noise when undervolted. I can run my fans down to about 500rpm and at that point the nosiest thing in my case is hard drive and the PSU. Even at 800rpm that compete about evenly with the PSU, which itself is a very quiet high quality model.

I personally think its the main reason to go water cooling, you don't need to compromise with a 7870 mid range card to get a quiet system, you can have 2x 680s and have no appreciable noise at all. Costs more obviously, takes a lot longer to upgrade and repair but its basically silent.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
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Some pumps are noisy if you don't isolate them from the case, but typically its a simple matter of a foam pad to attach the pump too and its silent. The fan noise is just a factor of radiator space and design. You want thick radiators with high fins per inch and combine it with low speed fans, fans that do not make mechanical noise when undervolted. I can run my fans down to about 500rpm and at that point the nosiest thing in my case is hard drive and the PSU. Even at 800rpm that compete about evenly with the PSU, which itself is a very quiet high quality model.

I personally think its the main reason to go water cooling, you don't need to compromise with a 7870 mid range card to get a quiet system, you can have 2x 680s and have no appreciable noise at all. Costs more obviously, takes a lot longer to upgrade and repair but its basically silent.

If there's wisdom and experience to what you say, then some people aren't making optimal choices in their water configuration. The AiO coolers like the Nepton or H100 also leave you stuck with fan options, or so it would seem. And obviously, if you can use rubber mounts or noise-deadening pads like Spire, you can make a pump as quiet as any fan with that approach.

The AiO coolers have found a niche. There are the "curious veterans," and then people who want to avoid picking the parts and putting together their blocks, rads, reservoirs and pump. What seems to be obvious there, is in opting "in" to AiO and opting "out" of custom-water, you get lower quality pumps and limited cooling results -- probably designed to just slightly exceed the best air-cooling options.
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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The problem I have with the AIO's is that they perform about the same as high end air typically. This is for a couple of reasons. The first is that the pump above the CPU block is quite suboptimal placement. It results in a lot of vibrations being directly transferred into the CPU/motherboard and this is a recipe for a lot of noise. The second is that the radiators tend to be thin, too few slots for what they are cooling and the result is the need for high speed fans making them loud.

I have about 100 people who have based the spec of their water cooling on the basis of my formula and it works for a variety of circumstances. I think many people underestimate how quiet a computer gets with cooling really designed to minimise noise.
 

BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
1,448
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The problem I have with the AIO's is that they perform about the same as high end air typically. This is for a couple of reasons. The first is that the pump above the CPU block is quite suboptimal placement. It results in a lot of vibrations being directly transferred into the CPU/motherboard and this is a recipe for a lot of noise. The second is that the radiators tend to be thin, too few slots for what they are cooling and the result is the need for high speed fans making them loud.

I have about 100 people who have based the spec of their water cooling on the basis of my formula and it works for a variety of circumstances. I think many people underestimate how quiet a computer gets with cooling really designed to minimise noise.

No argument there. It really boils down to what limitations you will accept to your overclocks and tweaks. You may want to live with 70C under load and air-cooling. You won't do much better with the AiO's. With custom-water, there's still going to be a "delta" between ambient and load temperatures, and I'm not sure what the ultimate expected result would be. I thought a few years back to you could expect as much as 20C lower than the air-coolers of THAT time. But even that has changed. I wouldn't know for sure . .
 
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Nov 26, 2005
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Congrats on the venture with your GPU. I'm putting up with my GTX 670 until I upgrade. Then I'll look at the DCII coolers. I am more concerned about idle silence than cooling it under load @ 60-% fan speed. I can hear the electrical whirr of the GPU fan at idle.

I use to run a liquid cooled rig but once the silence became loud the faintest of noises became noisy. I think the pump was a MC355. That was the noisiest part of the loop. The venture was fun. I cut out my own 4.5" holes from an Aluminum case. Modified areas for tubing. The best thing about it now when I look back was the customizing of the case to accomadate the loop. That's the thrill of it all, the customizing part. The case I used was a Lian Li v2000B er something.. I still have it. I used it during the York-Field era.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
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I use passive cooling on HTPCs, and I like it quite a bit. The only negative aspect is that the cases are EXPENSIVE. However, while I used Streacom in the past, I stumbled upon HD-PLEX today, and they look quite nice! They're still about as expensive as Streacom, but at least the shipping is free? They also offer better out-of-the-box motherboard compatibility. It looks like the only thing that breaks compatibility on their small case is those Mini-ITX boards with vertically-mounted daughter cards (e.g. ASUS's power module).

GPU fan noise is the reason I bought a watercooling kit to begin with and why I continue to have one. A desire for top end graphics and open headphones and quiet when working led me to watercooling and I have been using it for years now. Slow fans on large areas of metal are better than space constrained blower coolers, both in terms of actual temperature achieved and in terms of noise.

I didn't spend as much time with water cooling as some, but having an effective air cooling setup has produced fairly similar results noise-wise. The only problem is that wording... "effective air cooling setup". Most cases that I've encountered don't really provide that much fresh air to the GPU (e.g. side fan mounts), which tends to need it the most during heavier workloads. What I need is a Corsair 550D that's about the size of a Corsair 800D!

However, when it comes to things like multi-GPU setups, water cooling really starts to shine. The usual recommendation there is to use the louder blower-style coolers (typically seen on reference) since they dump the hot air outside the case rather than onto (potentially) another graphics card.

The biggest thing that bugged me about water cooling was that any small change could easily become a huge ordeal. You can sort of resolve this by using a lot of quick disconnects in your system, which reduces the need to drain all the time. However, quick disconnects aren't a cheap solution as they cost around $20-25 per pair, and they're also considerably longer. There was no way that I could fit a quick disconnect in between my CPU and the top radiator!
 

BrightCandle

Diamond Member
Mar 15, 2007
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I have never really got on with quick disconnects. I used them in one build but practically it isn't really possible to separate the components using them so you end up only really separating the components from the rest of the setup. That allows you to replace the motherboard, CPU and GPUs but you still need to get the components with waterblocks and run water through them. You can get a similar like effect just by having a drain line below the components so that much of the water is drained out but not all of it. I learnt the hard way how necessary a drain line is, its not essential to have it right at the bottom, but below the components makes it a lot easier to start to dismantle.

There are two big downsides to watercooling, cost and time. Each GPU costs you like $80 more because of the waterblock not to mention all the other costs, my loop is nearly the price of a mid range PC in all (although I do get to reuse much of it across systems). The second one is time, this current machine took about 2 weeks to build in all, much of which was trying to find the right types of screws, but even now I have two failed fans on a radiator and I loathe fixing the problem because it all has to come out and it will take a whole day to do it, so I turn up the speed on the other fans to compensate until I can be bothered to deal with it. Its no small task to maintain a water setup like this.

But the silence is lovely. My loop is so quiet that removing the hard drive noticably dropped the noise from the case, the water loop is almost completely silent and all the noise comes from the PSU and drives. An SSD really helped reduce the noise level. There isn't a high end GPU that can remotely compete with that noise level, they all run at more like 2000 rpm fan speeds instead of 500rpm.
 

aigomorla

CPU, Cases&Cooling Mod PC Gaming Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 28, 2005
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GPU fan noise is the reason I bought a watercooling kit to begin with and why I continue to have one. A desire for top end graphics and open headphones and quiet when working led me to watercooling and I have been using it for years now. Slow fans on large areas of metal are better than space constrained blower coolers, both in terms of actual temperature achieved and in terms of noise.

also air has yet to reduce your load temps by HALF which water does.

you forgot to mention that BIG reduction. :whiste:

I thought a few years back to you could expect as much as 20C lower than the air-coolers of THAT time. But even that has changed. I wouldn't know for sure . .

its now 50% reduction and nearly 3x more life at overclocked settings.
Full cover blocks cool the mosfets ram pcb...core.... it keeps the ENTIRE card in check.
Reductions in temps are typically always HALF... meaning if ur gpu is loading up at 80C... it will drop it to 40C.
Most people on water are voltage limited... not heat limited... which is why were always looking for that program where we can spike up our voltage to get the most out of the overclock.
And still extend the life on the card by 3x had it been on Air and on stock settings.
 
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BonzaiDuck

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
15,699
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126
also air has yet to reduce your load temps by HALF which water does.

you forgot to mention that BIG reduction. :whiste:



its now 50% reduction and nearly 3x more life at overclocked settings.
Full cover blocks cool the mosfets ram pcb...core.... it keeps the ENTIRE card in check.
Reductions in temps are typically always HALF... meaning if ur gpu is loading up at 80C... it will drop it to 40C.
Most people on water are voltage limited... not heat limited... which is why were always looking for that program where we can spike up our voltage to get the most out of the overclock.
And still extend the life on the card by 3x had it been on Air and on stock settings.

Now we're talking about "insurance" -- very relevant, depending on what you want to do with the system. People will still say such a factor balances against maintenance, possible pump-failure and other things. At least, these were some of the issues a lot of air-cooling aficionados raised here recently.

By the way. Do they still make solid-silver water-blocks? You wonder . . if Intel's i7-4960X sells at $1,000-something, why don't they just chuck the copper heatspreader, spend $25 on commemorative silver dollars, and stamp their IHS's from them?