The 5800 series aftermarket cooling thread.

[bradyapba]

well, its only noisy when you push it, but we are just pushing the 4850's to get to 5870 stats. If you dont OC and try to push the fan past 40%, its pretty quiet. I dont think i would want to pay much more than the $38 i paid for the TTP. Otherwise, I could of just bought the 70

 

[The Sauce]

Don't OC? Don't push the fan? What? I never even considered that could happen. I am quite incapable of leaving well enough alone, you see.

 

[bradyapba]

good luck to you, let us know what you do!

 

[eklock2000]

If you plan on crossfire, also be aware that some of these coolers will block the bridge connector. I loved my musashi for GPU temps, but it dumped a lot of heat into the case!

EK2K

 

[The Sauce]

Well I used some of my Bing cashback stockpile and bought the Rad2 GTX and an R3. No plan on Crossfire. I'm a single-card kinda guy.

 

[bradyapba]

did you get the rad2 with or without fans? Are you thinking of trying it with the stock VRM cooling 1st?

 

[The Sauce]

The GTX comes with 2 92x25 fans. The R3 is the VRM cooler.

 

[bradyapba]

I know the r3 is the VRM cooler. But you dont have to use it. You can install the GTX with the stock plate. If it was me i would try the GTX with the stock plate. My guess is it is going to cool the stock plate pretty well. At would at least be interesting to see a comparsion, with the stock plate, and then with the r3. Im gonna guess there wont be a signifigant difference, and the r3 isnt needed.


There are 2 versions of the GTX. One with 2 92 fans, and one without, so you can put your own fans on it... becuase you can also put 1 120mm on it if you wish, so for those people, you can buy it without fans.

 

[konakona]

just curious, how are the baseplates attached to ram modules and VRMS, some kind of thermally conductive foam tape I suppose? I don't have a 5850 just yet tho

 

[bradyapba]

well they are attached with screws but there is thermal pads between the baseplate and the ram.... ill posts pics in a little bit, i just put my twin turbo pro on this evening

 

[konakona]

thx, I was wondering if applying aftermarket TIM would help a bit, but from the looks of it maybe not (screws eh?)

 

[bradyapba]

i do not think so, too much of a gap for TIM.

 

[bradyapba]

heres where you can see the pads, and how the plate screws into the board.

 

[konakona]

thx again, much appreciated. This will come in handy when I finally get a 5850 for myself

 

[bradyapba]

heres the whole kit and kaboodle!

Heres our victim is: A power Color 5850


Heres the back, where i have to remove the screws to seperate the the board from the reference cooler.

Here you can see i need to remove about 8 screws(more on that in a minute), so I can seperate that black metal plate from the rest of the junk, so i can reinstall it.

Heres everything separated (and if you notice on the bottom piece, i broke it, 2 screws would not come out, and the plastic actually broke as i was trying to get them out! This cooler better work now! ) Its only a $300 video card, no biggie

heres the back plate, reinstalled.(the part i wasnt sure would work)

screws back in!

View from the bottom. As you can see on the right, some of the fins hit the DVI port, I have to cut/bend about 11 of them to get it to fit)

close up of the bottom (so you can see how close it sits to the base)

view from the top, so you can see the clearance for the heat pipes.

finally, installed!!!

itrs running like a champ.

If you remember i cant run the reference fan past 40% because it sounds like a jet engine. This cooler, I can run at 100, and you cant hear it at all! Its silent!

Now on to the quick stats:

Reference coolerfan 40%)

stock is 725/1000 Volts 1.08

I stopped at 850/1170 temps GPU/MEM were 62C/71C (100% load)thats about as comfortable as i was willing to get. Volts 1.175

With the Turbo Pro temps went to 46C/68C

quick test I OCed to 925/1200 and it was 51c/72c.

loving it. Better cooling on GPU, it keep the Mem as cool (most aftermarket coolers are having a hard time keeping the mem cool without the stock baseplate) as the reference cooler, and silent!

 

[Zebo]

Nice work brady. I just got a 5850 for my bro and he's also complaining about fan noises. Also on CPU when encoding (i7 860) I turned him on to tuniq and TTP thanks to this thread..

 

[bunnyfubbles]

loving it. Better cooling on GPU, it keep the Mem as cool (most aftermarket coolers are having a hard time keeping the mem cool without the stock baseplate) as the reference cooler, and silent!

its not the memory that after market coolers struggle with, its the VRMs

stick-on coolers would be fine for the memory, but they simply won't work well enough for the 5850's VRMs (they're too small and too flush with the board and put out more heat, stick-on heatsinks can't make good enough contact nor dissipate the heat fast enough)

of course the base plate takes care of both, nice work

 

[bradyapba]

you are right, I meant VRM's, i sometimes use them interchangably with memory, and I shouldnt.

 

[bradyapba]

Edit: i forgot to mention. Tighten all the screws well. I was afraid at 1st, and got some crappy temps, when i tightened everything as best I could, temps were great.

 

[MrK6]

Great pics and documentation bradyapba! As long as your temps (especially VRM temps) are still fine, keep pushing the card. I'm curious to see how far it will go.

 

[bradyapba]

yeah the weather has been killing my testing time... im sick of shoveling

its funny because furmark and ati gpu tool, really push the card temps...

but during gaming, gamed for 5 hours at 925/1200, volts 1.2, and the temps never went above 42C on GPU and 52C during COH or borderlands.

So i know im got some more head room on this card, just no time to test yet, but I will!

 

[Dorkenstein]

Was that a hard project? I want to do it to my 5850 when I get it, but I'm a wimp. Is the Twin Turbo the best choice for a cooler?

 

[bradyapba]

Very easy project. I was done in 45 minutes. Would of been a lot faster, but 2 screws were really in there good. Otherwise I would of been done in like 20.

Heres why I think its the best cooler for it.

1. Price, it was only $38, and included 2 fans. Price is unbeatable.
2. Just about silent.
3. The fans plug into the fan header. Not many do that.
4. Fin spacing - and why i think its great for the 5850. You need to get good airflow to the stock plate, to cool those VRMS. A lot of the coolers tightly pack the fins (to better cool the GPU) but that doesnt help the VRMS much. The TTP has good spacing, allowing for better flow to the stock plate.

Thats my my view on it

 

[Dorkenstein]

I'm going to do it also. I am still trying to talk myself out of selling the 5850 when I get it and getting a 5870, but I can't justify it. I'm just so used to buying the best single gpu I can afford.

Hopefully I don't run into any problems with the screws. Which plastic part broke for you? I couldn't see it, but I might have been looking at the wrong picture. Thanks for your guide. I might hit you up with some questions when I get the card and cooler.

 

[bradyapba]

sure ill gladly answer any questions when you get it.. The stock plate screws into plastic shroud that holds the reference cooler.. (the black and red plastic stuff on the outside of the card, holds the fan and gpu cooler to the stock plate. I ended up breaking the 2 spots where the screws were, screwed into the plastic. No biggie, because I was never going to use the shroud again, i guess i might of put the reference cooler back on, but I doubt it.