The Arctic Accelero R9 290X-Xtreme III

[Z15CAM]

Well 118c scared me benching 1200/1600 with the Accellero- The VRM temp never went above 85c with the Stock Screaming Banshee Cooler.

Dismissing the noise the Stk AMD Cooler is great for performance.

I've no clue what the AIB Partner solutions are going to be - Perhaps, AMD may allow Partners to build more efficient DIGI+ VRM Power Phases for the card promoting heat dissipation - Then we are looking a price heights for Silence.

 

[ICDP]

Well 118c scared me benching 1200/1600 with the Accellero- The VRM temp never went above 85c with the Stock Screaming Banshee Cooler.

Dismissing the noise the Stk AMD Cooler is great for performance.

I've no clue what the AIB Partner solutions are going to be - Perhaps, AMD may allow Partners to build more efficient DIGI+ VRM Power Phases for the card promoting heat dissipation - Then we are looking a price heights for Silence.

AIB partner custom cooled cards usually get a base plate that covers the RAM and VRMs.

I did what this guy did with a TFIII 7950 and my VRMs never got above 90 even when overclocked to 1250/1750.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1372912/the-msi-tf3-vrm-project-with-accelero-xtreme-7970

 

[Bateluer]

Yes the steel plate bents if you put an Accelero together right - You don't read that in the instructions or opt to leave the sponge out.

The black cylinders with a paper washer pretty well forces a perfect contact of the Heat-Sink to the GPU - I used the small white cylinders with the paper washers and sand-wedge the sponge under the back plate. The card ended up straight with a fair amount of pressure on the heat-sink.

Thats good to know. Was starting to sweat a bit.

Still, you'll definitely have more headroom with an Accelero despite the VRM cooling. I think the VRMs are rated up to 105C or higher? Although I could be wrong.

I've been reading at Toms and overclockers.net, and they're saying 125C.


I don't intend to OC my 290X, I was just concerned about how the stock cooler would perform when the ambient temperature in my house is 85F. Phoenix summers are brutal.

So far, so good. Retightened the screws this morning and re-affixed the last BCC9 ramsink. Hopefully, the thermal tape holds. I decided not to use the glue for the RAM sinks, only for the VRM sinks. Idle core temp of about 34C. 12 degree drop from the stock cooler. After using my dual monitors for a bit, if climbs to 35C vs the ~70C on the stock cooler.

 

[Z15CAM]

For the Bottom vRam module I snipped off 2 rows of needles and filed it flat in that area so that it fits under Accelero mounting bracket. I find the Accelero Adhesive paste much better then the adhesive tape that comes with the Enzotech BCC9 cooper heat sinks.

For the VRM modules I tried both the EnzoTech MOS C1 and the HS included in the Accelero Kit - Both work good giving same results when it comes to heat dissipation. I also used the Accelero Adhesive Paste to attach them: However. Air HS solution for cooling the VRM's is not very good - A direct contact to the main HS is a much better solution.

As I mentioned before, be careful not to short the Accelero VRM Heast Sink on that protrusion next to the Bottom Right VRM module.

Over all the Accelero Xtreme III Kit is nice light and quiet at 12v but if your into heavy Benching the VRM Temps sky rocket in comparison to the Noisy Stk AMD Cooler.

I've seen the VRM temp hit 118C with the Accelero compared to the AMD Cooler where VRM Temps stay under 90C. Now I'm talking about lots of Voltage and high frequencies. for Example +156vM - 1195-1600 Mhz's Benches.

In my opinion the Arctic Accelero Xtreme III is a great product for the average user and mid range gamer but when it comes to pushing the limits of the R9 it falls short where your better off using the Stk AMD Cooler and live with the noise.

 

[Silverforce11]

All we need are plates like AMDs reference design to cover the ram and vrm, then twin open fans, 92mm low noise, the perfect setup.

 

[RagnarKon]

All we need are plates like AMDs reference design to cover the ram and vrm, then twin open fans, 92mm low noise, the perfect setup.

Exactly.

I was gonna buy the Accelero cooler this past week, but for whatever reason I can no longer find it in stock anywhere. Was kind of surprised since stock levels seemed pretty stable following the R9 release. I'm hoping this means Arctic is coming out with a new revision soon. Or perhaps they will do an R9 290(X) specific cooler sometime in the near future.

Anyway, kind of disappointed by the VRM cooling issues, and somewhat surprised to see they were so much different than what Tom's reported on the R9 290.

It doesn't seem like the Accelero is a bad upgrade by any stretch, but it also doesn't seem like a great upgrade. And if I'm going to be more or less doing a permanent $80-$120 upgrade I want it to be great. Guess I'll just stick with stock cooling for now and deal with the wind-turbine noise.

 

[Z15CAM]

Agree - We need a Accelero that will physically cover vRam and VRM's

Here's is probably the LAST of my take in regards to the present Arctic Accelero Xtreme III performance on the R9 290X

1190/1500 Mhz 67/106 C 1.273v
1190/1500 Mhz 67/106 C 1.273

END BENCH

1190/1500 Mhz 67/93 C 1.102v
1190/1500 Mhz 66/74 C 1.102v

These figures are from the end of a Heaven Bench usng the Accelero III on a R9 290X with + 156mV running at 1190/1500 Mhz logged by GPU-Z.
The Accelero III does and excellent job of cooling the GPU with a Max of 67C but look at the VRM TEMPs 106C.
The Stock AMD Cooler best is arround 88C on the same run for GPU Temp but it contained the VRM temps down to around 68C.
Some of you have noted VRM's can take 125C but from what I see in GPU-Z Log is the card throttling more often when VRM temps go beyond 100C.
NOTE the cards voltage drops from 1.273v to 1.102v at the end of the Bench.
I for one do not like to see any component module go over 90C.
Not saying a respectable 1190/1500 Mhz at +156v offset Clock on air is not to be snubbed but if you want more - the Noisy Stock OEM Cooler will do better.

Lets see what the AIB Partners are going to come up with in regards to Air Cooling solutions - If they ever do - Waiting and Waiting!

For your info my 17 2700K with Corsair H110 with the R9 290X/Accelero platform idles at 36C for the GPU and 38C for the 290X.

 

[3DVagabond]

So, do you need 1.273v to run 1190/1500? Or would it still do it @ 1.102v?

 

[Smartazz]

Does this void the warranty?

 

[3DVagabond]

Does this void the warranty?

Depends on the brand AFAIK Sapphire is the only one to publicly say they won't warranty cards even if you only removed the cooler to replace the TIM. There's no way for them to be able to tell though unless you damage the card doing it.

 

[Silverforce11]

Some of you have noted VRM's can take 125C but from what I see in GPU-Z Log is the card throttling more often when VRM temps go beyond 100C.

VRMs quickly lose efficiency when they hit above 100C, so the card is forced to draw in much more power than it would if it were cooler.

Its one of the reason the XFX DD cooler is trash, no sinks on VRM and poor airflow with small fans.

 

[Face2Face]

AIB partner custom cooled cards usually get a base plate that covers the RAM and VRMs.

I did what this guy did with a TFIII 7950 and my VRMs never got above 90 even when overclocked to 1250/1750.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1372912/the-msi-tf3-vrm-project-with-accelero-xtreme-7970

I wouldn't trust that guy from your link.. pretty soon you may see him pop up on this forum :thumbsdown:

Snip

It's finally good to see someone has tried this cooler out with a R9 290. I hate to say it, but I am not surprised to see the "bad" vrm temps while overvolted and overclocked. The cooler is great for a small overclock without much if not any voltage added. Great GPU temps, just not good enough to keep the vrm temps down. The fans just don't spin fast enough to push enough air through the heatsink and onto the vrm. The vrm heatsink installation is just plain horrible. You have to apply thermal glue or pads, so the heatsinks just sit on top of the vrm with pretty much zero pressure being applied to the vrm. There needs to be a plate and screw retention mechanism in order to apply adequate pressure to the vrm. I am a big fan of what Gigabyte did with their R9 280X windforce card. Here you have a vrm heatsink with some meat on it and it's using a screw retention mechanism to help apply some pressure to the vrm, which in-turn helps to transfer heat quicker.

I see you went with all copper heatinks on the vrm and it probably does a better job vs. the stock aluminum ones, but still not good enough for heavy overclocking.

The stock vrm on the reference card is actually very good. You have a pretty beefy metal plate that covers the vrm. They even machined grooves/fins in the section where the vrm is to aid with the heat dissipation. The best part is the blower fan virtually sits on top of the vrms and helps to keep them pretty cool while overclocked. Also doesn't look like AMD cheaped out on the thermal pad either. Looks very much like high quality fujipoly pad and the vrm is making great contact as well.

Now keeping the GPU cool is another story for another thread, but it's pretty much the exact opposite from the Arctic cooler. So unfortunately you just switched from one handicap to another...

Now I haven't seen this setup done as of yet, but IMO is should work pretty good without having to go to full liquid cooling with a full cover block. I would take apart the stock R9 290 cooler and try to remove the aluminum gpu heatsink only. Then you should be left with the card retention bracket from front to back with the vrm heatsink plate intact. See the picture below.

With the gpu heatsink removed you should have enough room to mount the new NZXT Kraken 10 mount.

http://videocardz.com/48186/nzxt-introduces-kraken-g10-gpu-bracket-cpu-coolers

You would probably have to remove the stock blower fan because of clearance issues, but you can install the included 92mm fan that will blow directly on the vrm. You would also need some type of memory heatsinks as well. Now they would not be getting direct air flow like the reference card or even the arctic cooler, but being as they don't run at high frequencies even overclocked, it shouldn't be too hard to keep them cool. It looks like the NZXT bracket sits up off the card a bit to allow for memory heatsinks to be installed, but the clearance is unknown to me. I would think an Corsair H90 or another thicker 120mm radiator should do a good enough job. At least better or similar to the arctic Xtreme III.

 

[Silverforce11]

You can't, it looks soldered onto the metal plate, the copper/alu block. In previous AMD card, it was lose, you could lift it off and the backplate is still on, cooling the vram and VRMs. One of the reason the VRM cooling is so good is as you said, the plate has screws to apply pressure, it contacts a lot better than pads or tape.

Gigabyte's VRM cooling would handle the task.. the card even has two holes top and bottom of the VRM row to apply a beefy sink there. All we need are custom copper blocks that sits on top of it and we're good to go with AIO coolers.

ps. I tried removing my R290 heatsink from the plate, its soldered on... such a dumb move from AMD.

Hmm... we need this:

Any ideas of 5870 reference VRM layout is similar to the R290? Looks like it is.

 

[Face2Face]

ps. I tried removing my R290 heatsink from the plate, its soldered on... such a dumb move from AMD.

Argh.. :thumbsdown: That's no good. (with a russian accent) Looks like some members over at OCN have been cutting the vrm section out of the plate.. not worth voiding your warranty IMO.

Hmm... we need this:

Any ideas of 5870 reference VRM layout is similar to the R290? Looks like it is.

That would probably work great, but a little extreme Looks like it's trying to hail a taxi..

But yeah it could be compatible..?

I have always liked this heatsink, but I don't think it leaves enough room for an AIO.

http://www.swiftech.com/hd7900-hsf.aspx

 

[Silverforce11]

Argh.. :thumbsdown: That's no good. (with a russian accent) Looks like some members over at OCN have been cutting the vrm section out of the plate.. not worth voiding your warranty IMO.

I can imagnie a beautiful setup with that mod, put back on the default fan, plug it into the board. Cut small square on the top of the shroud to allow AIO water tubing to go up the top.. the fan is blowing air across the board and out the case.

 

[Smartazz]

If you had the choice between Gigabyte, MSI and XFX which would you pick? I'm thinking of picking one of these up for BF4. Should be fun.

 

[3DVagabond]

XFX allows to remove the stock heatsink w/out voiding the warranty. They'll actually mount it for you if you send them the components.

 

[Smartazz]

XFX allows to remove the stock heatsink w/out voiding the warranty. They'll actually mount it for you if you send them the components.

Are you sure? I came across this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2222008

I want to watercool the card so I hope it's covered in case something not related to the installation goes wrong.

 

[3DVagabond]

This is what's on their warranty page on their site. LINK (select the series of card you want)

** XFX has carefully selected the optimal thermal or fansink component for your graphics card model. We do not encourage the removal of components due to damage that may result in the process. XFX understands that some enthusiasts may choose to replace the original component with their own cooling solution. To support the gaming community, we recommend that you contact XFX prior to any modifications so that we can update your profile and product registration to avoid potential issues with warranty support. In addition, XFX support will be able to walk through the installation with you or provide feedback and pointers on available options for your specific product. You may even consider shipping your components to XFX and allow the technicians at XFX to perform the modification for you (shipping charges to XFX apply).

 

[blackened23]

Yeah, my dislike for XFX remains, as if having the worst non reference 7970 on the market bar none wasn't enough. That's the most ridiculous non-answer I've ever seen, and mailing a GPU to them for mounting a shroud? 20$ shipping each way (40-50$ total) to cover something that can easily be done by oneself, yeah no thanks.

 

[3DVagabond]

Yeah, my dislike for XFX remains, as if having the worst non reference 7970 on the market bar none wasn't enough. That's the most ridiculous non-answer I've ever seen, and mailing a GPU to them for mounting a shroud? 20$ shipping each way (40-50$ total) to cover something that can easily be done by oneself, yeah no thanks.

What does your opinion of their non reference 7970 have to do with the OP? As far as the rest of your post, what do you mean non answer? They clearly allow it. They don't say you have to send it to them. They say that they offer the service of mounting it if you want them to. They only say that you pay the shipping to them. Not both ways. They said they'll walk you through the installation as well. What more would you like them to do? Send someone to your house? Not everyone can easily do it themselves properly and without possibly damaging their card.

 

[Smartazz]

This is what's on their warranty page on their site. LINK (select the series of card you want)

They never explicitly say that it's covered do they? My 6870 had warranty if removed stickers on the screws, that's why I was skeptical about XFX.

 

[3DVagabond]

They never explicitly say that it's covered do they? My 6870 had warranty if removed stickers on the screws, that's why I was skeptical about XFX.

You and I read it differently. They can't just offer blanket support for any and all aftermarket cooling solutions.

The section I quoted is in connection with (5) problems caused by using accessories, parts, or components not supplied by XFX. If they were to simply state that changing the cooler won't void your warranty, they'd open themselves up for supporting the performance of the cooler as well.

I saw a post by someone asking a Sapphire rep, who doesn't cover aftermarket cooling, if they'd warranty the card if the fan was disabled and clocks were reduced to try and run the card passively. LOL

You'd be surprised what people do with stuff and expect the retailer/manufacturer to cover. People using a standard waterproof watch for diving and expecting it to be covered because the watch is advertised as waterproof. That's why you see disclaimers now on such things. I saw a customer try and return a watch that quit working he wore for work. He operated a jack hammer. The watch was "shock proof" so he felt it should have been fine. The store simply gave him his money back and sent him down the road. They weren't about to replace the watch with another and would rather do that than argue with him.

 

[Z15CAM]

So, do you need 1.273v to run 1190/1500? Or would it still do it @ 1.102v?

Actually the Stock +100vm offset scales between .961vm to approx 1.227 and will take you to 1190/1500; however ,a +156vm offset scales from 1.109vm to approx 1.258 perhaps as high as 1.273 as noted with that +156-1190-1550 clock example and will take you all the to 1200+/1600 Mhz.

I was using +156 on the bases that we would be and scale the temps as such because that's what we do ;o)

Too bad we can't remove the Base Plate from the AMD Cooler and mount it to the Accelero Cooler. I imagine the AIB Partners will come up with something based on that design. I hope Arctic will build one but then kit will not be universal..

 

[3DVagabond]

Actually the Stock 1.09vm offset will take you to 1190/1500 however a +156vm will take you all the way to 1200+/1600 Mhz. I was using +156 on the bases that we would be and scale the temps as such.

Well, it's too bad the ACIII doesn't do a better job on the VRM's, but it doesn't seem like, even if it did, it would be worthwhile upping the voltage beyond stock. It's not like ~10MHz is going to offer any appreciable performance improvement. It's just going to use more power for nothing.