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When ATI Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 graphics cards started selling, there appeared significant interest to VGA coolers for overclockers and regular mainstream users who do not intend to overclock for any reason. In fact, this interest is quite natural, because the reference coolers on these graphics accelerators turned out not particularly good, to put it mildly. Although the default Radeon HD 4870 cooler is efficient enough, it is too noisy. However, the cooler on Radeon HD 4850 is beyond all criticism. Its only advantage is its compact size, so it wouldn’t block the slot next to the graphics card. Although it is not a serious plus, because the slot next to the PCI-E is usually empty anyway. Otherwise, the cooler is very loud, ineffective and doesn’t suit for any overclocking.

Nevertheless, Titan, Scythe and Arctic Cooling launched their new cooling solutions that we are going to talk about today not only because the reference coolers for Radeon HD 4870 and HD 4850 had to be replaced, but also because they felt like expanding their product range in this pretty specific segment. Remember that we tested universal graphics card coolers back in February, which is 8 months ago. It suggests that while processor coolers take all the attention there is not much going on in the VGA cooling market these days. Today we will try to make up for it and offer you a detailed disucssiona dn tests of the three new cooling solutions for graphics accelerators.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cooler … sashi.html

sturner wrote:

The hard drive is a bit slow. 7200 RPM and 32 MB buffer would be more efficient. Most FPS games are HD intensive.

Not sure what you're addressing here. And if that's critical to your enjoyment, I'd recommend a 150GB WD Velociraptor. 10k rpm is better.

If you want to know about FPSs, drop by Gaming. Some *koff* of us have heard of them.

I keep Gaming up on developments in RO. Haven't got to it yet myself, but spent a lot of time with its parent game. It's on The List for when I burst the chrysalis of my long hiatus and emerge a swan... or Sturmovik. Sumfin like dat.

The 4870s are in-between on performance and sound. It's the 4850s, limited to single-slot solutions at least in the reference design, that really need help.

2nd-gen cards with custom coolers tend to be pretty good.

Onanum wrote:

Ribtorus wrote:

I find the 4870 can sometimes get a bit loud, but only when playing a game. It idles quietly enough. It's an ASUS that comes with software fan control that allows for two kinds of automatic control or disabled control. I can set a range of temperature thresholds related to fan speed.

May I recommend one of these guys: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 VGA cooler.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.as … 6835186016

It is good, and I'd consider one. Onanum, you might look into this, for a bit more margin. Too bad it's 260/280 incompatible.

Rib, of course, will only go first-class with a cooler like this.

Bat wrote:

Rib, of course, will only go first-class with a cooler like this.

I prefer the dedicated slot blower because it removes GPU heat directly from the case. I suspect that Zalman arrangement just means I need a faster (louder) case fan or maybe even a second one. I only have one case fan in my PC and I'd like to keep it that way.

Oh, I do get it, but  I usually buy a bit behind the top end because I figure on diminishing returns.


The case fan is a TriCool 3 speed 120mm in an Antec Titan 650

http://www.antec.com/usa/productDetails … p;id=91561

The Tyan K8W needs a large case.

Ribtorus wrote:

I find the 4870 can sometimes get a bit loud, but only when playing a game. It idles quietly enough. It's an ASUS that comes with software fan control that allows for two kinds of automatic control or disabled control. I can set a range of temperature thresholds related to fan speed.

Now this is a 4870. Faster, quieter, cooler, not greatly pricier.

Fortunately the 4800 GPU is designed to operate at these high temperatures. The GPU doesn’t throttle or overheat, even after extended gaming sessions where the GPU is exposed to high temps for a prolonged period of time. However many end users are uncomfortable with their GPU operating at such high temps, after all excessive heat can affect overall system stability and can eventually prematurely kill system components. Besides dust, the #1 cause of most fan failures is excessive exposure to heat.

To tackle this problem ATI’s board partners have developed newer Radeon 4850 and 4870 coolers that are more effective at combating heat while generating very little to no noise.
..

Improving on the ATI cooling
At the heart of Sapphire’s Toxic HD 4870 512MB is its cooler. Rather than rely on a traditional heatsink/fan unit, Sapphire employs a custom cooling design that consists of their vapor chamber cooling technology (VCT) along with three copper heat pipes and one massive fan. First let’s discuss the vapor chamber cooling.

Sitting directly atop the RV770 GPU is the VCT, which is made from copper and acts much like a traditional heatpipe. The VCT is a sealed vacuum chamber composed of three “wicks”. There’s a vaporization wick, condensation wick, and a transportation wick. Heat from the GPU heats up the water within the vaporization wick, causing it to vaporize. This water vapor then moves through the vacuum until it hits the condensation wick. Here the water vapor condenses and forms back into a liquid (releasing the heat in the process); this liquid is then absorbed by the transportation wick (by capillary action), where it’s then transported back to the vaporization wick and the process is repeated.

Not coming to a Mac anytime soon, or likely ever.

moar

Sputnickey wrote:

I realize I'm kinda zombifying a thread for which I apologize, but I didn't want to start a new one for just one question.

Is quard core still the way to go for new systems? I'm planning on a getting a rig actually quite similar to the one in this thread and I'm debating between the core 2 duo 3gh and 2.6 ghz quad core.  I've been hearing a lot about the quad core only being good if i'm running many programs simultaneously but I've also heard the direction computer gaming is headed is going to work best with quad cores.

Can anyone clarify that for me?

This one question will probably turn into a question about your entire build, so you might as well make a new thread, heh.

Quad. In your case, 2.6 is 'fast enough' for most single or dual-threaded game, but the trend is definitely towards increased multithreading, so going forward, the most demanding games will make good use of more cores.

One of AMD's three-core models might serve for a spell, but of your two choices, I'd take the quad 2.6.

Sputnickey wrote:

is the i7 core the best choice for quad from intel?

If you have the money to spend. Just keep in mind the price premium you'll be paying with the i7 over a C2Q rig is about $300, which comes from the uber-expensive ram and mobo.

Last edited by Booksley (2009-02-20 9:41 am)

I'd like to stay away from ddr3 ram for now so should I look at something more along the lines of the6600 or the Q9400. I recall hearing some not so great things about the non-i7 intel quad cores

I'd recommend getting a Q6600, a decent HS+F, and just overclocking it.