# How are you cooling your graphics card? got something special/different? show it off.



## bear jesus (Nov 4, 2010)

I just finished chopping off part of my 6870's vrm, ram, support plate thingy (yes very technical description there ) and it made me wonder what other people here are doing to keep their gpu cool and if anyone else is chopping things up 


I just did the pencil memory voltage mod while i had the card apart and will be running an industrial ducting fan with ducting to it to see how far i can push the overclocks here are some bad webcam pre install pic's.

The chunk i cut off



just begging for some industrial fan biased airflow 


Now post some pictures of your cards and their cooling please


----------



## HalfAHertz (Nov 4, 2010)

I have an intricate cooling solution consisting of a Rube Goldberg mechanism. It involves a monkey, a stack of bananas, a rubber belt, some pulleys and a fan. Unfortunately i have to change the bananas every few days because they go bad and start to stink. Once my monkey got sick and i had to blow the fan myself. Luckily it quickly got better and everything returned to normal.

Even tho my solution is much more awesome, I like yours more because it takes a lot less space and you don't have a monkey screaming at you and throwing poop when it gets mad.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 4, 2010)

HalfAHertz said:


> I have an intricate cooling solution consisting of a Rube Goldberg mechanism. It involves a monkey, a stack of bananas, a rubber belt, some pulleys and a fan. Unfortunately i have to change the bananas every few days because they go bad and start to stink. Once my monkey got sick and i had to blow the fan myself. Luckily it quickly got better and everything returned to normal.
> 
> Even tho my solution is much more awesome, I like yours more because it takes a lot less space and you don't have a monkey screaming at you and throwing poop when it gets mad.



Yea that's special alright... but where are the pictures?


----------



## mad1394 (Nov 4, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Yea that's special alright... but where are the pictures?



monkey threw poop at camera probably 

BTW what do u mean by pencil memory voltage mod stuff?


----------



## streetfighter 2 (Nov 4, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Yea that's special alright... but where are the pictures?


The monkey is camera shy.

Also one of the fan's mechanisms involves a concentrated beam of sterile neutrinos which, using a graviton field, triggers the stack of bananas.  It's quite difficult to capture that with a traditional camera.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 4, 2010)

mad1394 said:


> monkey threw poop at camera probably
> 
> BTW what do u mean by pencil memory voltage mod stuff?



 darn monkeys

The pencil mod i mentioned is where you use a pencil to let more voltage past a resistor shown here for the 6870


----------



## Techtu (Nov 4, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> I just finished chopping off part of my 6870's vrm, ram, support plate thingy (yes very technical description there ) and it made me wonder what other people here are doing to keep their gpu cool and if anyone else is chopping things up
> 
> 
> I just did the pencil memory voltage mod while i had the card apart and will be running an industrial ducting fan with ducting to it to see how far i can push the overclocks here are some bad webcam pre install pic's.
> ...



You should post those pictures here Ghetto Mods


----------



## [Ion] (Nov 4, 2010)

I'll try and get some pics of my setup later, but the basic idea is that I have my GTX260 as my primary GPU & the GTS450 as PhysX, and a Corsair 120mm fan (stock one from my H50) pushing air in over them


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 4, 2010)

Techtu said:


> You should post those pictures here Ghetto Mods



 very good idea.


----------



## AlienIsGOD (Nov 4, 2010)

i dont have something different per se, but i do rock a VF1000 on my HD4850.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 4, 2010)

AlienIsGOD said:


> i dont have something different per se, but i do rock a VF1000 on my HD4850.
> 
> View attachment 38785



 the vf1000 was awesome when it came out although tiny compared to whats available now *looks towards the thermalright shaman*

Your vf1000 seams to have different shaped fins to mine or at least the top one, i assume they changed the design at some point.


----------



## gunsmoke (Nov 7, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> I just finished chopping off part of my 6870's vrm, ram, support plate thingy (yes very technical description there ) and it made me wonder what other people here are doing to keep their gpu cool and if anyone else is chopping things up
> 
> 
> I just did the pencil memory voltage mod while i had the card apart and will be running an industrial ducting fan with ducting to it to see how far i can push the overclocks here are some bad webcam pre install pic's.
> ...



On my rig i have 120mm fan siting next two my g.p.u. blowing air at it 
And iv toke the metel pci card plats out my p.c case for air flow near my g.p.u.


----------



## Deleted member 74752 (Nov 7, 2010)

Early efforts from long ago with two 110cfm fans... 








Nowadays the cards are so powerful I find little need to even overclock them for gaming purposes.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 7, 2010)

I cut the stock vrm/ram heatsink on my 470 to fit around the icy vision, then I stuck the vrm/ram sinks that came with the kit on top just to make it more badass. Can see the little ones in between there.


----------



## pantherx12 (Nov 7, 2010)

Cooled my cards with all sorts.

Alpenfóhn Heidi on xfx 5770





Twin turbo on hd 3850, 





HR-03 plus on HD3870, my 3870 screamed with this cooling it, got huge overclocks : ]





And Neo vortex on 3850





[/IMG]

T-rad2 on 3850, I fitted this cooler to a lot more cards, was brilliant, hence passive 3850 fully overclocked with lower load temps than stock cooler


----------



## Swamp Monster (Nov 7, 2010)

HD 3650 AGP on self-made water cooler in my other/old PC. Yes I know - Cable management is awful


----------



## Mussels (Nov 7, 2010)

accelero S1 with 140mm fan


----------



## BUCK NASTY (Nov 7, 2010)

How about a 3400rpm Delta 113cfm fan hovering above a cluster of Fermi cards?


----------



## T3RM1N4L D0GM4 (Nov 7, 2010)

Radeon HD3850 + Zalman VF900-CU

Perfect silence and great cooling @ min speed


----------



## JATownes (Nov 7, 2010)

I just have a Zalman VF1000 on one 4850, and hacked apart the factory (single slot) cooler to cool the ram/VRMs. On my other 4850, I have an non-reference MSI 4890 cooler attached to it. Works like a charm. Sorry, no pics yet, I am not at home, on my phone ATM. (love my droid x).  I will post pics when I get back to the house.


----------



## Mussels (Nov 7, 2010)

T3RM1N4L D0GM4 said:


> Radeon HD3850 + Zalman VF900-CU
> 
> Perfect silence and great cooling @ min speed
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101107/IMG_0038.jpg



i get dead silence too  love it.


the only noise in my system is the PSU fan and the hard drives, and they're both fairly quiet (but definitely not silent)


----------



## pantherx12 (Nov 7, 2010)

my 3850 had one of those on, I took it off because performance was to low and noise to high lol


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 7, 2010)

So many awesome setup's


----------



## Widjaja (Nov 7, 2010)

Accelero Twin Turbo on HD4850.
Very satisfactory cooling bar the poor thermal adhesive and slight modding i had to do to a VRM and RAM cooler.


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Nov 11, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I cut the stock vrm/ram heatsink on my 470 to fit around the icy vision, then I stuck the vrm/ram sinks that came with the kit on top just to make it more badass. Can see the little ones in between there.
> http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7290/p1000756bq.jpg



Hey LAN, how are the temps with the Icy Vision? I thought about picking up the Zalman VF3000F from Directron.com, but would like a cheaper alternative.


----------



## PopcornMachine (Nov 11, 2010)

My HD 4830s with  ZEROtherm CoolMaxx 2000s.

_The fans are spinning. _


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 12, 2010)

Patches O'Houlihan said:


> Hey LAN, how are the temps with the Icy Vision? I thought about picking up the Zalman VF3000F from Directron.com, but would like a cheaper alternative.



I'd skip the gelid, as I understand it it can have mounting issues depending on the brand of 470 you have, as not all brands have the same height IHS.


----------



## Flanker (Nov 12, 2010)

i just ripped the fans off my accelero twin turbo cos they died...


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 12, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> My HD 4830s with  ZEROtherm CoolMaxx 2000s.
> 
> _The fans are spinning. _
> 
> http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v335/PopcornMachine/vulcan/VULCAN_0013b.jpg



the ram sinks on the second card look awesome, did they come with the hsf or did you buy them separate?


----------



## PopcornMachine (Nov 12, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> the ram sinks on the second card look awesome, did they come with the hsf or did you buy them separate?



I was waiting for someone to notice that. 

I bought the coolers a few months apart.  Same models, but with different heatsinks. Either because the were found to work better or just due to supply issues.  Don't remember which came first.

Guess I could have gotten replacements so they would be the same, but works well enough and gives the cards an eclectic look.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 12, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> I was waiting for someone to notice that.
> 
> I bought the coolers a few months apart.  Same models, but with different heatsinks. Either because the were found to work better or just due to supply issues.  Don't remember which came first.
> 
> Guess I could have gotten replacements so they would be the same, but works well enough and gives the cards an eclectic look.



To be honest i prefer the two different styles, even more so as the top card is usually hotter due to pulling hot air from the back of the second card so bigger on top and smaller on bottom should work best plus look good, it kind of makes me think of space invaders 

I wish i had more options when i comes to ram sinks as i always touch different components/chips when i get new hardware and anything that gets hot gets them not just the memory chips. although the memory chips are usually cooler than the other things i add them onto


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 12, 2010)

Flanker said:


> i just ripped the fans off my accelero twin turbo cos they died...



About to do the same on my gelid. Something is wrong with the fan bearings and once again gelid support is ignoring me. So I'm just going to rig up my own 92mm fan array. Will post when done. I think it'll look pretty slick.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 12, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> About to do the same on my gelid. Something is wrong with the fan bearings and once again gelid support is ignoring me. So I'm just going to rig up my own 92mm fan array. Will post when done. I think it'll look pretty slick.



Nice, looking forward to seeing it.

When i got my zalman vf1000 i pulled off the fan before the first install as to me is it seamed stupid having so much surface area with so little airflow so mainly ran it with 2 80mm fans tied to it and another 80mm fan over the vrm's although as you can see in the first post i have tryed some other fans on it


----------



## PopcornMachine (Nov 12, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> To be honest i prefer the two different styles, even more so as the top card is usually hotter due to pulling hot air from the back of the second card so bigger on top and smaller on bottom should work best plus look good, it kind of makes me think of space invaders
> 
> I wish i had more options when i comes to ram sinks as i always touch different components/chips when i get new hardware and anything that gets hot gets them not just the memory chips. although the memory chips are usually cooler than the other things i add them onto



Thing is, I may be getting a new graphics card shortly.  They work OK, but a HD 6870 would be better.

Wonder if these ZeroTherms will fit on a 6800, or even a 6900. 

Brings up a question though.  How does one remove stickon heatsinks like these?  Never done it, and afraid prying would damage the card.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 12, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> Thing is, I may be getting a new graphics card shortly.  They work OK, but a HD 6870 would be better.
> 
> Wonder if these ZeroTherms will fit on a 6800, or even a 6900.
> 
> Brings up a question though.  How does one remove stickon heatsinks like these?  Never done it, and afraid prying would damage the card.



MY zalman fits the 6800 without even having to change the location of the mounting screws so i would assume the zerotherm fits, the stuck on heatsinks are a bit scary to remove sometimes they just don't want to move, i normally just gently twist side to side while pulling for a while and they come away eventually but you need new thermal pads to apply them to another card.

I have to admit going from a single 4870 to a single 6870 and tripling my res still improved my frame rates a lot, never mind both of them together


----------



## PopcornMachine (Nov 12, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> MY zalman fits the 6800 without even having to change the location of the mounting screws so i would assume the zerotherm fits, the stuck on heatsinks are a bit scary to remove sometimes they just don't want to move, i normally just gently twist side to side while pulling for a while and they come away eventually but you need new thermal pads to apply them to another card.
> 
> I have to admit going from a single 4870 to a single 6870 and tripling my res still improved my frame rates a lot, never mind both of them together



That's what I though.  Thanks.

It's been two years with these cards.  Time for an upgrade.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 12, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> That's what I though.  Thanks.
> 
> It's been two years with these cards.  Time for an upgrade.



i had around 2 years out of my 4870 and it was showing it's age with newer games, whatever you upgrade to should give you a very nice boost in fps but i would suggest waiting a few weeks until the 6970 is out as for one it may help drop the prices on other card or it could be the card to buy if the price and power is good enough.

I'm hoping the 6970 is worth it as if it is then i will be selling off my 4870 and 2 6870s and hoping that would fully cover the cost so i can use my saved money for an ssd


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 16, 2010)




----------



## bear jesus (Nov 16, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4315/p1000824b.jpg



That looks awesome, very nice setup.


----------



## [Ion] (Nov 17, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/4315/p1000824b.jpg



Very cool, what card is that?


----------



## mastrdrver (Nov 17, 2010)

I got two of these for my 5870s.

Thinking about moving to the Arctic Cooling TT Pro since I would be able to connect the fans in to the card fan header and control the fans from there. I don't know why Zalman couldn't use some pwm circuit since they were able to do it with the Zotac AMP! cards.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 17, 2010)

[ion] said:


> very cool, what card is that?



470


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 17, 2010)

mastrdrver said:


> I got two of these for my 5870s.
> 
> Thinking about moving to the Arctic Cooling TT Pro since I would be able to connect the fans in to the card fan header and control the fans from there. I don't know why Zalman couldn't use some pwm circuit since they were able to do it with the Zotac AMP! cards.



I must admit i liked the idea of the vf3000 when i saw the previews but i'm almost defiantly getting an arctic cooling accelero extreme or thermalright shaman when i go back to a single card setup.



LAN_deRf_HA said:


> 470http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4876/p1000828b.jpg



That looks so good while up and running, i must admit I'm jealous


----------



## mastrdrver (Nov 17, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> I must admit i liked the idea of the vf3000 when i saw the previews but i'm almost defiantly getting an arctic cooling accelero extreme or thermalright shaman when i go back to a single card setup.



Don't get me wrong, performance is impressive. Vrms were always below 80C running Furmark with the GPU below 70C with 1.225v with the fans at full blast. At that voltage I could run 950mhz on the core no problem. At idle it would get to about 30C on the core and vrms even with the fans turned all the way down with the Fan Mate 2.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 17, 2010)

mastrdrver said:


> Don't get me wrong, performance is impressive. Vrms were always below 80C running Furmark with the GPU below 70C with 1.225v with the fans at full blast. At that voltage I could run 950mhz on the core no problem. At idle it would get to about 30C on the core and vrms even with the fans turned all the way down with the Fan Mate 2.



I agree the performance  of the vf3000 is nothing to complain about as it does do it's job well on both the ATI 58xx and nvidia 4xx cards but i just can't help but love the looks and performance of the accelero extreme and the shaman, although i would like to see more reviews of the thermalright shaman.

I would love it if TPU could get a shaman to review.


----------



## Athlon2K15 (Nov 17, 2010)

the garbage ties are leet!!!


----------



## mastrdrver (Nov 17, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> I agree the performance  of the vf3000 is nothing to complain about as it does do it's job well on both the ATI 58xx and nvidia 4xx cards but i just can't help but love the looks and performance of the accelero extreme and the shaman, although i would like to see more reviews of the thermalright shaman.
> 
> I would love it if TPU could get a shaman to review.



With all the bad press the vrm cooler from Arctic Cooler get I was actually thinking of using the Zalman units since they performed so well. The TT Pro vrm heat sinks look lacking from what I've seen.


----------



## assaulter_99 (Nov 17, 2010)

Just for the sake of contributing.


----------



## theonedub (Nov 17, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> I cut the stock vrm/ram heatsink on my 470 to fit around the icy vision, then I stuck the vrm/ram sinks that came with the kit on top just to make it more badass. Can see the little ones in between there.
> http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7290/p1000756bq.jpg



Can you post a pic showing what you needed to cut off the stock plate? I'd appreciate it.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 17, 2010)

This image doesn't show all I did, as when I tried to fit it all together the end tips of the heat pipes hit the fins on the left side. So I had to go back and cut the middle fins flush about halfway along their length. Put the green blob there to show where I had to cut, roughly.

Edit* And yeah obviously I had to cut a large square section out around the core.


----------



## mastrdrver (Nov 17, 2010)

Anyone have any suggestions for a 5770?


----------



## theonedub (Nov 17, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> This image doesn't show all I did, as when I tried to fit it all together the end tips of the heat pipes hit the fins on the left side. So I had to go back and cut the middle fins flush about halfway along their length. Put the green blob there to show where I had to cut, roughly.
> 
> Edit* And yeah obviously I had to cut a large square section out around the core.
> 
> http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2657/p1000748bdb.jpg



Thanks a lot. One other question, its 3 screws and a little adhesive holding the stock fan onto the plate, right?


----------



## PopcornMachine (Nov 17, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> 470http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4876/p1000828b.jpg



Really nice picture.


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 17, 2010)

3 screws, didn't notice any adhesive.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 17, 2010)

mastrdrver said:


> With all the bad press the vrm cooler from Arctic Cooler get I was actually thinking of using the Zalman units since they performed so well. The TT Pro vrm heat sinks look lacking from what I've seen.



To be honest my hope is that i can use one of the thermalright vrm heat sinks with the accelero extreme and if not then with the thermalright shaman but i can't even guess at that as i expect only the 6970 to fit my needs and if so i don't have a clue if the current vrm heats sinks could fit.



LAN_deRf_HA said:


> This image doesn't show all I did, as when I tried to fit it all together the end tips of the heat pipes hit the fins on the left side. So I had to go back and cut the middle fins flush about halfway along their length. Put the green blob there to show where I had to cut, roughly.
> 
> Edit* And yeah obviously I had to cut a large square section out around the core.
> 
> http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2657/p1000748bdb.jpg



Nice work, i love it when people manage to modify he support/cooling plate to fit a new heatsink.


----------



## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Nov 17, 2010)

Just installed a spitfire on my GTX580.. temps are so far so good. (sorry for webcam pic)






Stock @ 32c ambient 
850MHz GPU core
140mm 2000 rpm yateloon

Idle: 45c
Furmark Load (Limiter Off): 89c 


Spitfire @ 31c ambient 
850MHz GPU core

Idle: 38c
Furmark Load (Limiter Off): 68c


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 20, 2010)

That looks substantial... like the size of a cpu tower. 

I'm liking this GE cooler. Selling the old monster card.


----------



## mastrdrver (Nov 21, 2010)

To quote myself from another thread 

This is in a closed Antec Two Hundred with:
2x 120mm 1000 rpm front fans
1x 120mm 1200 rpm rear exhaust
1x 140mm 1600 rpm top fan
No side fan, just left open

I forgot I turned off C&Q so the 955BE is full out at 1.4v on the cpu and cooled by a S1284 and 140mm Noctua.
The Zalman is hooked up to the board (MSI 890GXM-G65) and running on 9V. I think 7V would get me to about 2000 rpms (my goal) since 6V puts it ~1700 rpms.


----------



## de.das.dude (Nov 21, 2010)

self fabricated HD 4650 cooler 















MOAR about this build in this thread

the main idea was to prevent it from circulating the hot air when it was in stock condition.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 21, 2010)

de.das.dude said:


> self fabricated HD 4650 cooler
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101002/Image022.jpg
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101002/Image029.jpg
> ...



Nice work, even more so on the trimming of the fan as that's such a pain in the ass to keep balanced.


----------



## p_o_s_pc (Nov 21, 2010)

not really that different 
watercooled 8800GT using D-tek  Fusion +Enzotech ram/mosfet sinks. 





Xiggy battle axe with random 80mm fans on a 8800GT





2 8800GT's one with a stock cooler other is another battle axe painted red/black with 2x92mm fans and a 80mm fan blowing between them 





another 8800GT with a battle axe





top card 3870 with a battle axe with the stock fans from AMD heatsinks. needed a low profile fan to fit and they worked perfect. bottom card is a voltmoded 8800GT with a battle axe + 92mm fans.





some old card not sure of what it is. Have a fan blowing from the right side of the board across the heatsink to keep it cool 





have a 80mm fan zip tied to the stock cooler of my 8800gt






Sorry for all the randomneses. i was just surfing my photobucket and added them as i found them.I think i still have some more that i will post later.


----------



## Mussels (Nov 21, 2010)

arrrgh! more VGA!

why you offend your eyes like that!


----------



## p_o_s_pc (Nov 21, 2010)

Mussels said:


> arrrgh! more VGA!
> 
> why you offend your eyes like that!



what are you talking about? 

also here is a 7900GS voltmodded and cooled using a 80+cfm 80mm fan super glued to stock heatsink 





same card but this time with a Asus Chilly vent lux CPU cooler ziptied to it


----------



## Mussels (Nov 21, 2010)

VGA! the evil!


----------



## p_o_s_pc (Nov 21, 2010)

Mussels said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/101121/Capture115.jpg
> 
> 
> VGA! the evil!



ahh yes. Keep in mind these pics have been in my photobucket from 07 up.  Also most of the pics i posted had been used for crunching and folding only. I used the monitor to set things up and then from there it was rare to have to use it so it didn't matter.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 21, 2010)

Mussels said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/101121/Capture115.jpg
> 
> 
> VGA! the evil!




do any cards even come with VGA anymore?


----------



## Techtu (Nov 21, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> do any cards even come with VGA anymore?



They do... although I'm pretty sure we'll only ever see them on the lower end GPU's such as Radeon 5570 & GTS430 models.


----------



## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Nov 21, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> That looks substantial... like the size of a cpu tower.


yeah. Am running it now @ stock voltage, 800 core, passive.. crazy


----------



## pantherx12 (Nov 21, 2010)

I'm running of vga right now, pumped out by a g41 motherboard.

It least his vgas are plugged into actual cards XD


----------



## mastrdrver (Nov 21, 2010)

Accelero S2 on XFX 4650 because I just had it laying around and not being used.






edit for temperatures
ambient 22C
side fan on Antec Two Hundred: scythe slim ~1400 rpms


----------



## theonedub (Nov 21, 2010)

LAN_deRf_HA said:


> That looks substantial... like the size of a cpu tower.
> 
> I'm liking this GE cooler. Selling the old monster card.
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101120/P1000872b.jpg



How are the temps on the card?


----------



## LAN_deRf_HA (Nov 22, 2010)

theonedub said:


> How are the temps on the card?



Great, mainly the fans make the whole thing. It idles higher than the gelid cause I can take the fans way down to total silence. At load though I can make it cooler than the old card cause these fans go up to over 4000 rpms. OCCT load at 90% was 70c with max clock.


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Nov 30, 2010)

I have a PNY XLR8 GTX460 OC (reference design) with a stock cooler that has bad bearings. The Gelid Icy Vision Rev. 2 is available for $50 with S&H. Would you recommend it, or is there another cooler that you recommend instead?

It fits the GTX460, but I don't know if the fit and finish are good. Reviews are only of the first model, not Rev. 2.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

Patches O'Houlihan said:


> I have a PNY XLR8 GTX460 OC (reference design) with a stock cooler that has bad bearings. The Gelid Icy Vision Rev. 2 is available for $50 with S&H. It fits GTX460 Would you recommend it, or is there another cooler that you recommend instead?
> 
> It fits GTX460, but I don't know if the fit and finish are good. Reviews are only of the first model, not Rev. 2.



After a quick poke around the net it seams that the rev. 2 is the same as the original but has added support for 4xx cards and with kits available to use the original one on the 460 i assume the only difference is mounting hardware thus all reviews for the original should still apply to the rev. 2. 

I can't say for sure as i have no experience with it but from the fact it has 5 heat pipes and two 92mm fans with the ability to cool the 480 well even while overclocked i think it would do a great job on the 460.


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Nov 30, 2010)

The fan noise isn't super loud, but it's just enough to irritate the hell out of me.  
I guess I'll pull the trigger - 'Tis the season to shop, you know.

I just realized (after having read your reply) that my grammar is horrible.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

Patches O'Houlihan said:


> Thanks for the reply. The fan noise isn't super loud, but it's just enough to irritate the hell out of me.  I guess I'll pull the trigger - 'Tis the season to shop, you know.



I know the kind of noise, my old 4870's fan had a similar problem and even though it was quiet it was annoying enough to get me to stop using it.

But as you said, this time of hear you hardly even need an excuse for an upgrade even if its just a better/quieter cooler 



Patches O'Houlihan said:


> I just realized (after having read your reply) that my grammar is horrible.



 My grammar is pretty horrific normally due to trying to type quick in game or with instant messaging programs, i try to put a little more effort in while using TUP but it's still far from perfect.... i think? i may be English but i fail pretty hard with written English when it comes to truly correct grammar.


----------



## theonedub (Nov 30, 2010)

If I can't get my Corsair 600T I am going to try and trade someone the AXP w/ 470 mounts for a Twin FrozrII heatsink.


----------



## MT Alex (Nov 30, 2010)

Not very different, but I think it's pretty special, and it works very well.
A little love from Danger Den.


----------



## Mussels (Nov 30, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> My grammar is pretty horrific normally due to trying to type quick in game or with instant messaging programs, i try to put a little more effort in *while using TUP but *it's still far from perfect.... i think? i may be English but i fail pretty hard with written English when it comes to truly correct grammar.



TechUpPower?


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

Mussels said:


> TechUpPower?



 exactly what i mean.



MT Alex said:


> Not very different, but I think it's pretty special, and it works very well.
> A little love from Danger Den.



Very nice, I'm a little jealous


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Nov 30, 2010)

Done and done. I'll post pics once I get the cooler and install it.


----------



## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Nov 30, 2010)

MT Alex said:


> Not very different, but I think it's pretty special, and it works very well.
> A little love from Danger Den.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101130/007.jpg



Nice clamps, very sleek looking


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Nov 30, 2010)

bear jesus said:
			
		

> MY zalman fits the 6800 without even having to change the location of the mounting screws so i would assume the zerotherm fits, the stuck on heatsinks are a bit scary to remove sometimes they just don't want to move, i normally just gently twist side to side while pulling for a while and they come away eventually but you need new thermal pads to apply them to another card.



Am I right in thinking Bear that you've successfully managed to put your VF1000 on a 6870, what brand of 6870, does it follow the stock reference card/PCB?


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Am I right in thinking Bear that you've successfully managed to put your VF1000 on a 6870, what brand of 6870, does it follow the stock reference card/PCB?



Yes right now one of the cards has a VF1000 on it, it's a sapphire card and is the reference design.

The only problem was that to fit it with the vrm and memory cooling plate i had to take a hacksaw to it and cut the little bit of metal that sticks out next to the power plugs, if i had some thermal pads for the bunch of ram sinks i have then i would have just stuck them on the vrm's and memory... probably should have bought some instead of killing the warranty and resale value  oh well, at least panther gets a cheap 6870.


----------



## HammerON (Nov 30, 2010)

Cooling two EVGA GTX 470's with Koolance water blocks:


----------



## Tatty_One (Nov 30, 2010)

HalfAHertz said:


> I have an intricate cooling solution consisting of a Rube Goldberg mechanism. It involves a monkey, a stack of bananas, a rubber belt, some pulleys and a fan. Unfortunately i have to change the bananas every few days because they go bad and start to stink. Once my monkey got sick and i had to blow the fan myself. Luckily it quickly got better and everything returned to normal.
> 
> Even tho my solution is much more awesome, I like yours more because it takes a lot less space and you don't have a monkey screaming at you and throwing poop when it gets mad.



In my experience, Monkeys can be costly to keep, and as you mentioned, they take up a lot of space, whats interesting is we think alike, my old rig had a near identical setup to yours, however I rigged a Hamster wheel to it, that hamster kept runnin in that wheel, thing is he could only eat when the puter was switched off, now for a cruncher that aint good, so I got my hamster to start a family, eventually there were 6 of the little lovelies, then we could introduce a rota......that worked much better, one would run the wheel, one would eat, one would sleep, one would clean the wheel runners crap up, the last 2 would breed..... I was thinking WCG farms!


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Nov 30, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Yes right now one of the cards has a VF1000 on it, it's a sapphire card and is the reference design.



Hmmm... I have a VF1000 that I'll probably transplant on to my next card. Looking forward to owning a 6870.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Hmmm... I have a VF1000 that I'll probably transplant on to my next card. Looking forward to owning a 6870.



Shame i already have a deal setup for the one i made suitable for a vf1000, it would have been perfect for you so i could have tried to poke you in to taking it off my hands


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Nov 30, 2010)

Thanks for the consideration but I like a warranty with my purchases.



Last time I was given something without a warranty, it died shortly after installing it. I'm trying to decide on a 6850 for £130 or a 6870 for £170.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Thanks for the consideration but I like a warranty with my purchases.
> 
> 
> 
> Last time I was given something without a warranty, it died shortly after installing it. I'm trying to decide on a 6850 for £130 or a 6870 for £170.



 That just makes it worse as i agreed to give a refund if it died after a reasonable period of usage, oh well, hopefully only a few days until the 6870's are gone then a little while longer until my 6970 arrives 

To be honest even though the 6850 is great value i went for the 6870's for the extra power, a lot of people say overclock the 6850 to 6870 speed but even if you overclock it to 1ghz you could just do the same with the 6870 and it be even quicker due to the extra stream processors.

It's down to you if you think the extra cash is worth it but if you intend to stick with the card for a while i would always suggest getting the more powerful one, although many 5850's don't have the cooling plate they just have a vrm cooler that as long as it's not too tall would be perfect to go with the vf1000 and no warranty voiding has to happen.


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Nov 30, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> To be honest even though the 6850 is great value i went for the 6870's for the extra power, a lot of people say overclock the 6850 to 6870 speed but even if you overclock it to 1ghz you could just do the same with the 6870 and it be even quicker due to the extra stream processors.



Yeah, I'm swaying towards the 6870.



bear jesus said:


> It's down to you if you think the extra cash is worth it but if you intend to stick with the card for a while i would always suggest getting the more powerful one, although many 5850's don't have the cooling plate they just have a vrm cooler that as long as it's not too tall would be perfect to go with the vf1000 and no warranty voiding has to happen.



It's always been my ethos to get the most powerful card I can afford and I'm stretching my budget when opting for the 6870 but I know I won't be happy if I don't get it.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Yeah, I'm swaying towards the 6870.
> 
> It's always been my ethos to get the most powerful card I can afford and I'm stretching my budget when opting for the 6870 but I know I won't be happy if I don't get it.



I think you should get the 6870, i was happily surprised how well a single one deals with older games at 5040x1050 and most newer games run ok at that res but can't fully everything, but at 1680x1050 almost anything can be fully maxed out (excluding some games where x16AA+ is like a kick in the nuts to the card).


----------



## InnocentCriminal (Nov 30, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> I think you should get the 6870, i was happily surprised how well a single one deals with older games at 5040x1050 and most newer games run ok at that res but can't fully everything, but at 1680x1050 almost anything can be fully maxed out (excluding some games where x16AA+ is like a kick in the nuts to the card).



Excellent! I'll be sad to see my 4870 go, it's a fantastic card! I'm looking forward to being able to play BC2, STALKER: CoP & finally start Metro 2033 in DX11. 



All I need now is a decent PCIe SSD.


----------



## bear jesus (Nov 30, 2010)

InnocentCriminal said:


> Excellent! I'll be sad to see my 4870 go, it's a fantastic card! I'm looking forward to being able to play BC2, STALKER: CoP & finally start Metro 2033 in DX11.
> 
> 
> 
> All I need now is a decent PCIe SSD.



To be honest i was not sad to see my 4870 go, my pc is on 24/7 so the  idle power draw over it's lifetime cost more than the card did  

I just recently bought metro 2033 but i was so unhappy to find out the mouse gets screwed when using eyefinity and after using eyefinity i don't ever want to play on a single screen until they have ones as wide as 3 monitors resolution wise  but that means no metro 2033 for me 

I agree with the SSD though, i have been very tempted by the ocz revodrive x2


----------



## AsRock (Nov 30, 2010)

Hopefully Thermalright will make a R6 for them soon



LAN_deRf_HA said:


> This image doesn't show all I did, as when I tried to fit it all together the end tips of the heat pipes hit the fins on the left side. So I had to go back and cut the middle fins flush about halfway along their length. Put the green blob there to show where I had to cut, roughly.
> 
> Edit* And yeah obviously I had to cut a large square section out around the core.
> 
> http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2657/p1000748bdb.jpg



What i did with the 2900XT and 4870\90 till TR came out with a solution.


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Dec 21, 2010)

Sorry to all for the late reply. Better late than never, but never late is better.


























I get great cooling from the Icy Vision. After 3 hours of SC2 at High-Ultra settings it doesn't crack 46C, and usually idles between 26C-28C. (Note: My room is heated to about 70F)


----------



## bear jesus (Dec 21, 2010)

very nice, don't worry about the timing of the post as it's always nice to see some good pics of what people are doing.

Very nice temps as well, have you tried any extra voltage to see how far it will go? i convinced a friend to get a 460 and with a tiny bit more voltage he got well past 950mhz, I'm unsure if he stressed enough to find out if 975mhz was 100% stable but it seams like a little voltage goes a long way on the 460.


----------



## (FIH) The Don (Dec 21, 2010)

got this beatie boy on one of the 275s





great effin cooler

idle is around 30c and load is around 45c


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Dec 21, 2010)

> Very nice temps as well, have you tried any extra voltage to see how far it will go?



950 is a beast of a jump. I've just kept mine at 810 for gaming, and 865mhz being the highest I've tried so far without voltage tweaking. I've thought about it, but I haven't had the time to mess around much. I don't know when I'll find the time to do so.



> got this beatie boy on one of the 275s



That thing is equivalent in size to Shaq's foot. Dwarfs all else in comparison.


----------



## (FIH) The Don (Dec 21, 2010)

ya tell me about it lol, it bends the card like a mofo and takes up 3 slots 

i would not hessitate on getting a second for the other 275, its just effin awesome


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Dec 21, 2010)

> i would not hessitate on getting a second for the other 275, its just effin awesome



Arctic Cooling makes some really good stuff for such a low price. I have AC F fans in my case and they are very quiet, and best of all, CHEAP! 

I almost pulled the trigger on getting the AC Accelero Extreme Plus for the GTX460, but it would've been over-kill, plus it costed ~$25 (with the VR005 bracket) more than the Gelid.


----------



## (FIH) The Don (Dec 21, 2010)

460 is already a very cool card imo 

i would only get such expensive cooler for higher end cards such as 470, 480, 570, 580, 69xx and so on


----------



## PopcornMachine (Dec 21, 2010)

Are there any good air coolers that take less than 3 slots anymore?


----------



## bear jesus (Dec 21, 2010)

(FIH) The Don said:


> got this beatie boy on one of the 275s
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101221/004.jpg
> 
> great effin cooler
> ...



Awesome temps, once i get a higher powered card i shall be trying to choose between the accelero xtreme and the thermalright shaman.



PopcornMachine said:


> Are there any good air coolers that take less than 3 slots anymore?



Yes but the bigger the better and the more fans the better


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Dec 21, 2010)

> i would only get such expensive cooler for higher end cards such as 470, 480, 570, 580, 69xx and so on



True, true. I only got the aftermarket cooler because the bearings on the OEM fan was faulty and made a horrible sound. Well, also because I like aftermarket shtuff and installing it makes me feel manly.

I probably won't upgrade my card until this one dies, or if I find one that is incredibly cheap. I got the PNY XLR8 GTX460 1Gb for ~$135 after MIR, no tax, and no S&H.


----------



## theonedub (Dec 21, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> Are there any good air coolers that take less than 3 slots anymore?



The best dual slot slot coolers are the ones bundled on certain cards- Gigabyte's SOC cooler and MSI's Twin Frozr come to mind. Unfortunately they can't be bought solo (I tried a lot ), the rest of the aftermarket is pretty much triple slot, but they do perform. If you have the space, go for it.


----------



## PopcornMachine (Dec 21, 2010)

bear jesus said:


> Yes but the bigger the better and the more fans the better





theonedub said:


> The best dual slot slot coolers are the ones bundled on certain cards- Gigabyte's SOC cooler and MSI's Twin Frozr come to mind. Unfortunately they can't be bought solo (I tried a lot ), the rest of the aftermarket is pretty much triple slot, but they do perform. If you have the space, go for it.



Maybe I should take a ZEROtherm CoolMaxx 2000 off one of my 4830s and try it on my HD 6950?


----------



## Widjaja (Dec 21, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> Are there any good air coolers that take less than 3 slots anymore?


It is a shame aftermarket cooling manufacturers are not really thinking about being compact anymore.
But then the masses will drool over a massive cooler which bends the PCB rather than something understated.
Right now I am looking at a Twin Turbo Pro which takes up two slots.



bear jesus said:


> Yes but the bigger the better and the more fans the better



E-Peen upgrades!
Size does matter!


----------



## EarthDog (Dec 21, 2010)

In the case of heatsinks, size does usually matter.


----------



## bear jesus (Dec 21, 2010)

Widjaja said:


> It is a shame aftermarket cooling manufacturers are not really thinking about being compact anymore.
> But then the masses will drool over a massive cooler which bends the PCB rather than something understated.
> Right now I am looking at a Twin Turbo Pro which takes up two slots.
> 
> ...



Open bench unit with a single card side on so size and bending is not a problem, the bigger the cooler the lower the temp the higher the voltage and 24/7 overclock without being too hot...... but i guess a bigger e-peen is always nice


----------



## PopcornMachine (Dec 21, 2010)

Widjaja said:


> Right now I am looking at a Twin Turbo Pro which takes up two slots.



What I've read indicates that is also a 3 slot cooler.

And while size does matter, my case and motherboard just won't work more than a 2 slot cooler.

Probably will just stick with stock cooler.


----------



## pantherx12 (Dec 21, 2010)

PopcornMachine said:


> What I've read indicates that is also a 3 slot cooler.
> 
> And while size does matter, my case and motherboard just won't work more than a 2 slot cooler.
> 
> Probably will just stick with stock cooler.



The non pro version took up 3 slots for sure, it literally just about obstructed the 2nd pci-ex16 slot on my old p5q3.


By the way, putting a zerotherm 2000 on a 6950 would probably result in overheating.


----------



## de.das.dude (Dec 22, 2010)

ghetto is about to be redifined....
hang on to your senses!!





















http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=50372&id=100000478611462


LOOOOOOOL


----------



## bear jesus (Dec 22, 2010)

de.das.dude said:


> ghetto is about to be redifined....
> hang on to your senses!!
> http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos...35257342_100000478611462_610709_7809410_n.jpg
> 
> ...



 nice, i hope you used some thermal paste on the ram chips and not just some double sided tape


----------



## Patches O'Houlihan (Dec 22, 2010)

In the words of Dave Chappelle, "That shit is ballin', son!"


----------



## HammerON (Dec 22, 2010)

Water:


----------



## bear jesus (Dec 22, 2010)

HammerON said:


> Water:
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/101222/IMG_0337.jpg



I'm jealous, although you better have some nice overclocks on those 470's


----------



## coodiggy (Feb 18, 2011)

HammerON said:


> Water:
> 
> tried it... had some issues, still working on it.. got any suggestions.. stock screws with the springs are bottoming out before the thermal pads compress enough to allow the GPU core to seat


----------



## Mussels (Feb 18, 2011)

coodiggy said:


> Water:
> 
> tried it... had some issues, still working on it.. got any suggestions.. stock screws with the springs are bottoming out before the thermal pads compress enough to allow the GPU core to seat



tried removing the metal shim?


----------



## coodiggy (Feb 18, 2011)

Thanks for the quick reply.. I looked closely at that part and put thermal paste around that area on the waterblock to make sure it wasn't hitting. Prior to that I set the waterblock on the GPU core with no thermal pads or screws installed, with just the waterblock sitting on the GPU core I can see between the block and the bracket/shim and didn't get any transfer of paste to the shim.. I'm currently looking for non shoulderd/non spring screws that will fit the waterblock to bottom the waterblock out, with maybe some paper/plastic washers inbetween to protect the circuit board.... I don't like the idea of the stock screws allowing the circuit board to flex away from GDDR/VR   I can see on my other card that still has the stock cooler installed that the stock thermal paste stuff pulls away from two of the top GDDR chips and the top row of VR's once the PC is set upright.. I'm pretty sure it's because the stock screws/springs are alowing the cooler to pull away about a paper's width where the GPU's circuit board is flexing.


----------



## Widjaja (Feb 18, 2011)

PopcornMachine said:


> What I've read indicates that is also a 3 slot cooler.
> 
> And while size does matter, my case and motherboard just won't work more than a 2 slot cooler.
> 
> Probably will just stick with stock cooler.





I can't count.
Yes 3 slots.
1 slot for the card and 2 slots for the cooler.


----------



## Nick [D]vB (Feb 23, 2011)

Great thread guys, here are a few junk-yard modz I've done over the years... 



*My old 8600GT is under there somewhere:*















*My 8800GT RAM sinks cost me a fortune:*







*My 5850 really needed a full-coverage block, but I went with an old i7 sink, and a zip-tie:*







*This last one is a bit off-topic, my crazy Akasa Revo water mod:*















*I really need to get out more... *


----------



## PaulWog (Feb 23, 2011)

wow some crazy stuff


----------



## Salsoolo (Feb 23, 2011)

Nick [D]vB said:


> *My 8800GT RAM sinks cost me a fortune:*


rofl is this a joke? or real?


----------



## Nick [D]vB (Feb 23, 2011)

Salsoolo said:


> rofl is this a joke? or real?


What do you mean?  I got them on eBay, they cost me £20, each. The guy also wanted to sell me some magic beans, but I wasn't hungry...


----------



## PopcornMachine (Feb 23, 2011)

PaulWog said:


> wow some crazy stuff



Yes. That is wild, wacky stuff!

Nice job "Nick [D]vB".


----------



## Flibolito (Feb 23, 2011)

A few of my external loop setup from last year. Really good on temps.






No pump or radiator in case.





During the fill.





Mock up of external setup for leak testing and such.





Taken with my iphone in the evening.


----------



## PopcornMachine (Feb 23, 2011)

Flibolito said:


> A few of my external loop setup from last year. Really good on temps.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/110223/pre filling.jpg
> No pump or radiator in case.
> ...



Nice blue fluid.  I want to do that. 

Why is the tubing so long though?  Does that affect performance?


----------



## Flibolito (Feb 23, 2011)

The tubing is long since the radiator/pump and filling is about 5ft away from the computer. The tubing runs behind the TV, the entire system holds about 1.5gal and there is no reservoir. Performance wise is great, easy on the pump (not much elevation to pump through), the only restrictions are GPU/CPU block, radiator and the total dynamic head for the tubing. Super quiet and with the GPU @950MHZ (24/7 setting) on a GTX 480 it never breaks 42C. During bench setting it will get to 48C but thats with 1.162v 985MHZ core. The amount of liquid helps a lot too, gives it a long round trip and time to cool.


----------



## Nick [D]vB (Feb 23, 2011)

Nice! External is the way to go, but it can be taken too far... 






*(not my system btw)*


----------



## Flibolito (Feb 23, 2011)

Yup, lol awesome setup in that pic, would be wick in the winter time .


----------



## PopcornMachine (Feb 23, 2011)

Flibolito said:


> The tubing is long since the radiator/pump and filling is about 5ft away from the computer. The tubing runs behind the TV, the entire system holds about 1.5gal and there is no reservoir. Performance wise is great, easy on the pump (not much elevation to pump through), the only restrictions are GPU/CPU block, radiator and the total dynamic head for the tubing. Super quiet and with the GPU @950MHZ (24/7 setting) on a GTX 480 it never breaks 42C. During bench setting it will get to 48C but thats with 1.162v 985MHZ core. The amount of liquid helps a lot too, gives it a long round trip and time to cool.




Yeah, I'm a water cooling novice.  Good info thanks.


----------



## coodiggy (Feb 24, 2011)

mussels said:
			
		

> tried removing the metal shim?


LOL, went to Koolance.com and got me the right screws "fully threaded" instead of the spring loaded stock nvidia cooler screws that have a shoulder/set depth.. The new screws along with some new thermal pad and new thermal goo for my pair of vid-280  

I got one mounted up and it settled flat onto the GPU core with good firm mounting onto the thermal pads... Getting closer to posting a pic of my cooling 

now I just need some more stubby 1/2" fittings..


----------



## MT Alex (Feb 24, 2011)

Nick [D]vB said:


> Nice! External is the way to go, but it can be taken too far...
> 
> http://forums.techpowerup.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=40830&d=1298485689
> 
> *(not my system btw)*



Man, I have been wanting to do that forever, but it gets a little cold here for that.  I have been tossing around the idea of a few holes in the subfloor and stashing my rads in the crawl space


----------



## Mussels (Feb 25, 2011)

MT Alex said:


> Man, I have been wanting to do that forever, but it gets a little cold here for that.  I have been tossing around the idea of a few holes in the subfloor and stashing my rads in the crawl space



when i get more permanent residency, i wanna do the whole rad under the ground thing. should work as a cheap air con replacement too.


----------



## gvblake22 (Feb 25, 2011)

Salsoolo said:


> rofl is this a joke? or real?


HAHA
The best one I've seen was someone that used staples (still all stuck together from the package) as heatsinks for RAM and voltage chips.


----------



## coodiggy (Feb 25, 2011)

Mussels said:


> when i get more permanent residency, i wanna do the whole rad under the ground thing. should work as a cheap air con replacement too.


Nice, My Brother and I were talking about doing something like that, using an underground sump tank with a couple pumps to bring water in and out of each computer/area; and a few loops of copper pipe outside of the sump tank as a heat dump... Though about using dry break quick connectors and having a few stations plumbed in the house; you could probly set yourself up with some kinda cooling blanket like the space suits or heatercore/fan combo for air chilling, or something like that if it ever got really hot in the house.. plug in and chill out


----------

