Friday, April 29th 2011
Alpenföhn Launches Peter High-Performance VGA Cooler
The cooling specialist Alpenföhn presents the successor of the Heidi VGA Cooler. The new cooler called Alpenföhn Peter utilizes twelve heatpipes and offers a much larger cooling area than the Heidi. In addition, the fan rail allows for up to four fans to be installed, so that the Peter is capable of dissipating up to 420 Watt of heat. For a clean look, the entire surface of the VGA cooler has been Nickle plated.
Modern graphic cards are very complex pieces of engineering, always pushing the envelope in speed, power consumption and thermal design power (TDP). In addition to this, graphic cards have to be cooled while keeping the cooling unit within the constrains of one or two PCI slots, so that it does not block any additional expansion slots of the mainboard. To generate the required cooling performance in such tight quarters a noisy high speed fan tends to be the only option.
An aftermarket cooler like the Alpenföhn Peter in turn is capable of taking on up to 420 Watt, making it the perfect fit for many high-end graphic cards like the AMD RADEON HD6970 or NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580. To guarantee the best compatibility, the Alpenföhn Peter includes various mounting materials which are to be placed on the underside of the cooler. Such a system also makes the Peter future-proof as it can be installed on upcoming cards by simply acquiring the newest mounting brackets.
Twelve Nickle plated, copper heatpipes with a diameter of 6 millimeters guarantee the most efficient transport of heat from the GPU to the cooling fins of the Peter. 84 such Aluminum fins take the heat and pass it on to the surrounding air. This effect is catalyzed with the optional fans. To keep the strain of such the cooler on the mainboard to a minimum, Alpenföhn has included a mounting rail to hold these fans in place.
This rail is attached to the PCI slots and can take up to four 140 mm fans. In such a configuration, two of the cooling units will be placed right above the cooling fins, while the other two are attached facing the side of the heatsink. These are especially effective with cases which feature an opening in the side panel to allow for fresh air to be pulled into the case. You are also free to install smaller fans - if your chassis does not offer enough space for example.
Due to this system of customization, the user is free to create a unique configuration to suit the requirements. This allows for users who prefer silence as well as overclockers to pick their desired fans to cool the Alpenföhn Peter within their system. At launch, Caseking will be offering eight different cooler & fan bundles for the various needs and application scenarios. Besides the Alpenföhn Peter, the user will also receive a set of 30 small heatsinks, which are intended to cool the various components on the graphic card. A mix of different shapes and sizes guarantees the utmost compatibility.
The Alpenföhn Peter - Universal High-End VGA Cooler will be available in mid May, for a price of 54.90 Euro at www.caseking.de. Various bundles containing the Alpenföhn Peter and between two and four fans, for both silent and performance applications will also be available from Caseking at that time. An overview of the various bundles can be found at www.caseking.de/peter. A detailed compatibility list can be viewed in the product description of the Alpenföhn Peter on the Caseking website.
Modern graphic cards are very complex pieces of engineering, always pushing the envelope in speed, power consumption and thermal design power (TDP). In addition to this, graphic cards have to be cooled while keeping the cooling unit within the constrains of one or two PCI slots, so that it does not block any additional expansion slots of the mainboard. To generate the required cooling performance in such tight quarters a noisy high speed fan tends to be the only option.
This rail is attached to the PCI slots and can take up to four 140 mm fans. In such a configuration, two of the cooling units will be placed right above the cooling fins, while the other two are attached facing the side of the heatsink. These are especially effective with cases which feature an opening in the side panel to allow for fresh air to be pulled into the case. You are also free to install smaller fans - if your chassis does not offer enough space for example.
Due to this system of customization, the user is free to create a unique configuration to suit the requirements. This allows for users who prefer silence as well as overclockers to pick their desired fans to cool the Alpenföhn Peter within their system. At launch, Caseking will be offering eight different cooler & fan bundles for the various needs and application scenarios. Besides the Alpenföhn Peter, the user will also receive a set of 30 small heatsinks, which are intended to cool the various components on the graphic card. A mix of different shapes and sizes guarantees the utmost compatibility.
The Alpenföhn Peter - Universal High-End VGA Cooler will be available in mid May, for a price of 54.90 Euro at www.caseking.de. Various bundles containing the Alpenföhn Peter and between two and four fans, for both silent and performance applications will also be available from Caseking at that time. An overview of the various bundles can be found at www.caseking.de/peter. A detailed compatibility list can be viewed in the product description of the Alpenföhn Peter on the Caseking website.
47 Comments on Alpenföhn Launches Peter High-Performance VGA Cooler
Good that your MK-13 works well for the 6970, which is more efficient and not a heat factory like the 480's I have to contend with.
I had an MK-13 on my first EVGA 480 when they were originally released. I was impressed by the Prolimatech's high-quality construction and the fan bracket (I still experiment with that bracket occasionally).
A bonus for me was that it could be used with the stock 480 heatplate.
But, Prolimatech later changed their compatibility rating to not compatible for the 480. I found that on my 480, it couldn't handle the heat ouput at anything beyond mild gaming, at which point the temps were higher than the stock cooler. I experimented with different fans and configurations, the best I could do was with two 110 cfm fans mounted under the cooler.
The Zalman VF3000F on my EVGA 480, and the oem version on my 480 AMP handle the heat output quite nicely in comparison, from gaming up to anything I can throw at them, including Furmark on extreme burn mode. Which I prefer to avoid using, but I had to see if the VF3000F's could handle it.
Back to the Alpenfohn, looking at the YouTube video, it looks like a damn good cooler. The construction quality appears to be equal to Prolimatech's, which are likely made at the same factory. The bracket looks to be longer than the MK-13's.
Was that a 580 it was installed on? I noticed it used that cards stock heatplate, so that would be a benefit for some.
Hope to see a review comparing it to the AXP, Zalman, and perhaps Thermalright's offerings.
Can I change the orientation so that it takes slots going up? I have no more room for this if it needs to take up slots going south.
Also how many extra slots does it take up? Two, three or more?
Shame they don't release it for hd 6990, because the reference cooler is so loud
In fact the MK-13 allows me to take the heat directly out of my case too.
It's a much faster process then letting the heat conduct it's self through metal.
Even, rapid distribution FTW!
Although i admit i am curious of how a heat pipe cooler would work if using the pipes to pump water through though :laugh:
1st day - it would work well
2nd day - looks a bit rusty
3rd day - has leaked water all over your mobo
:roll:
( Assuming the entire WC setup is within the same space confines)
I want it bad, even though compatibility will be VERY limited :laugh:
I think i would take a 480mm rad over that.... although if it were available in copper :roll: