*GTX 260/280 Unofficial TPU! Thread*

[OnBoard]

PICTURES!!!!!!!!! Onboard, Get PICTURESSSSSSSS!!!!

Yeah, I have lots of pictures. Took 3½ hours to get old cooler off, GPU/mem/VRM cleaned and new cooler installed.

Don't know if I have energy to post the pictures now, but something you all want to know:

Original backplate works with Accelero and VRM cooler is not good 132C VRM temps and then I stopped FurMark, no wonder no review posted them. I have an idea though, before I chop of the stock cooler VRM part. I have small green mosfet sinks that I'll stick on top of the VRM cooler plate where the voltage regulators are. That should bring the temps down a bit (hopefully).

But Cooler is absolutely silent as it wont go over the 40%, even with 100% it's not bad, something like stock cooler in 70%. My room is now 2C cooler than it as when I FurMarked stock cooler, so I'll wait a bit for it to heat up. Couple minutes FurMark was however 61C to give you an idea of the power

So now a bit of a food break and then some sexy pictures and testing. 39C idle atm at 20,6C ambient and 40% fan (with 3Dclocks it was 43C)

 

[OnBoard]

Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 installation

Card used in installation is same name as the cooler GTX 280 by ASUS, forgot to mention that.

Cooler is compatible mainly with 65nm GTX 260 and 280. Can be used on 55nm GTX 260 and GTX 285 (and upcoming GTX 275), but you'll need to have your own heatsinks to the VRM area and couple extra ramsinks. Rest info here:

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=237

There she is with all the pits and pieces that come along.

Backplate off from stock cooler, took alot of time and patience, even when I knew where the clips are that hold it in place, thanks to Wizzards pictures. Along with various bits used to dismantle and clean.

Stock cooler off, not too much paste. If backplate was hard to get off, that fan wire was almost impossible! Took me 15min and had to use a small pin to get room for the little clips to come of. It was seriously tight and nothing to hold on (and didn't want to break it).

Cleaned with cotton swabs some Sinol (alcohol) and eraser. Eraser is a must and it's even on the instructions. Memory pads leave an epic grease residue that won't stick anything.

Memory sinks installed and pads for the VRM sink. Picture is mostly to show the blue protective film on top of VRM sink and backplate. Reviewers left it on, but it's meant to come off. Doesn't mention that on the instructions though.

A little bug. Cooler doesn't have those 3M tapes on the mounting feet that are meant to hold those white little spacers on. Doesn't show that well on the instructions, but it has a picture that tells you to peel the tape film off and stick the spacers there. I used a glue stick to overcome it, worked fine.

Cooler installed, it's BIG

Top view to show the space between the cooler and the PCB.

Backside to show original backplate still work with this cooler. No need to use the "uglier" one supplied, if you have 65nm GTX 260/280. My initiative to use it was to keep PCB from bending. Stock cooler weighs 548g and Accelero 632g and the supplied backplate attaches only with thermal tape.

Installed in case, it's long..

And another angle to show the shiny backplate

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and maybe there was some information as well. Some temperature tests to follow (later) and comparison to stock cooler temps. Tomorrow I'll add more sinks to VRM to see what it does.

 

[OnBoard]

Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 temperatures

Stock cooler idle, but with 3D voltage and clocks. 22C ambient. | Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 idle, with 3D voltage and clocks. 21C ambient.

Stock cooler FurMark 180s load. 22C ambient.

Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 FurMark 180s load. 21C ambient.
Didn't want to run the 3mins with those VRM temps, but test is a test.

To sum it up:
Core temps idle went down 20C and Load 24C.
PCB temps idle over 10C down and load over 20C down.
VRM temps idle went up 2-4C and Load up 40C!.

Interesting thing to note is that VDDC current went down quite a bit. So the cooler the card runs, less power it also needs (and that should help overclocking).

138C is absolutely horrible for VRM, sorry Arctic Cooling, but you messed it up. I doubt no-one tested those temps with FurMark Tomorrow I'll be trying to get this down to more reasonable numbers, with more sinks.

Other than that, core temps are fantastic load lower than stock cooler idle and noise is "what noise?". I'd give it 8/10 with that VRM sink, still worth the money though (cost was 59.90€/$81.5/£56 with VAT). Those of you with 55nm GTX 260 or GTX 285 should have less problems with VRM temps, as you can(have to) use ramsinks on them. GTX 260 will most likely run a bit cooler too, as it has only 5 of the 7 voltage regulators GTX 280 has.

 

[Cold Storm]

Dang, it is longer then the card itself! Not as bad, but for someone with a case like yours.. It almost fit!

Thanks for the pictures man, I can't wait to see the difference in tempatures!

 

[OnBoard]

Dang, it is longer then the card itself! Not as bad, but for someone with a case like yours.. It almost fit!

Thanks for the pictures man, I can't wait to see the difference in tempatures!

You're welcome. My case is 5.25" from top to bottom, so there is even room to spare

Temperature results added to above post.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Cant wait for the x2 extreme to be released, supposidly this weel, need some more silent cooling for mine, then a BIOS voltmod ensues! Nice pics Onboard!

 

[OnBoard]

Cant wait for the x2 extreme to be released, supposidly this weel, need some more silent cooling for mine, then a BIOS voltmod ensues! Nice pics Onboard!

Thanks. Yes, sound is not an issue with this cooler (or the 4870x2). ATI has even lower min RPM for fan, than NVIDIA 40%, is it 29%? And that VRM cooler looks also more impressive in it, has actual fins

Voltmodding shouldn't be an issue either with this, as my load is lower than my idle used to be

 

[Kursah]

Thanks for the review OnBoard, I was curious how different the VRM temps would be in comparison to the HR03GTX cooler. Seems noone in aftermarket is paying enough attention to that detail, granted I'm sure the VRM's can take it, but after a reseat of my stock HSF my VRM's generally average 8-10C cooler than the GPU while folding and gaming, though they are even or +1-2c under Furmark. Though the rest of the temps are quite impressive, I'm still pretty sure I'll be snagging one of these coolers.

I might just find some ram sinks and use those instead. But you definately gave me some food for thought!

 

[Cold Storm]

Yeah, I'm with everyone on saying it was a stand up job Onboard! I really do like the cooler, just wish it was 2 slots!

Thanks for the review man!

 

[OnBoard]

Thanks for the review OnBoard, I was curious how different the VRM temps would be in comparison to the HR03GTX cooler. Seems noone in aftermarket is paying enough attention to that detail, granted I'm sure the VRM's can take it, but after a reseat of my stock HSF my VRM's generally average 8-10C cooler than the GPU while folding and gaming, though they are even or +1-2c under Furmark. Though the rest of the temps are quite impressive, I'm still pretty sure I'll be snagging one of these coolers.

I might just find some ram sinks and use those instead. But you definately gave me some food for thought!

Ramsinks won't work on 65nm versions. There are surface mount components besides those volt regs. Unless the ramsink has a thick unconductive thermal pad under, these would be only option:

http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/other_misc/Enzotech/1010.html
http://www.enzotechnology.com/mos-c1.htm

If you noticed my VRM temps before, yours seem much cooler, so they'd also be cooler with the Accelero sink. Have to see what more sinks on top of that VRM plate do. BF2142 hit 119C on VRM's, no graphical bugs or anything, but haven't tried something more tasking.

 

[OnBoard]

Added results of the extra VRM sink experiment here:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?p=1278475

Seems like the supplied thermal pads are not that great. Surface area went up quite a bit, but didn't gain almost any in temperature drop.

Butchering stock cooler along with warranty should be the next step, if I let those VRM temps bother me too much. But that's a future project

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

I used artic silver thermal apoxy on my vrm sinks. worked well and OC's great. Been running like this for over 1 year, no problems.

 

[OnBoard]

I used artic silver thermal apoxy on my vrm sinks. worked well and OC's great. Been running like this for over 1 year, no problems.

You have a picture of the VRM area? What sinks and what temps do you get in FurMark. Thermal epoxy would do wonders on that tiny surface area, but I don't want nothing permanent

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Yeah, I do have pics, posted somewhere on this forum, maybe in this thread...lol. Let me check.

Not finding them. Since when can we only go back 8 pages of posts in the UserCP?

Ok I managed to find it. Heres the thread:http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=73707&highlight=GTX280

Heres a couple of images.

http://www.1h1k.com/gtx280/almost.jpg

http://www.1h1k.com/gtx280/complete.jpg

 

[OnBoard]

Ok I managed to find it. Heres a couple of images.

http://www.1h1k.com/gtx280/almost.jpg

http://www.1h1k.com/gtx280/complete.jpg

You have a fan on top blowing on them? Do you mind doing a 180s FurMark run with GPU-Z, would like to see what VRM temps you get.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Sure I can do that when I get home. Although it must be working with the OC levels Im holding.

I have this cooler. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835114024

But the directional fan died (cheap) so Modded it with a 70mm fan I had laying around. Works well pushes a good amount of air over the ram and vrms. The squirel cage fan still works (amazing), so all the air pushed by the 70mm after hitting the heatsinks gets pushed out the back of the case.

 

[OnBoard]

Sure I can do that when I get home. Although it must be working with the OC levels Im holding.

But the directional fan died (cheap) so Modded it with a 70mm fan I had laying around. Works well pushes a good amount of air over the ram and vrms.

Yeah, I don't mind what clocks, just eager to see how much lower temps are than mine. Those aluminium sinks aren't that much bigger than the ones I have so I might try them out too before I kill the stock cooler.

Airflow is propably a bit more than a 92mm fan at 1400rpm (the third one in the Accelero is on top of the VRM area). Still should be close enough to compare.

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Yeah, I don't mind what clocks, just eager to see how much lower temps are than mine. Those aluminium sinks aren't that much bigger than the ones I have so I might try them out too before I kill the stock cooler.

Airflow is propably a bit more than a 92mm fan at 1400rpm (the third one in the Accelero is on top of the VRM area). Still should be close enough to compare.

Actually yours is much closer to the vrms. That slot cooler of mine sits in the closest pci slot to the video card. I will run it at the same levels as you are, and oc'd to see the difference. Oh..I can say this for sure. When playing Farcry for several hours I always keep rivatuner hardware monitor open in the background with all the pluggins for volts and vrm temps. They peak (feeding overclock settings) around 80c I believe...all I know is it was under 100c for sure, I would have freaked if I saw them as high as yours was getting.

 

[OnBoard]

all I know is it was under 100c for sure, I would have freaked if I saw them as high as yours was getting.

Hehe, I'm not liking them either. Too scared to have tried Cryostasis yet, it hit FurMark temps on core with stock cooler, VRM temps probably weren't far either. I'd be happy if I can get to 110C, 100C or below would be optimum of course.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Actually yours is much closer to the vrms. That slot cooler of mine sits in the closest pci slot to the video card. I will run it at the same levels as you are, and oc'd to see the difference. Oh..I can say this for sure. When playing Farcry for several hours I always keep rivatuner hardware monitor open in the background with all the pluggins for volts and vrm temps. They peak (feeding overclock settings) around 80c I believe...all I know is it was under 100c for sure, I would have freaked if I saw them as high as yours was getting.

Hows the Extreme coming along? What you managing to bench stable at now with that moster

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

Hows the Extreme coming along? What you managing to bench stable at now with that moster

I have hit 525x8.5, I am chicken to go to the 9x multi. I can run 9x500 at 1.46volts, all day long temps under load are in the high 50's, so I would guess 525x9 is going to take 1.55volts...and that is just a crazy amount of volts. I need to get more comfortable with this board and do so more tweeking, alot of my settings are still on auto.

Currently my best 3dmark06 on this board is 22,100..however I know it can do much more with a little tweeking. I was getting 22,000 on my P35 at 4.2Ghz, so this board should do a lot more @ 4.5Ghz+ once I get everything balanced.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I have hit 525x8.5, I am chicken to go to the 9x multi. I can run 9x500 at 1.46volts, all day long temps under load are in the high 50's, so I would guess 525x9 is going to take 1.55volts...and that is just a crazy amount of volts. I need to get more comfortable with this board and do so more tweeking, alot of my settings are still on auto.

Currently my best 3dmark06 on this board is 22,100..however I know it can do much more with a little tweeking. I was getting 22,000 on my P35 at 4.2Ghz, so this board should do a lot more @ 4.5Ghz+ once I get everything balanced.

Nice! Yep, I personally would not run higher than about 1.35v 24/7 on a 45nm quad but at that voltage I can get 4.3gig no sweat but i think you may have a slightly better chip than me. I have just ordered some very nice low noise 70cfm 120mm fans to sit on my True along with the coolermaster HAF 932 case (3 x 230mm fans), all that extra airflow should give me a few more degrees C to play with on the overclock, plus I have spent some time tweaking clock skews and GTl ref voltages, now I am finding I can clock higher on lower VCore so even for me after nearly 5 months with my board I am still learning!

 

[alexp999]

Wow, I expected the Accelero GTX to do really well across the board, not impressed with VRM temps though. What I seem to have noticed is that my sotck cooler works really well. Could it be the EVGA manufacture process?

On my clocks in my sig at 1.18v, and 100% fan, my GPU temp will not break 60*C

 

[ZenZimZaliben]

You have a fan on top blowing on them? Do you mind doing a 180s FurMark run with GPU-Z, would like to see what VRM temps you get.

I just downloaded FurMark..what resolution did you use? Benchmark or Stability...just trying to get as close as possible to your setup.

Ok here it is at 180 seconds with 2 GPUz screens to see all VDDC temps. At the same clocks you were running. Big Difference! Also this is a crappy gif image, and those green dots are not artifacts.

 

[OnBoard]

I just downloaded FurMark..what resolution did you use? Benchmark or Stability...just trying to get as close as possible to your setup.

Ok here it is at 180 seconds with 2 GPUz screens to see all VDDC temps. At the same clocks you were running. Big Difference! Also this is a crappy gif image, and those green dots are not artifacts.

640x480 and stability. Resolution doesn't seem to do anything about temps, just used the lowest to fit GPU-Z there easily

Why is your core voltage 1.1250? Mine is at 1.1875V. But yes, good temps, compared to my current ones =) (think I'll do a 1.1250V run)

Just took stock cooler apart, that plastic thing off to see how the VRM part looks. Should be pretty simple to cut it off there. One heatpipe comes near the VRM and goes under the core, so the whole cooler helps cooling them and that explains the temps. And 7 heatpipes, no wonder it works so well. Two of them connect to the top metal plate. Someone has really though about the stock cooler.