XFX Double D Radeon HD 7970 BE cooling advice

[yesyesloud]

Hello...

Skip to bold text for my help request.

I have had this card for almost an year now and experienced constant temperature issues. I carefully clean the cooling sink whenever necessary, thus it is shiny, also in good contact with gpu and vrams - pasting is as good as it gets (which I've practiced to optimal levels).

Anyway, that Ghost Double Dissipation thing is not very good for 7970 (perhaps in general), as many people realized.

I don't intend to buy a water cooling system, not only but specially because I am not sure whether this card design is reference.

I would sincerely enjoy suggestions on new air cooling sets fit for this card.

Some cards feature the same model number but more or less ports.
Mine has 1 DVI, 1 HDMI, 2 micro-HDMI.

Pictures of the actual card can sometimes be more helpful in situations like this, I think.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Norton]

AC Extreme 7970 will do the job
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186064

It's huge but it works- only other real option is some form of water cooling. My 7970 runs incredible with its EK full cover water block

 

[buildzoid]

Prolimatech MK-26 but it's even bigger than the AC extreme
BTW the card is reference

 

[BiggieShady]

You might want to look here if you don't want to use thermal adhesive on memory chips and wnat to keep the black front plate that acts as memory and vrm heatsink : http://www.overclock.net/t/1367478/accelero-7970-with-stock-vrm-cooling/10

 

[yesyesloud]

AC Extreme 7970 will do the job
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186064
It's huge but it works- only other real option is some form of water cooling. My 7970 runs incredible with its EK full cover water block

Hey, thanks a lot. I saw some very suggestive accessories on extra pictures... So, just to make sure, will it cool vrams?

Prolimatech MK-26 but it's even bigger than the AC extreme
BTW the card is reference

My setup case is open for life and I will only have one video card for quite a bit longer... No trouble with cooler sizes. Will MK-26 lower the card temperature more than AC extreme? Does it cool vrams?

Great to know that my board design is reference. I tried to figure it out on my own but I was never completely sure (I thought so but was afraid to buy something that wouldn't fit). Thanks, that information sure will help in the long run.

You might want to look here if you don't want to use thermal adhesive on memory chips and wnat to keep the black front plate that acts as memory and vrm heatsink : http://www.overclock.net/t/1367478/accelero-7970-with-stock-vrm-cooling/10

After months of casual (sometimes heavy) research, I'm almost familiar with those pics hah. I use "highly" effective (6w/mk), really non-electricity conductive (personally tested) thermal grease on my vrams. But I am considering changing. I wish it were simpler to achieve that cooling mod
Thanks!

 

[Norton]

Hey, thanks a lot. I saw some very suggestive accessories on extra pictures... So, just to make sure, will it cool vrams?

Yes but check the link on BiggieShady's post (above) and you may want to pick up a better thermal adhesive for the AC supplied heatsinks- the stuff they supply is not the greatest

 

[buildzoid]

My setup case is open for life and I will only have one video card for quite a bit longer... No trouble with cooler sizes. Will MK-26 lower the card temperature more than AC extreme? Does it cool vrams?

It comes with Vram heatsinks and I think it might be slightly cooler(2-5C°) than the Accelero Extreme. I like it because if you have some spare 120mm fans than the MK-26 will be cheaper than the a Accelero Extreme and you can get the MK-26 in Black.

 

[yesyesloud]

All I need is to get temperatures <88°C @ 1100/1600 (or @ 1050/1550 at least). I hope these coolers can help me achieve that mark...

Either way, I have to buy a new cooling system, mine sucks dinosaur ass. Thanks for all of your answers, they are really helpful

 

[coozie78]

As an alternative, and if you can find one in your country, the Gelid Icy Vision AMD cooler is fairly compact, cheap and very effective: http://www.quietpc.com/gel-icy-vision-amd
if you add a Fanmate into the mix to control the speed manually it's able to keep the temps at about 68C under Furmark load in near silence.

 

[Vario]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242041 Theres this guy too.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1301-page5.html


You would need to add fans and heatsinks for ram, vrms, heres how large it is on a 670 for comparison!

 

[BiggieShady]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242041 Theres this guy too.

With that one, card sagging can become an issue (if not tied, suspended or held somehow):

 

[Vario]

Yeah thats pretty hilarious actually. I tie all my videocards with a speaker wire and zip tie guy-wire

 

[yesyesloud]

As an alternative, and if you can find one in your country, the Gelid Icy Vision AMD cooler is fairly compact, cheap and very effective: http://www.quietpc.com/gel-icy-vision-amd
if you add a Fanmate into the mix to control the speed manually it's able to keep the temps at about 68C under Furmark load in near silence.

Hey... Sorry for taking so long to answer. Do you have this cooler? If so, what were your GPU and vrams clocks when you ran Furmark?

From quick ebay querying, this one seems to be the cheapest... If it's as decent as AC III or MK-23, I guess I'll give it a try first.

Thanks!

 

[yesyesloud]

Yeah thats pretty hilarious actually. I tie all my videocards with a speaker wire and zip tie guy-wire

lol... Cool pic. I tend to perform even quirkier mods on my box myself, I bent and/or cut much of my case internal metallic structure...

 

[coozie78]

Yes, I have the cooler.
Like all. it's sensitive to both case airflow and fan speeds, adding a second intake fan to my Antec 200 dropped the load temperatures nearly 8C!
First run was at stock 800/1250 with the cooler running at 1700 (ish) RPM, 69C max temperature using the default furmark 15 minuet burn in, at this speed it's nearly silent.
Second run was at 950/1450 at 1900 (ish) RPM for 68C! At this speed it's only just the loudest part of my rig, noticeable but not really intrusive.
Bear in mind, I'm in cool, England, if you live in the Tropics it'll run hotter.
It likes the ATX style airflow: Adding a side intake fan raised the temperatures while turning it into an exhaust had minimal effect while the cases' top fan has no effect on GPU temperatures it raised the CPU temp by a few degrees, it seems the Hyper 212 fan doesn't like to turn air through 90 degrees (mine's aimed at the rear exhaust fan).

 

[rokazs1]

https://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/138-kraken-g10-gpu-bracket.html
This would be better than all of those air coolers, but it comes with price

 

[yesyesloud]

Yes, I have the cooler.
Like all. it's sensitive to both case airflow and fan speeds, adding a second intake fan to my Antec 200 dropped the load temperatures nearly 8C!
First run was at stock 800/1250 with the cooler running at 1700 (ish) RPM, 69C max temperature using the default furmark 15 minuet burn in, at this speed it's nearly silent.
Second run was at 950/1450 at 1900 (ish) RPM for 68C! At this speed it's only just the loudest part of my rig, noticeable but not really intrusive.
Bear in mind, I'm in cool, England, if you live in the Tropics it'll run hotter.
It likes the ATX style airflow: Adding a side intake fan raised the temperatures while turning it into an exhaust had minimal effect while the cases' top fan has no effect on GPU temperatures it raised the CPU temp by a few degrees, it seems the Hyper 212 fan doesn't like to turn air through 90 degrees (mine's aimed at the rear exhaust fan).

Interesting. From product reviews it seems that a 7970 at clocks as high as 1200/1600 can run in good temperatures (<80 degrees) at full load with this cooler. I'm getting it for $50

https://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/138-kraken-g10-gpu-bracket.html
This would be better than all of those air coolers, but it comes with price

Nice one for when I get a new gpu...

 

[coozie78]

Didn't get it to OC, just keep the noise down.
Bear in mind, you can either to connect the fans to your motherboard via a spare 3 pin header and control the speed through BIOS or get a separate fan controller, its fans are NOT PWM/temperature controlled.
Some of the parts are small, very small, you'll need tweezers during assembly.
If you're going to push for a high OC, one of the big Arctic coolers would be a much better choice.
And be very sure to get the AMD version I linked, it has a raised contact square on the cold plate, those with a flat cold plate won't work because AMD set the GPU die about 1m.m. below the level of the surround.

 

[yesyesloud]

Didn't get it to OC, just keep the noise down.
Bear in mind, you can either to connect the fans to your motherboard via a spare 3 pin header and control the speed through BIOS or get a separate fan controller, its fans are NOT PWM/temperature controlled.
Some of the parts are small, very small, you'll need tweezers during assembly.
If you're going to push for a high OC, one of the big Arctic coolers would be a much better choice.

The AC Extreme III have more fans (of same size) and bigger sink area, but it's got the same number of heat pipes. There is some difference, of course, but most reviews don't point out big performance difference between them imho. I'll go for Icy...

 

[yesyesloud]

The cooling set arrived. After a very tricky installation (worth it) that I could only perform with big help of online videos (manual sucks), I get comfortable 67C out of rather huge overclocking (1150mhz core clock) on full load.

It is definitely as good as Arctic Accelero Xtreme, comparing my own results with online reviews.


Now, some more questions for those who have AMD Gelid Icy Vision coolers...

Will fans run at 100% if I plug the power cable in the card itself (instead of mobo)? I don't wanna ruin them too fast...

If they're powered by the card, will MSI Afterburner show correct speed readings?

Thanks!

 

[Vario]

When I was researching videocard hsf, I remember reading that the Gelid fans don't have variable speed when run off the videocard's header. I just remember seeing this in a review, the only way to be sure is to try it.
You could always run them off a fan controller or remove them and replace with a full size pwm 4 pin 120mm or 92mm fan zip tied to the heat sink that connects to the videocard header with an adapter (4 pin fan to 4 pin vga fan), I think normal 4 pin pwm can be run on a videocard header.

 

[yesyesloud]

When I was researching videocard hsf, I remember reading that the Gelid fans don't have variable speed when run off the videocard's header. I just remember seeing this in a review, the only way to be sure is to try it.
You could always run them off a fan controller or remove them and replace with a full size pwm 4 pin 120mm or 92mm fan zip tied to the heat sink that connects to the videocard header with an adapter (4 pin fan to 4 pin vga fan), I think normal 4 pin pwm can be run on a videocard header.

Does it mean they're running at 100% speed? If they're running below 70%, I'm cool. Otherwise, I'll just plug them in the motherboard in order to gain better control.

 

[mstenholm]

I used aftermarket coolers years back with good results but turned to ASUS/(MSI or what ever you fancy) custom coolers. My folding GPU (7970/1128/1575) does a decent 65 C with fans running at 50 %. Not that useful for you now but never buy a standard GPU again unless you plan to include it in your WC system.

 

[erocker]

The fans on the Icy Vision run where they are supposed to run. No need to adjust them.

 

[R00kie]

I had a friends 7870XT With Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2, and I gotta say, if you plug it into your card the thing will always run at full speed, no matter what settings you put in your control software such as AMD Overdrive or MSI Afterburner, so I suggest getting an adapter with a resistor on it to lower the Speed and plug it into a molex. The thing is just too noisy IMHO.