Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 mini review and support

[Retro*]

Originally Posted by BababooeyHTJ

I just picked up a used unisink from the FS/FT section and a couple of extra pads from Petra's.

Now to see if I know anyone with a dremel.

Glad to hear you found a UniSink, and for a good price too. Good plan getting some more pads, they are hard to find at times. I bought an imitation Dremel at a good price on sale, maybe they have similar deals at Ace or other hardware stores.
Looks like you will beat me to it trying it out, I don't want to mess with mine until I get another cooler for it. Just wanted to mention that the HR-03GTX should fit with most of the UniSink left intact, except for the narrow strip covering the three ram chips under the heatpipes. That could be cut right off or some of it trimmed away.

But I would like to hear your ideas for the UniSink, and I look forward to seeing what you can do with it, and your results

[BababooeyHTJ]

Originally Posted by Retro*

Glad to hear you found a UniSink, and for a good price too. Good plan getting some more pads, they are hard to find at times. I bought an imitation Dremel at a good price on sale, maybe they have similar deals at Ace or other hardware stores.
Looks like you will beat me to it trying it out, I don't want to mess with mine until I get another cooler for it. Just wanted to mention that the HR-03GTX should fit with most of the UniSink left intact, except for the narrow strip covering the three ram chips under the heatpipes. That could be cut right off or some of it trimmed away.

But I would like to hear your ideas for the UniSink, and I look forward to seeing what you can do with it, and your results

My boss has a dremel that I can use. So that helps. I was thinking about cutting that strip from the unisink but I'm a little worried about destroying the structural integrity of the sink and with the weight of the HR-03 warping the pcb and not making proper contact with some of the memory chips. I was thinking about grinding down the sink just enough for the retention bracket for the HR-03 but I'm not too sure how that would work out or even just making my own bracket and screwing it to the holes made for a water block but I'm not sure how that would work out, either, tbh.

Originally Posted by OnBoard

Or you could just hacksaw it to pieces and lap the spikes, like Daleraith did.

That might be my best bet. It's the old style unisink without the spikes. I'm hoping that it works as well since there is less surface area for air flow.

[OnBoard]

Originally Posted by BababooeyHTJ

That might be my best bet. It's the old style unisink without the spikes. I'm hoping that it works as well since there is less surface area for air flow.

The old should fit under Accelero, just some mod needed for the center part. But you'll know better when you have it in hand

[David12King]

Hi everyone,

I read through this thread pretty thoroughly but I'd like to confirm what I've read.

I have a BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE (55nm/core 216).

If I've read correctly, all I need to install this cooler on my card is the cooler itself and one pack of http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thgtx28vrsi.html these heatsinks?

Thanks,
David

[OnBoard]

Originally Posted by David12King

Hi everyone,

I read through this thread pretty thoroughly but I'd like to confirm what I've read.

I have a BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC MAXCORE (55nm/core 216).

If I've read correctly, all I need to install this cooler on my card is the cooler itself and one pack of http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thgtx28vrsi.html these heatsinks?

Thanks,
David

Yep, that should do it. Unless it's a GTX 275 PCB that has the big component near the NVIO chip.

[David12King]

Originally Posted by OnBoard

Yep, that should do it. Unless it's a GTX 275 PCB that has the big component near the NVIO chip.

Thanks. I'd like to do this soon but I'm still waiting on my motherboard replacement

[Makou107]

So what I'm shit out of luck if I buy this for a GTX 280? Is there any cooler out there for the 280 that cools everything on the card properly?

[David12King]

Originally Posted by Makou107

So what I'm shit out of luck if I buy this for a GTX 280? Is there any cooler out there for the 280 that cools everything on the card properly?

HR-03 GTX I think.

There's a mod you can do with your card that involves leaving the standard heatsink on. I think it works with the 280.

http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling...gtx-260-a.html

I personally couldn't do it because the plastic shroud wouldn't come off my heatsink. It may work for you though.

[Makou107]

Wow thanks for that link David, I think I may give that a try.

[Makou107]

Anyone know if the SilenX ixg-80ha2 cools the VRM well?

[OnBoard]

Originally Posted by David12King

HR-03 GTX I think.

There's a mod you can do with your card that involves leaving the standard heatsink on. I think it works with the 280.

I personally couldn't do it because the plastic shroud wouldn't come off my heatsink. It may work for you though.

There's instruction on removing the plastic shroud on the first page. Should pop right off if you have removed all the screws (quite a lot of them).

Originally Posted by Makou107

Anyone know if the SilenX ixg-80ha2 cools the VRM well?

Nope, has similar piece of aluminum that HR-03 GTX does but did worse on test.

If you decide to go with Thermalright use (non silver) thermal paste under the VRM sink, should give better temps.

[tjmagneto]

I swapped my AC cooler for a T-rad2 GTX. It installed in a few minutes, had VRM heatsinks, works quite well and is not as large as the HR-03 or the AC 280. If things work out based on my measurements, I should be able to run SLI by swapping out the supplied fans with 2 100mm x 12mm 2000 rpm Scythe Kaze-Jyu Slims. I'll be doing the surgery on my system tonight and will let you all know how it went.

[BababooeyHTJ]

Originally Posted by tjmagneto

I swapped my AC cooler for a T-rad2 GTX. It installed in a few minutes, had VRM heatsinks, works quite well and is not as large as the HR-03 or the AC 280. If things work out based on my measurements, I should be able to run SLI by swapping out the supplied fans with 2 100mm x 12mm 2000 rpm Scythe Kaze-Jyu Slims. I'll be doing the surgery on my system tonight and will let you all know how it went.

Cant wait to hear about your results. If you post a pic or two you will be the man.

[tjmagneto]

I got them (yes both) installed last night and got it fired up this morning after re-doing some connections for the fans.

I'll get some pictures up later but for now: I took some measurements and the spacing between the fans on card one and the back of card two is 15 mm. The other issue that I previously had was clearance from card two and the bottom mounted power supply. I have about 1 cm so there should be some decent airflow there.

The fans are running at their full 2000 RPMs and are sounding quite nice. Temp info to follow but preliminarily I'm folding right now and GPU-z reports 56 degrees C.

[petran_x13]

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalo...ath=2_&mID=251

[King Wookie]

Originally Posted by petran_x13

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalo...ath=2_&mID=251

Looks like they have improved the heatsinks in the pack. Nice!
I note no support for the 280.

Now we just have to wait for suppliers to get stock.

[SK-1]

Originally Posted by King Wookie

I note no support for the 280.

[King Wookie]

Sorry. I was looking at their installation drawings, and didn't see one for the 280.
Should work, and hopefully the new heatsinks will be an improvement.

[OnBoard]

Hehee, Arctic Cooling have been reading this thread

Seems they have improved the NVIO sink to be small enough to fit every card and have 4 point mount. Added ramsinks to have enough for 55nm cards and added VRM sinks for all 55nm cards. Ditched the "horrible" backramplate and now use ramsinks with 260 65nm. Also the mounting system is different, looks like it could fit with the GPU brace still in place.

Us 65nm owners get no love, but these are not current cards anymore, so I don't blame them.

So anyone planning on getting one of these for GTX 275 285 or 260 (55nm), wait for Accelero XTREME GTX Pro if you want compatibility straight for the box. If you have a 65nm card, no point on pying the newer, as it's 10€/$14 more expensive than the old. Also you might get the old one and Scythe sinks cheaper than the new one too.

edit: added info on it to the first post.

edit2: I think those "VR heatsink D" could work on GTX 260 65nm. There is 6 of them so it's enough for it. http://www.arctic-cooling.com/downlo...for_gtx285.pdf

[Retro*]

Originally Posted by OnBoard

Hehee, Arctic Cooling have been reading this thread

Seems they have improved the NVIO sink to be small enough to fit every card and have 4 point mount. Added ramsinks to have enough for 55nm cards and added VRM sinks for all 55nm cards. Ditched the "horrible" backramplate and now use ramsinks with 260 65nm. Also the mounting system is different, looks like it could fit with the GPU brace still in place.

Us 65nm owners get no love, but these are not current cards anymore, so I don't blame them.

So anyone planning on getting one of these for GTX 275 285 or 260 (55nm), wait for Accelero XTREME GTX Pro if you want compatibility straight for the box. If you have a 65nm card, no point on pying the newer, as it's 10€/$14 more expensive than the old. Also you might get the old one and Scythe sinks cheaper than the new one too.

edit: added info on it to the first post.

edit2: I think those "VR heatsink D" could work on GTX 260 65nm. There is 6 of them so it's enough for it. http://www.arctic-cooling.com/downlo...for_gtx285.pdf

Hmmn, very interesting

[BababooeyHTJ]

I still haven't installed the uni-sink. Honestly I'm afraid to remove the heatsinks on the memory chips. Should I be? Do you guys have any tips on how to do this? I see that Retro pulled it off without any complaints.

[Retro*]

Originally Posted by BababooeyHTJ

I still haven't installed the uni-sink. Honestly I'm afraid to remove the heatsinks on the memory chips. Should I be? Do you guys have any tips on how to do this? I see that Retro pulled it off without any complaints.

Hey Babs,
I had to twist some of the stubborn sinks that were really stuck good, sort of a clockwise/counter-clockwise motion and gently lifting it off the ram.
Another trick is to gently insert a soft plastic butter knife (the fast food freebie kind) under the heatsink to cut into the gap a bit.
The soft copper spikes on the Enzotech sinks may bend a bit after twisting them but can be straightened easily enough.
Good luck!

[BababooeyHTJ]

Originally Posted by Retro*

Hey Babs,
I had to twist some of the stubborn sinks that were really stuck good, sort of a clockwise/counter-clockwise motion and gently lifting it off the ram.
Another trick is to gently insert a soft plastic butter knife (the fast food freebie kind) under the heatsink to cut into the gap a bit.
The soft copper spikes on the Enzotech sinks may bend a bit after twisting them but can be straightened easily enough.
Good luck!

Thanks for the tips. I might give it a shot this weekend. What really worries me is those large ramsinks that stretch across three ram chips since I'm not sure that I can twist those off. I really like the plastic butter knife idea since there isn't much risk of damaging the card if and when I slip unlike with a razer blade.

[Retro*]

Originally Posted by BababooeyHTJ

Thanks for the tips. I might give it a shot this weekend. What really worries me is those large ramsinks that stretch across three ram chips since I'm not sure that I can twist those off. I really like the plastic butter knife idea since there isn't much risk of damaging the card if and when I slip unlike with a razer blade.

You're Welcome!
The long sinks can be awkward. Try to keep them level with (perpendicular to?) the ram chips when twisting them off, if you tip the heat sink too much the edge or corners of it can scratch the ram. I was thinking the same thing when I thought about the plastic knife, a metal blade can really gouge the chips.

I have also heard another tip, just before you are ready to remove the sinks, to heat up the card first by running Furmark or OCCT for a few minutes to soften the thermal adhesive. I didn't bother though, by the time you get the card out it cools down fairly fast, but it might still help.

It's good that you are being cautious with this since it doesn't take much to scratch or chip these cards. When I got back my 280 from the guy I sold it to, I noticed there was a very slight chip on a corner of the Nivo chip, possibly from bolting on the Enzotech nb sink. And I also saw a tiny scratch on one of the ram chips. So be careful! But the card was still working fine when I last used it.

I have kind of committed myself to these two 275's I am running now, SLI works great, 27K in Vantage, very smooth in GTAIV and Crysis, and any other game I can throw at them. They run fairly cool with the fans at 100%, but I can't help thinking how much cooler they would run with a new Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme GTX Pro mounted on each one

[BababooeyHTJ]

Thanks again Retro.

I got it installed and what a process that was but at least all is well so far. The sinks weren't as bad as I thought to remove but the long sinks did worry me a bit. I had to hit the uni-sink on the bench grinder and it took a while to grind it down enough to make room for the heatpipes. Then I also had to make a new retention bracket and don't laugh at it too much since it does look pretty bad but you don't see it anyways. I did use a sawzall and a bench grinder to make the bracket and there not really made for finish work.

So far it does seem like the vrms are staying cooler than with the stock cooler and quite a bit better than the enzos. Anyways here is some pics.

Edit: I just did some testing and apparently those aluminum sinks on the ram didn't do as good of a job as I thought. I was just playing around with GPUTool and with the aluminum sinks anything over 1225mhz on the ram would cause artifacting almost right away. I just ran GPUTool with 1268mhz on the memory for a few minutes with no errors. I would need to do more testing to see if thats truly stable but definitely an improvement in cooling on the ram.