I installed the HR-03-GT VGA cooler by Thermaltake today on my ASUS 4870. I learned a couple of things that I wanted to pass along.
First, I had ordered the Enzotech low-profile copper heatsinks for the ram. (8 of them). I had used those same sinks on an Accelero S1 V2 used on an 8800GT, so I knew the drill. (Or I thought I did). Once I got the ram chips cleaned and the Enzos attached, I proceeded to install the cooler. Something wasn't right so I took a quick look and noticed that the front ram sinks were hitting the heatpipes.
So, reluctantly after checking every type of quick fix I could think of, I removed the 4 ram sinks that run parallel to the vid card.
I then realized why Thermaltake had put the small, wafer sized square sinks in the kit. The problem was there were only 3. Luckily the outside sink clears the pipes so a regular sink will work.
OK, with that problem solved I finished the install and thought I would try the little wire thingies that T-Take included to hold a 92mm fan. Well, I preferred a 120mm fan so I thought I would try it. It worked! So, with the fan cleanly attached, (and no plastic ties in sight), I re-installed the card. The next few minutes were pretty painful. Waiting for the system to boot, Vista to load, yada yada, and finally to load a program to read my vid card temp. The factory cooler/leaf blower could keep it at 52.5 degrees C at 40% fan at idle. Not overly loud but annoying. I looked at Smart Doctor and saw that my idle temps now were at 42C (at idle). A pretty neat trick to drop it a bit over 10 C.
Now I am off to run some load tests to see how it performs. I'll post some temps as soon as I can. But for now, I am a happy camper since I no longer have the wind tunnel effect going on inside my case. Ahhh... nice and quiet.
Good cooler! Very nice quality. Just watch out for the ram sink height.
KGW
PS - I swear the ambient temperature feels much more comfortable in my office/playroom since I no longer have a blast furnace coming out the back of my case. Of course its probably cooling down outside a bit as I have a hurricane heading my way.