Does anyone else miss third-party GPU coolers?

[freeagent]

I got into the hobby in 2002 I think, I’m sure Zalman was around even then..

 

[_JP_]

Oh I miss them alright. That same Thermalright cooler posted above would fit my old HD 5770 and make it passive with a tweak to the clocks (or maybe even without tweaking, didn't get to buy it and test).
That being said, Thermalright, Prolimatech and Artic made awesome coolers in their time for the high-end (Rajintek later in time, Alpenfön and Deepcool are honorable mentions), I also fiddled with CoolerMaster, Zalman and Artic Cooling kits for mid-range cards that were really cool once setup, even if the 'civic' analogy would apply somewhat. You knew you could push the cards a bit since obviously for non-ref card layouts, the coolers were the cheapest possible to "just work" with the stock clocks.

 

[Keullo-e]

I got into the hobby in 2002 I think, I’m sure Zalman was around even then..

You're probably right. I got into PCs in 2003/2004 and enthusiasts changed their coolers back then.

 

[Zareek]

I think I saved at least a few cards with broken fan blades or underperforming coolers by using the Arctic Silencer series 15 to 20 years ago. Back then, you got a 40 mm fan on a tiny chunk of aluminum to cool your fry an egg hot video card.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane. PC gaming was so much more fun in those days...

 

[dirtyferret]

I got into the hobby in 2002 I think, I’m sure Zalman was around even then..

started in 99 although I think they peaked about a decade ago and have been slowly declining out of the NA market since. They used to give Antec a run for their money with cases, PSU, coolers. Now everything seems to be corsair or evga

 

[rockit00]

I used to use the Zalman CPU coolers a lot back in the mid to late 2000's. Great for cooling those Core2Duo's and Quads. I still use a couple of their 120mm lighted fans attached to my ASUS Silent Knight II CPU cooler. Great company Great products!

 

[Zareek]

Oh I miss them alright. That same Thermalright cooler posted above would fit my old HD 5770 and make it passive with a tweak to the clocks (or maybe even without tweaking, didn't get to buy it and test).
That being said, Thermalright, Prolimatech and Artic made awesome coolers in their time for the high-end (Rajintek later in time, Alpenfön and Deepcool are honorable mentions), I also fiddled with CoolerMaster, Zalman and Artic Cooling kits for mid-range cards that were really cool once setup, even if the 'civic' analogy would apply somewhat. You knew you could push the cards a bit since obviously for non-ref card layouts, the coolers were the cheapest possible to "just work" with the stock clocks.

I used to exclusively use Thermalright CPU coolers. They made amazing CPU coolers at really reasonable prices.

 

[freeagent]

I used to exclusively use Thermalright CPU coolers. They made amazing CPU coolers at really reasonable prices.

They still do

 

[Mussels]

Ugly? Damn, that's a hard opinion. Personally I liked almost all of those. Does my 6800 Ultra look cool (literally) with a Zalman VF700-Cu?

Y'know i forgot about the zalmans, one of those might work well on the 970

*Sobs hysterically*


WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME

Ironically, this is about all thats left in the affordable range - and it'd techically be usable, just that i dont want extra maintenance on a low end spare parts PC (i7 6700, DDR4 2133, 970)

 

[Zareek]

They still do

Maybe when I rebuild my wife's PC I will look at them again. I've been using Noctua almost exclusively these days.

 

[freeagent]

Maybe when I rebuild my wife's PC I will look at them again. I've been using Noctua almost exclusively these days.

If you wanna see some Noctua coolers get smacked around, grab a Thermalright for fun

 

[Zyll Goliat]

Well yeah I miss them but sometimes we can swap the coolers from some older cards(if they fit)..So in fact I just order some old ATI 4890 probably not working(cost just 5$) because I like the cooler on it that I want to mount on my RX 5700 Reference model(the noise is just ).....I check the spacing for mounting holes and they should fit also gonna add small aluminium heatsinks for memory.....I hope that this is going to work..... here is how this cooler looks

Also pleanty of room for airflow for VRM and memory......

Looks very similar to the Accelero Twin Turbo

I will let you know in a few days is this experiment working and what are the temps......

 

[Athlonite]

Probably not as I'm 32 and I remember clearly the days of aftermarket VGA coolers.

I still have a brand new Zalman VF700-Cu in the box I was given it but never got around to actually using it on anything I was going to use it on an HD2600XT if I didn't like the temp/noise levels of the stock cooler but I didn't need it in the end.

 

[QuietBob]

I don't miss aftermarket coolers... because I still use them!

The PC I'm posting from has an HD7970 cooled by a Prolimatech MK-26, and my WinXP rig has an HD3850 with a Zalman VF900-Cu on it. I also have an HD6850 with an Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo II and a spare Accelero Xtreme III.

All of them perform admirably. Especially the MK-26 does a bang-up job quenching those 360w

 

[Ownedtbh]

Can someone draw me why aftermarket cooler were better than the ones which were shipped with the gpu?

 

[Zyll Goliat]

Can someone draw me why aftermarket cooler were better than the ones which were shipped with the gpu?

Well in fact these days they are probablly not better any more but in the past most reference GPU models came with the "blower" or some other lighter cooling solution that are never been as good as some better aftermarket coolers.....so in short less noise and muche better temps.....

 

[AusWolf]

I loved the Arctic Cooling ATI 4 Silencer. This cooler would allow you to take an X800 Pro and X850 Pro and turn them into an X800 XTPE and X850 XTPE. I think I modded three or four X800 series cards back in the day. Flashing, Unlocking the 4 extra pipes, ATITool, Those were the Good O'l Days

My X800 XT had the IceQ II cooler from HIS. I think this was an Arctic collaboration as well. It was a brilliant card! I was so disappointed when i swapped it for the slower, noisier and less reliable 7800 GS AGP for DirectX 9.0c support.

You're probably right. I got into PCs in 2003/2004 and enthusiasts changed their coolers back then.

Unless you had a HIS X800 XT like I did. Or if you had a 7800 GS AGP that had a unique cooler mounting hole layout so literally no aftermarket cooler would fit.

 

[Keullo-e]

Unless you had a HIS X800 XT like I did. Or if you had a 7800 GS AGP that had a unique cooler mounting hole layout so literally no aftermarket cooler would fit.

I had a X800 Pro VIVO @ XTPE with an ATI Silencer.

 

[80-watt Hamster]

Can someone draw me why aftermarket cooler were better than the ones which were shipped with the gpu?

Sometimes because the aftermarket doesn't have to worry about size and aesthetics, so can prioritize efficiency over those things. But mostly (for me), it's about having some kind of replacment available if (when) the original fans go south. Because by the time that happens, you can't get stock replacements anymore.

 

[AsRock]

Damn. I loved the ATI/NV Silencer lineup from Arctic

But they started to take cheap ass shortcuts which made them a bad deal.

Sometimes because the aftermarket doesn't have to worry about size and aesthetics, so can prioritize efficiency over those things. But mostly (for me), it's about having some kind of replacment available if (when) the original fans go south. Because by the time that happens, you can't get stock replacements anymore.

A fan bracket solves that issue, and if you take the old fans off as well as the typical plastic shroud tends to be a better way to go.

 

[Keullo-e]

But they started to take cheap ass shortcuts which made them a bad deal.

Yeah.. yet I still remember their best era

Though Arctic is still going hella strong, maybe the best company when it comes to air cooling.

 

[AsRock]

Yeah.. yet I still remember their best era

Though Arctic is still going hella strong, maybe the best company when it comes to air cooling.

Well the last one i got fits my 390X and is much bigger than the original XFX cooler but performs worse than it.

Used to be a time when they did seperate parts that fitted to the card with screws and then you used to have thermalright would would make VRM coolers too.

 

[Keullo-e]

Well the last one i got fits my 390X and is much bigger than the original XFX cooler but performs worse than it.

Used to be a time when they did seperate parts that fitted to the card with screws and then you used to have thermaltake would would make VRM coolers too.

Their VRM heatsink solutions sucked, I have to admit. I had an Accelero Hybrid II-120 in R9 290 and fk those heatsinks I had to install with thermal glue.

 

[AsRock]

Their VRM heatsink solutions sucked, I have to admit. I had an Accelero Hybrid II-120 in R9 290 and fk those heatsinks I had to install with thermal glue.

Yup they used to make them so the screwed on. Only reason i got mine was due to XFX having a separate plate for mem and vrm's as AC's are just junk.

But yeah miss being able to try things like that, a long with 3rd party coolers for motherboards too.

 

[Keullo-e]

Yup they used to make them so the screwed on. Only reason i got mine was due to XFX having a separate plate for mem and vrm's as AC's are just junk.

But yeah miss being able to try things like that, a long with 3rd party coolers for motherboards too.

Good point there. I remember having a Zalman NB heatsink with few boards back in the day.