6870 aftermarket coolers

[Sir B. Fannybottom]

My 6870 runs pretty hot (60C idle, 90ish full load) and I was looking for an aftermarket cooler that will not only keep it cooler, but will be near silent while doing it. I've looked into the Gelid GC-VGA02-01, and some Arctic VGA coolers, but people have said they have problems with it. I have a budget of $80, and I'm in Canada. Thanks in advance!

 

[TRWOV]

I'm thinking Prolimatech MK-13 or Deepcool V6000. Both heatsinks are pretty big and were enough to passively cool my OCed HD3850 AGP. Both cost about the same but the MK-13 doesn't include fans.

HIS HD3850 AGP with V6000 installed:

Take in mind that if your 6870 is reference design (VRMs on the display output side) the heatpipes would interfere with the VRM cooling.

 

[alienwar3]

hey guy i am running the stock fan and my temp idle is 46c plus i am using handbrake right now to encode a bluray dvd... so i cannot run furmark to show full load temps, but i believe is like 70-5-c @ 1080p ..ooh and is a little over clocked.

i did remove the factory thermal paste and uses a good brand plus i went ahead and put paste on the rim of the GPU too...

 

[Norton]

AC Twin Turbo Pro

I had one on my 5870 and it ran cool and quiet (ran under 50C for all loads in my case)

It uses up 3 slots,as most aftermarket coolers do, so make sure you have room for it...

 

[solara2xb]

Are you looking into water cooling??? If you are I had the aqua computer block that was on my 6870, it was great.. Kept my card nice a cool.. Never when over 45c even at full load...

 

[Sir B. Fannybottom]

Are you looking into water cooling??? If you are I had the aqua computer block that was on my 6870, it was great.. Kept my card nice a cool.. Never when over 45c even at full load...

Watercooling is a bit out of my price range, I'm looking for something sub $80

AC Twin Turbo Pro

I had one on my 5870 and it ran cool and quiet (ran under 50C for all loads in my case)

It uses up 3 slots,as most aftermarket coolers do, so make sure you have room for it...

That's actually the cooler I was seriously looking at, but I can't find any english reviews of it on a 6870. I also read that some of the RAM heatsinks would fall off too, should I get aftermarket heatsinks for it?

I'm thinking Prolimatech MK-13 or Deepcool V6000. Both heatsinks are pretty big and were enough to passively cool my OCed HD3850 AGP. Both cost about the same but the MK-13 doesn't include fans.

HIS HD3850 AGP with V6000 installed:

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9417/img0004bj.jpg

Take in mind that if your 6870 is reference design (VRMs on the display output side) the heatpipes would interfere with the VRM cooling.

Those are some nice coolers, but I don't think they'll work with my card.

 

[boogerlad]

You put tim on the shim!?

 

[AsRock]

I'm thinking Prolimatech MK-13 or Deepcool V6000. Both heatsinks are pretty big and were enough to passively cool my OCed HD3850 AGP. Both cost about the same but the MK-13 doesn't include fans.

HIS HD3850 AGP with V6000 installed:

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9417/img0004bj.jpg

Take in mind that if your 6870 is reference design (VRMs on the display output side) the heatpipes would interfere with the VRM cooling.

I love my MK-13 but if he has reference it's going be a pain in the butt as you would have to dremal the crap out of the VRM heat sink and that's even if the screw holes line up.

Although some custom heatsinks to fit might do the trick with having the ability to install 4 120mm fans tot he bracket that comes with the MK-13. And if it was tried i would highly recommend different fan speeds to be tested as there would be heatpipes blocking the flow of air from the from of the card so you would have to relay on the top fan to give enough air flow.

 

[Nordic]

I got my artic xtreme 7970 for a good deal. It should perform similarly to anything else from artic for your 6870.

Its really super quiet. As quiet at 80% fan speed as my twinfrozrIII was at idle. Something from artic should perform even better for a 6870 with its lesser tdp.

All of these work with the 6870.
http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/assistant/vga/chip/4

I was going to use an antec 620 with a special bracket before I found a good deal on my artic. Details here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1203636/official-amd-ati-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-red-mod
Seems to usually get 60c average and as quiet as the fans you put on it are.

 

[pantherx12]

That's actually the cooler I was seriously looking at, but I can't find any english reviews of it on a 6870. I also read that some of the RAM heatsinks would fall off too, should I get aftermarket heatsinks for it?


.

I ran my 6870 at 1.1ghz( at maximum voltage!) with a Arctic twin turbo pro .

I believe temps didn't go over 65-70 depending on how hot it was.


Stock was something stupidly low.

 

[[NEX]]

http://www.pccooler.cn/en/show.php?id=468

this little puppy was like 20usd and keeps my HD6950@900Mhz 1.75 vcore with the shaders unlocked idling a 38C and about mid 50s on load and as a side effect the DirectCu over it dropped like 12C and now i can finally use the sata ports the second card was blocking.
The downside is that it is a bit tall, takes about 3~4 slots, and you need something to hold it up to prevent warping the card (pencils are the best).

 

[pantherx12]

http://www.pccooler.cn/en/show.php?id=468

this little puppy was like 20usd and keeps my HD6950@900Mhz 1.75 vcore with the shaders unlocked idling a 38C and about mid 50s on load and as a side effect the DirectCu over it dropped like 12C and now i can finally use the sata ports the second card was blocking.
The downside is that it is a bit tall, takes about 3~4 slots, and you need something to hold it up to prevent warping the card (pencils are the best).

I used to four heatpipe version of this and can reccomend this type of cooler to!

 

[solara2xb]

Water Cooling is a great way to keep things cool if you can find it in your budget.
if you are interested I do have a used Aquacomputer block for sale. I pulled it off my 6870 when I sold it and its been sitting here..

If interested PM me, I am willing to let it go for cheap...
Edit, Just realized you are in Canada

 

[Sir B. Fannybottom]

http://www.pccooler.cn/en/show.php?id=468

this little puppy was like 20usd and keeps my HD6950@900Mhz 1.75 vcore with the shaders unlocked idling a 38C and about mid 50s on load and as a side effect the DirectCu over it dropped like 12C and now i can finally use the sata ports the second card was blocking.
The downside is that it is a bit tall, takes about 3~4 slots, and you need something to hold it up to prevent warping the card (pencils are the best).

That looks awesome, but I can't seem to find any Canadian vendors... I think I'm going to go with the twin turbo pro thanks for the suggestions guys!

 

[Norton]

That's actually the cooler I was seriously looking at, but I can't find any english reviews of it on a 6870. I also read that some of the RAM heatsinks would fall off too, should I get aftermarket heatsinks for it?

You may be OK without the ram heatsinks- The Twin Turbo Pro on my 5870 was a factory install and didn't have them, only the heatsink for the VRM's was installed...never had an issues with ram temps

As far as the sinks falling off, AC has a bad habit of provided crappy dried up TIM and thermal adhesive in the box with their coolers :shadedshu

I would recommend that you buy a fresh tube of thermal adhesive and TIM:
- TIM: AC MX-2, 3, or 4 all should do fine.
- thermal adhesive- I have no idea what brands are good/bad just remember that the application is pretty much permanent if done right....

Good Luck on the install!

 

[sneekypeet]

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/discontinued-products/thermal-compound/381/g-1.html

That is the stuff made by AC for exactly what you describe. It is a more permanent solution, and unless you are super anal about how clean you get the memory and PWM chips, the stick on adhesive will tend to let go. From what I remember of using it when they revised the Xtreme III with it included, you have to be pretty swift with the application and heat sink placement, as it dries pretty quick.

The adhesive will let go (when you want to remove the cooler) if you twist off the heat sinks, but the IC's had this film left on them that I can't seem to get out with Goo-Gone or Alcohol.

 

[Nordic]

You may be OK without the ram heatsinks- The Twin Turbo Pro on my 5870 was a factory install and didn't have them, only the heatsink for the VRM's was installed...never had an issues with ram temps

As far as the sinks falling off, AC has a bad habit of provided crappy dried up TIM and thermal adhesive in the box with their coolers :shadedshu

I would recommend that you buy a fresh tube of thermal adhesive and TIM:
- TIM: AC MX-2, 3, or 4 all should do fine.
- thermal adhesive- I have no idea what brands are good/bad just remember that the application is pretty much permanent if done right....

Good Luck on the install!

I just left my stock ram/vrm heatsink on

 

[Sir B. Fannybottom]

I just left my stock ram/vrm heatsink on

You can remove that metal plate? Does it interfere withthe cooler?

 

[Nordic]

You can remove that metal plate? Does it interfere withthe cooler?

I'm pretty sure you can remove the metal plate from any gpu. On my gpu, there are the four center screws that hold the heatsink on. The outer ones hold the metal plate on.
I still get great vrm/ mem temps. Putting individual heatsinks on would probably do a better job, but it is not worth the effort. You could always put them on later if it turns out that you do need them too.

 

[de.das.dude]

afaik 90C is ok for a GPU?
120C is limit right?

 

[Sir B. Fannybottom]

afaik 90C is ok for a GPU?
120C is limit right?

I believe so, but its damn loud around 70c and up

 

[Nordic]

I believe so, but its damn loud around 70c and up

If you leave it at auto. I could set my twinfrozrIII, not stock, cooler to 40% fan. The gpu would sit at 90C at full load but it would be quiet. Now I have after market cooling and I have great temps and silence.

 

[Aquinus]

If you leave it at auto. I could set my twinfrozrIII, not stock, cooler to 40% fan. The gpu would sit at 90C at full load but it would be quiet. Now I have after market cooling and I have great temps and silence.

I find that both of my 6870s (both MSI, one is reference, the other is a TwinFrozr 2,) will typically not exceed 75*C with my custom fan profile (hits about 65% to 70% fan speed,) which can get loud but will handle 1.28v @ 1Ghz core no problem. I found that the reference design held temperatures lower under loud but the twinfrozr would hold a lower idle temperature but slightly higher loaded temperatures.

I think if I ever decided to swap the coolers on them I would go right for water cooling.