Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 mini review and support

[Biker]

Yes the Enzotech sink results are really good but don't forget the sinks are all 3mm too long!

I'm currently converting 3 cards to Accelero + Enzotech so I am part way through Dremeling off 3mm from 84 heatsink legs... *phew*

 

[mudkip]

Hey,

I bought also an Accelero GTX 28 but the fans are dead so I'll send them RMA .

Meanwhile i took my stock cooler and modded it.

First I took of the stock coolers' plastic casing.

So firstly we need to take the stock cooler plastic casing off. Remove the 4 screws circled in red:

Then from the other side under the fan, 3 black screws. They are already off, but spots circled again.

That's seven! heatpipes and one of them goes to VRM area. Has a black tape on top, so that the heatpipe doesn't show under the fan

After that I removed the stock fan.

Stock cooler without fans:

Then I took a Antec Tricool and placed it on the fins.

(stock fan is still on in this picture)

Adding an extra 80mm PWM fan.

The TriCool is constant running on ~900 RPM the small 80mm fan is running about 800RPM.

They're very quiet.

Temps are:

Not bad after 5 hours using badaboom , surfing on the internet and stressing !

half of the pictures are onboard's. You can recognize them because they're made with a real camera

 

[Retro*]

I haven't really altered the default NVIDIA settings, other than pre-rendered frames to 2. Read it helps with mouse lag, though I haven't really experienced it Rest of the settings in the picture below.
You should try undervolting. I run @ 1.15V now and 1.125V was even stable with OCs. Left some room for bios, as 1.125V wasn't stable with 1566 shaders. 3DMark Vantage crashed with those shaders even with stock voltage, so less is more
And I think the Enzotech sinks are a better solution Looking at Biker's results and they are fantastic. Although his ambient is low and even with the Accelero VRM sink getting great temps. I'm sort of thinking that my VRM's run hotter than usual, as they were already 100C with stock cooler?
Thanks, I did it really out of a must, those Enzotech mosfet thingies aren't really available here and didn't want to spend more money. Plus it was fun and I had no use for the stock cooler (though it still works just fine if I remove the Accelero and leave the VRM part there).
Personally I really like the look of the HR-03 GTX and it would have gone nicely with my Thermalright Ultima-90 I just wanted to keep my other PCI-E slot free and have the weight of the cooler closer to the card. Although the stock backplate should work with the HR-03 GTX too, if not with the pushpins.
Yeah, questions welcome here, once it's released in USA too. Europe seems quite well covered now. Recent introduction of GTX 275 will surely bring more interest to the cooler, seeing how hot it runs. And even better with it's cool VRMs this or your cooler will work great.

I also am following the GTX 260/280 thread as it has some good posts on these and their newer siblings!
Thanks for posting the graphics settings. Myself, I tend to go from High Performance for benching and High Quality for when I am finished benching
Voltage: Less is more! That certainly goes together with the goal of temperature reduction. I don't seem to gain anything from overvolting the card, so you just may have a good point there. But it can be tough at first to break the overvolting habit from years of overclocking
Good to see Biker getting good results with the Enzo's. I honestly don't know if they would have had better results on your card than the stock vrm plate. I am fortunate that my supplier stocks Enzotech products now, if you can't easily get them then you have to make do with what you can.

Both Arctic Cooling and Thermalright have created a frustrating situation for all of us by not designing better cooling for the vrm's. The gpu results for both are great, and the ram seems to be getting cooled just fine. Enzotech mosfet sinks, or the stock sink cut-off, both ideas seem to work better than the aluminum heat plates supplied by both. But why, with all the resources of these two companies, can they not provide something better for cooling the vrm's?

I think it is mostly due to the profit margins they want for these coolers, as with most goods out of the orient, if it isn't really finished or completely functional yet, too bad, people will still buy them. All they have to do is refer to the gpu cooling results, that alone will sell them!

 

[OnBoard]

Yes the Enzotech sink results are really good but don't forget the sinks are all 3mm too long!

I'm currently converting 3 cards to Accelero + Enzotech so I am part way through Dremeling off 3mm from 84 heatsink legs... *phew*

I would have just bended the sinks in the middle and be done with it

Both Arctic Cooling and Thermalright have created a frustrating situation for all of us by not designing better cooling for the vrm's. The gpu results for both are great, and the ram seems to be getting cooled just fine. Enzotech mosfet sinks, or the stock sink cut-off, both ideas seem to work better than the aluminum heat plates supplied by both. But why, with all the resources of these two companies, can they not provide something better for cooling the vrm's?

I think it's because the coolers fit more cards. the VRM plate is only needed for 65nm 260/280 and 55nm 260/275/285 don't need it -> thus it would raise the price for them. Though the cooler is made specially for the 65nm cards and the HD4870X2 version has some big real aluminum sinks, so dunno.

Still it would have been nice to have a better stock sink or a separate purchase, like Thermalright has for GTX 285. Anyways, good that it's fixable with little extra effort.

 

[Biker]

Just another footnote on the Accelero Xtreme:

The 2 ram sinks that cover the Vram chips to the top and to the right side of the GPU are rubbish, well, the glue that they come adorned with is rubbish anyway so I replaced them with ram chip coolers from a Scythe VGA Chip heatsink pack which are lighter and have much better glue so the bloody things no longer keep falling off...

recommended!

 

[Retro*]

I think it's because the coolers fit more cards. the VRM plate is only needed for 65nm 260/280 and 55nm 260/275/285 don't need it -> thus it would raise the price for them. Though the cooler is made specially for the 65nm cards and the HD4870X2 version has some big real aluminum sinks, so dunno.
Still it would have been nice to have a better stock sink or a separate purchase, like Thermalright has for GTX 285. Anyways, good that it's fixable with little extra effort.

Good point. They have to deal with the older and new generation cards, there is quite a re-design with such cards as the 285 compared to the 260/280. I planned on using the Enzotech sinks on my 280 before I finally got hold of the HR-03 GTX as it was already well known that Thermalright's vrm cooling sucked. When I saw the same type of plate on the Accelero I was disappointed, hoping that they would have something better.

Just another footnote on the Accelero Xtreme:
The 2 ram sinks that cover the Vram chips to the top and to the right side of the GPU are rubbish, well, the glue that they come adorned with is rubbish anyway so I replaced them with ram chip coolers from a Scythe VGA Chip heatsink pack which are lighter and have much better glue so the bloody things no longer keep falling off...
recommended!

Exactly. A member from another forum *cough*xsf*cough* used the Skythe sinks on his 285/Accelero combo. He reports very good results, although I haven't seen any vrm temperatures from him yet. They look really good too.

Good to see the temperature improvements on your card with the Enzo sinks as well. I sure had it a lot easier installing them with the HR-03 GTX though! Too bad Enzotech doesn't make a low-profile version of their mosfet sinks. Sounds like you have gone into business setting these up for people

 

[Biker]

Sounds like you have gone into business setting these up for people

He he he...

My place looked like a factory floor yesterday complete with a large production line and an extensive Q & A testing facility...

Thankfully after 5 hours of building, frustration and testing we had 6 Accelero / Enzotech / Scythe modded GTX 280's all of which were performing pretty much the same with temps and all bios modded to 700 core 1512 shader 2500 ram 50% fan

All could clock higher stably but the main goal was reliable QUIET faaaast 24/7 gaming

Highest GPU Full load temp on the day (Furmark + ATItool in detect artifact mode + fan @ 50% + case open, ambient temp 18) was 57 centigrade

I do not have anything to test fan noise output with but suffice to say that subjectively the accelero @ 100% fan is much less annoying than the stock cooler @ >60% Fan.

 

[Biker]

Mudkip...

Cool ghetto mod you have there and I bet it is also quiet!

 

[OnBoard]

Just another footnote on the Accelero Xtreme:

The 2 ram sinks that cover the Vram chips to the top and to the right side of the GPU are rubbish, well, the glue that they come adorned with is rubbish anyway so I replaced them with ram chip coolers from a Scythe VGA Chip heatsink pack which are lighter and have much better glue so the bloody things no longer keep falling off...

recommended!

It may not be the bestest to stick, but it holds just fine. Same thermaltape is on TwinTurbo cooler and none have dropped from it or my Accelero Xtreme I did press them for a while, just to make sure, but just like the gray pads I think this thermaltape too wants to get warm first to get it's stickiness maxed.

You making 6 cards though, it's no wonder if you ran out of patience to keep pressing the ramsinks down on all cards

Thankfully after 5 hours of building, frustration and testing we had 6 Accelero / Enzotech / Scythe modded GTX 280's all of which were performing pretty much the same with temps and all bios modded to 700 core 1512 shader 2500 ram 50% fan

All run 2500 ram without artifacts? Mine only does 2484 Not that memory is a bottle neck in these cards, but even 2500 would be cooler

 

[Biker]

It may not be the bestest to stick, but it holds just fine. Same thermaltape is on TwinTurbo cooler and none have dropped from it or my Accelero Xtreme I did press them for a while, just to make sure, but just like the gray pads I think this thermaltape too wants to get warm first to get it's stickiness maxed.

You making 6 cards though, it's no wonder if you ran out of patience to keep pressing the ramsinks down on all cards



All run 2500 ram without artifacts? Mine only does 2484 Not that memory is a bottle neck in these cards, but even 2500 would be cooler

Heh.

I simply could not get those two ramsinks to stick. On any of them... I went through it properly using isopropyl alcohol to clean the chips then a good quality eraser to give some purchase ... I even sanded one block of chips lightly to see if that made a difference... nada.

And the Scythe chips?

A secure stick first time each time so that was 36 successful first time sticks!

Conclusion: Accelero triple chip ramsink = too heavy + rubbish bonding

 

[X-Terminator]

I don't have any of those VRMs or VDDC Slave Temps

 

[Biker]

I don't have any of those VRMs or VDDC Slave Temps

Hmmmmm.....

Maybe this feature is not supported or the 285 does not have a monitoring chip?

I don't have a 285 so i cannot test / verify.

 

[OnBoard]

I don't have any of those VRMs or VDDC Slave Temps

It doesn't have the voltage reculator chip that 65nm versions have and I think it is also what gives yout the VRM temps. (cost saving thing)

 

[Retro*]

Hey,

I bought also an Accelero GTX 28 but the fans are dead so I'll send them RMA.
The TriCool is constant running on ~900 RPM the small 80mm fan is running about 800RPM.

They're very quiet.

Temps are:

http://gpuz.techpowerup.com/09/04/18/6nn.png

Not bad after 5 hours using badaboom , surfing on the internet and stressing !

half of the pictures are onboard's. You can recognize them because they're made with a real camera

Good job, those fans are a great mod, really helps to keep the temps down

He he he...

My place looked like a factory floor yesterday complete with a large production line and an extensive Q & A testing facility...

Thankfully after 5 hours of building, frustration and testing we had 6 Accelero / Enzotech / Scythe modded GTX 280's all of which were performing pretty much the same with temps and all bios modded to 700 core 1512 shader 2500 ram 50% fan

All could clock higher stably but the main goal was reliable QUIET faaaast 24/7 gaming

Highest GPU Full load temp on the day (Furmark + ATItool in detect artifact mode + fan @ 50% + case open, ambient temp 18) was 57 centigrade

I do not have anything to test fan noise output with but suffice to say that subjectively the accelero @ 100% fan is much less annoying than the stock cooler @ >60% Fan.

Amazing
I would think the Accelero is much quieter than the stock cooler, my TR certainly is.

It may not be the bestest to stick, but it holds just fine. Same thermaltape is on TwinTurbo cooler and none have dropped from it or my Accelero Xtreme I did press them for a while, just to make sure, but just like the gray pads I think this thermaltape too wants to get warm first to get it's stickiness maxed.

You making 6 cards though, it's no wonder if you ran out of patience to keep pressing the ramsinks down on all cards



All run 2500 ram without artifacts? Mine only does 2484 Not that memory is a bottle neck in these cards, but even 2500 would be cooler

As they say, your mileage may vary. Not all the cards are "Golden Samples"

Heh.

I simply could not get those two ramsinks to stick. On any of them... I went through it properly using isopropyl alcohol to clean the chips then a good quality eraser to give some purchase ... I even sanded one block of chips lightly to see if that made a difference... nada.

And the Scythe chips?

A secure stick first time each time so that was 36 successful first time sticks!

Conclusion: Accelero triple chip ramsink = too heavy + rubbish bonding

Can't say you didn't clean off the chips enough! It seems that some brands use a cheap grade of thermal tape, while others use the good stuff, like 3M.

It doesn't have the voltage reculator chip that 65nm versions have and I think it is also what gives yout the VRM temps. (cost saving thing)

That must be it, I have seen this issue elsewhere as well, with the 285's. Makes it kind of difficult to see how the vrm temps. are doing

 

[thebeephaha]

Where can I get this cooler? I've been snooping around the web for a while now with no luck.

 

[Retro*]

Where can I get this cooler? I've been snooping around the web for a while now with no luck.

It's available in Europe, Finland( cheers to OnBoard) there is an online store in the UK that has a good stock of Acceleros that ships internationally, but the shipping cost to the US would be around 65 bucks
Arctic Cooling keeps delaying their US release, very similar to how Thermalright was dragging their butts releasing the HR-03 GTX, which was several months overdue.

 

[clerick]

It's available in Europe, Finland( cheers to OnBoard) there is an online store in the UK that has a good stock of Acceleros that ships internationally, but the shipping cost to the US would be around 65 bucks
Arctic Cooling keeps delaying their US release, very similar to how Thermalright was dragging their butts releasing the HR-03 GTX, which was several months overdue.

Strangely the hd4870x2 version is listed in the US (as coming soon mind you) but no mention of the gtx280 via frozencpu.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9...ME_4870X2_VGA_Cooler_ATI_Radeon_HD4870X2.html

 

[OnBoard]

Strangely the hd4870x2 version is listed in the US (as coming soon mind you) but no mention of the gtx280 via frozencpu.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/9...ME_4870X2_VGA_Cooler_ATI_Radeon_HD4870X2.html

There was some talk about May (in an email form artic cooling). Don't know how official, but hope it is. Waiting is no fun

 

[clerick]

There was some talk about May (in an email form artic cooling). Don't know how official, but hope it is. Waiting is no fun

I'm tired of my turbine as well. Need quiet (and watercooling is out of the question since I move a lot/had friends pc absolutely destroyed due to a leak 3 months after pc got wc).

 

[clerick]

Sorry for the bump. Apparently quietpc has 112 in stock in 11 days in EU (they offer air mail).
http://www.quietpc.com/us-en-usd/products/ultragrade/ac-acc-xtreme-4870x2

 

[Biker]

Sorry for the bump. Apparently quietpc has 112 in stock in 11 days in EU (they offer air mail).
http://www.quietpc.com/us-en-usd/products/ultragrade/ac-acc-xtreme-4870x2

Well if you click on this link it shows they have 106 in stock right now...

 

[AceCombat]

AceCombat's Review on AC Accelero Xtreme GTX

Enjoy reading it
Done by me personally

 

[clerick]

Well if you click on this link it shows they have 106 in stock right now...

I linked to the hd4870x2 version XD

 

[mudkip]

does anyone knows if the GTX 285 stock cooler or GTX 260 stock cooler is the same as the GTX 280 stock cooler?
Because i need the VRM part you know...

 

[Biker]

Much cheaper UK stock now in @ Scan