Accelero Xtreme GTX 280 mini review and support

[Retro*]

Eew, not so cheap after all after postage I'd like one of those unisinks to play with too, if they were available here.
I was wondering how that xtremesystems link said he could use paste. Now I want one (or xmas2 sink), it looks like it would fit under Accelero the way it is. You mind measuring the height of the sink, once you get it Retro*? edit2: looks too high to fit under Accelero: http://www.linustechtips.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/gtx-260-uni-sink-upgrade-41-copy.jpg

Got the Uni-Sink in. It is a well-made heatsink plate, weighs about 215 grams. It allows the back plate to be fitted as well. Unfortunately, it is too thick to fit under an Accelero, it measures about 15 cm to the top of its fins (quills?)
That is about the same height from the base of the card that an un-cut Enzotech MOS-C1 is when attached to a vrm. The fins could be ground down to clear the Accelero, but that would be a lot of work and perhaps defeat the purpose.
And of course the plate would have to be cut into sections to allow the cooler to be fitted to the gpu.

Although the fins on the left and right - hand portions of the sink clear the HR-03GTX, the plate still has to have the middle section cut out and removed because the heatpipes of that cooler are too low to clear the Uni-Sink with the cooler mounted on it. Same if it is mounted under it, the plate would need the middle removed. The gpu itself is recessed quite far under the sink with it installed on the card.

If I decide to hack up the plate and use either of the remaining pieces, I will post on that.
Now that I have removed the cooler and fans, all the Enzotech sinks and cleaned it down to the bare card, and test-fitted the Uni-Sink with the back plate, I am giving it (and myself) a break and using an older 8800GTX for now

 

[OnBoard]

cheers man i was referring to this post, makes it seem like modding the accelero is a neccessity to fit on a GTX280.

Definitely the cooler i want to put on my GTX280, and ill totally be gunning for the stock VRM sink, I've been watching this thread since it was on its first page

That post was just for that special Quadro card. No modding is needed for GTX 280, except something better for VRM cooling Not sure if you mean you are going to use the stock VRM plate or not.

And welcome to the 280 club, not going to give the performance of two 260s, but hasn't let me down yet with anything I've thrown at it.

ha ha yes it's that one hey i'd forgotten it's only got 3 caps in the way
(i thought it had more) it bsod's on me on a lot of games
(probably something to do with the age of my machine) so it's just a net machine at the mo
last card (9700) started burning the 5volt line so i had to get the saphire agp version

9700s were great cards in their time. Couple my friends had them and then ATI brought 9600pro's (my card) that didn't even get close to 9700 performance and even lost to the 9500 they replaced.

Not only were they the first DX9 card, but held their performance and compatibility with the longevity of DX9. There was some new AGP card in the news couple days back, but I thing it's time for a new computer for you, if you plan to keep on playing

 

[OnBoard]

I don't know if D-Tek could ship one to you in Finland, or perhaps from one of the US shops like Petra's or Performance PC's?

I also wonder about using paste rather than pads. The Uni-Sink comes with pads, but I would need something for the back plate, unless paste would work there. Interestingly, you posted a photo of an ATI card cooler's pads, I just happen to have an old one with the pads on it, I may be able to re-use those. It is from an old ATI Radeon X1950 XTX card that I replaced the stock cooler with an AC cooler years ago.

I will get a photo of the TR vrm plate with the Enzotech sinks poking through it, after I get the Uni-Sink.

Will be too much of a hassle to order one from US.

Those ATI pads will be good if they come off nicely Pics welcome on that TR-Enzo-VRM.

Got the Uni-Sink in. It is a well-made heatsink plate, weighs about 215 grams. It allows the back plate to be fitted as well. Unfortunately, it is too thick to fit under an Accelero, it measures about 15 cm to the top of its fins (quills?)
That is about the same height from the base of the card that an un-cut Enzotech MOS-C1 is when attached to a vrm. The fins could be ground down to clear the Accelero, but that would be a lot of work and perhaps defeat the purpose.
And of course the plate would have to be cut into sections to allow the cooler to be fitted to the gpu.

Although the fins on the left and right - hand portions of the sink clear the HR-03GTX, the plate still has to have the middle section cut out and removed because the heatpipes of that cooler are too low to clear the Uni-Sink with the cooler mounted on it. Same if it is mounted under it, the plate would need the middle removed. The gpu itself is recessed quite far under the sink with it installed on the card.

If I decide to hack up the plate and use either of the remaining pieces, I will post on that.
Now that I have removed the cooler and fans, all the Enzotech sinks and cleaned it down to the bare card, and test-fitted the Uni-Sink with the back plate, I am giving it (and myself) a break and using an older 8800GTX for now

Yeah, it looked quite high and that base is quite thick. Not the best for Accelero surely, that VRM section is just nice (best there is at the moment).

What if you bend the pipes on the HR-03 GTX, so that there is more room for the middle part under? Though it'll be hard to make a bend so close to the base and then back so that the cooler is straight.

Would have been nice if the cooler was like that (image 1) begin with, to have space for regular sized ramsinks. That would meant though no flipping the cooler around, but it would make it less wide too.

Like this (über l33t editing, don't have photoshop installed):

How does the cooler base fit to the center space otherwise? If you'd manage to bend it there. That Uni-sink could be used as a leverage too (image 2), something soft under the pipes and then press the pipes flush to the top. Well better something else similar in size not to spoil the paint

Oh and break is good once in a while

 

[wolf]

That post was just for that special Quadro card. No modding is needed for GTX 280, except something better for VRM cooling Not sure if you mean you are going to use the stock VRM plate or not.

And welcome to the 280 club, not going to give the performance of two 260s, but hasn't let me down yet with anything I've thrown at it.

Awesome info as always man Cheers!

Yeah she's a stock GTX280 so that's great she wont need to be modded, and yeah I'll be tearing up the stock cooler for the VRM plate to attach.

It's been good to know this thread will have every answer I need

And I'm hearing you on the GTX280 performance, I've recently pitted this new 280 head to head against my 260's on i7, and although the 260's scale beautifully etc, there has not been a game yet which the 280 didn't eat anyway

 

[OnBoard]

Awesome info as always man Cheers!

Yeah she's a stock GTX280 so that's great she wont need to be modded, and yeah I'll be tearing up the stock cooler for the VRM plate to attach.

It's been good to know this thread will have every answer I need

You're welcome

Top that with a new fan profile and some undervolting and she's good to go.

 

[Retro*]

Will be too much of a hassle to order one from US.
Those ATI pads will be good if they come off nicely Pics welcome on that TR-Enzo-VRM.
Yeah, it looked quite high and that base is quite thick. Not the best for Accelero surely, that VRM section is just nice (best there is at the moment).
What if you bend the pipes on the HR-03 GTX, so that there is more room for the middle part under? Though it'll be hard to make a bend so close to the base and then back so that the cooler is straight.
Would have been nice if the cooler was like that (image 1) begin with, to have space for regular sized ramsinks. That would meant though no flipping the cooler around, but it would make it less wide too.
How does the cooler base fit to the center space otherwise? If you'd manage to bend it there. That Uni-sink could be used as a leverage too (image 2), something soft under the pipes and then press the pipes flush to the top. Well better something else similar in size not to spoil the paint
Oh and break is good once in a while

I guess it would be a hassle and also expensive for you to order the Uni-Sink from the US.
Probably just as well, with the trouble it would be to use any of it with an Accelero.

Thanks for posting those great "modded pipe" shots of the HR-03GTX I think Thermalright should be sent these suggestions! I was actually thinking the same thing yesterday, as the cooler fits very close to the gpu base, just that the heatpipes were resting on the top of the sink preventing the cooler from making contact. So I did a little bending similar to what you have shown. I managed to get the pipes bent away from the Uni-Sink, but they don't have enough clearance where they enter the cooler base itself.

Very good idea though

 

[wolf]

Anyone tried this with the accelero xtreme?

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8683

 

[mudkip]

Anyone tried this with the accelero xtreme?

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8683

It's impossible , because the fins are too high to put the Accelero on it.

 

[wolf]

it says the fin are only 10mm high and the I thought you had about 11.5mm to play with?

in any case I thought it looked like the hole for the GPU is a bit small.

 

[undetermined]

Just a quick update guys. I bought another GTX280 because I decided it would be nice to run in SLi. I'm using a Foxconn Bloodrage mobo. The accelero card is easily three slots (plus a little bit) high. Seriously, I had to wedge my extra GTX280 in there along with an Auzentech sound card to make everything fit. If I was willing to trim a piece of metal off the Auzentech it all might fight no issues. As is, it all connects and fits without issues. I would not try to SLi with one of these. Right now I'm looking at going back to the stock cooling, just to relieve the pressure in the case (can I just put the stock cooler back on?) or possibly going water cooling for the GTX280s (but I know absolutely nothing about WC rigs and don't know if I feel like doing the research).

Also, I never got around to trying those Microcool sinks, and right now I doubt I ever will. I was going to order an additional Accelero for my new GTX280 and try them out there, but even in a HAF932 I think it would be tight to try to add an Accelero. I'm not sure I want to have two three-slot cards jammed in there with one on top of the other and one touching my power supply and rubbing up on the front panel connections. Anyone else have SLi experience with these?

 

[mudkip]

Depends on your mobo I guess, but put the card the accelero in the 2nd pci-e slot , that helps

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Retro, you know that I want all sorts of info. If that works as well as it sounds I may be following in your foot steps again.

First of all I need my pron, I mean pics.

Are those ramsinks a pain to pull off? I bet that it straightens out the card quite a but with no added support as well.

 

[OnBoard]

Anyone tried this with the accelero xtreme?

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=8683

It's impossible , because the fins are too high to put the Accelero on it.

it says the fin are only 10mm high and the I thought you had about 11.5mm to play with?

in any case I thought it looked like the hole for the GPU is a bit small.

It should fit under Accelero, but you need to cut the center of it away, or you cant mount it. You might be able to mount it under the Accelero feet, if you make room for the feet in right spot and make sure the remaining aluminum is not higher than those white spacers that normally go under.

Only problem with it is that you can't chop of the VRM part, as it would only mount with 2 screws, it needs those center screws as well. The other end might also have just 2 screw holes, so it's meant to be installed like that.

With a dremel/similar it can be done, but won't be easy.

 

[OnBoard]

Just a quick update guys. I bought another GTX280 because I decided it would be nice to run in SLi. I'm using a Foxconn Bloodrage mobo. The accelero card is easily three slots (plus a little bit) high. Seriously, I had to wedge my extra GTX280 in there along with an Auzentech sound card to make everything fit.

Right now I'm looking at going back to the stock cooling, just to relieve the pressure in the case (can I just put the stock cooler back on?)

Also, I never got around to trying those Microcool sinks, and right now I doubt I ever will. I was going to order an additional Accelero for my new GTX280 and try them out there, but even in a HAF932 I think it would be tight to try to add an Accelero. I'm not sure I want to have two three-slot cards jammed in there with one on top of the other and one touching my power supply and rubbing up on the front panel connections. Anyone else have SLi experience with these?

Yes you can put the stock cooler back on if those thermalpastetapesthingies are still in place. Just need to remove all heatsinks (unless you cut the end of stock cooler, that needs to stay). There was someone in the earlier pages that was about to SLI these, but don't know if he did.

Depends on your mobo I guess, but put the card the accelero in the 2nd pci-e slot , that helps

That would be the best to try out. Accelero don't mind being in a tight spot. I have my 8800GT jammed right next to it and temps aren't any higher. Just have those expansion slot covers with holes in them in the thirds slot of Accelero.

Thanks for posting those great "modded pipe" shots of the HR-03GTX I think Thermalright should be sent these suggestions! I was actually thinking the same thing yesterday, as the cooler fits very close to the gpu base, just that the heatpipes were resting on the top of the sink preventing the cooler from making contact. So I did a little bending similar to what you have shown. I managed to get the pipes bent away from the Uni-Sink, but they don't have enough clearance where they enter the cooler base itself.

There is room to cut out from the top before the ram nipples, surely it would fit then?

 

[Retro*]

Retro, you know that I want all sorts of info. If that works as well as it sounds I may be following in your foot steps again.

First of all I need my pron, I mean pics.

Are those ramsinks a pain to pull off? I bet that it straightens out the card quite a but with no added support as well.

Hey, BababooeyHTJ!
Actually, I was following in your footsteps a while ago when I fitted the Enzotech MOS-C1 sinks into the Thermalright vrm plate! I thought that was a good idea that you had, so I gave it a shot. I think you suggested soldering or gluing the sinks into the plate.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I drilled 7/16" holes into the recessed vrm sink contact points of the plate. I had to lap the plate flat afterwards as there were still protruding portions of the original punched-out vrm contacts. The Enzo sinks fit tightly into the holes and made firm contact with the plate and vrm's. But I left the sinks thermal taped onto the vrm's so they wouldn't swivel out of position when I fit the plate back on. Unfortunately, not much improvement in temps. though. But no worries about the sinks falling off with the plate pinned on. Perhaps there would be a bigger improvement with the sinks bonded to the plate with solder or thermal glue, and thermal paste applied to the vrm's. I doubt it would help much though.

Here's some pron, er, pics of the TR/Enzo plate, then of the Uni-Sink I test-fitted to the card with the backplate. Yes, it is a pain to remove the Enzo sinks, but by carefully twisting them, they eventually separate. Fortunately, I didn't pull any of the ram or chips off the card doing it Bent some of the Enzo fins removing the ram sinks from the card, but they are easy to straighten out.

The card is un-bendable with the Uni-sink and backplate attached, strong like bull

Anyhow, that's as far as I have gone, if I use the plate I will have to cut it. I will give it some thought on how I will proceed with this constantly changing 280

There is room to cut out from the top before the ram nipples, surely it would fit then?

Yes, there is room to cut out the opening of the Uni-Sink from the top before the ram "nipples" I think it could be made to fit into the opening then with enough cutting

 

[OnBoard]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I drilled 7/16" holes into the recessed vrm sink contact points of the plate. I had to lap the plate flat afterwards as there were still protruding portions of the original punched-out vrm contacts. The Enzo sinks fit tightly into the holes and made firm contact with the plate and vrm's.

Unfortunately, not much improvement in temps. though. Perhaps there would be a bigger improvement with the sinks bonded to the plate with solder or thermal glue, and thermal paste applied to the vrm's. I doubt it would help much though.

Here's some pron, er, pics of the TR/Enzo plate, then of the Uni-Sink I test-fitted to the card with the backplate.
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee300/DerComissar/626.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee300/DerComissar/629.jpg
http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee300/DerComissar/630.jpg
The card is un-bendable with the Uni-sink and backplate attached, strong like bull

Anyhow, that's as far as I have gone, if I use the plate I will have to cut it. I will give it some thought on how I will proceed with this constantly changing 280

Nice pics!

That TR/Enzo plate could use some thermal epoxy on the holes, like you said. Can't be the best heat transfer fron the Enzo sinks to the TR plate at the moment. Don't know if it would help much, but every degree of is good

Uni-sink looks really nice on the card, obvious choice if you ask me. Only the thinking part left on how to cut it. Couple ideas came to mind, just had to do some pink lines, now that you provided a nice pic on top:

X marks the spot that will go byebye. Oh and I made sure that those lines are pretty much spot on in actual cut places with naked card picture, if you happen to use some part of them
First one is just the top part cut of exposing the top 3 memory to ramsinks. Rest of the sinks used as it is.
Middle part goes a bit further. Hole middle part cut of. NVIO sink remains and VRM is bigger going over the right 3 memory chips. Rest 5 memory chips cooled with ramsinks.
Last one is kinda obvious, 3 sections and ram part made narrow to be attached with thermal tape, rest with screws. Double lines on right is to make a bit of wiggle room for the middle "ramsink" part.

 

[BababooeyHTJ]

Oh, sexy.

I love the way that uni-sink looks. I was wondering if the unisink gets in the way of the bracket that holds on the HR-03. It's one of the main reasons that I was worried about picking one up.

It's too bad that that modded TR sink didn't work out too well but this is going to look amazing with the uni-sink and stock backplate. I can't wait to see how much this will drop your temps.

 

[Retro*]

Nice pics!

That TR/Enzo plate could use some thermal epoxy on the holes, like you said. Can't be the best heat transfer fron the Enzo sinks to the TR plate at the moment. Don't know if it would help much, but every degree of is good

Uni-sink looks really nice on the card, obvious choice if you ask me. Only the thinking part left on how to cut it. Couple ideas came to mind, just had to do some pink lines, now that you provided a nice pic on top:

X marks the spot that will go byebye. Oh and I made sure that those lines are pretty much spot on in actual cut places with naked card picture, if you happen to use some part of them
First one is just the top part cut of exposing the top 3 memory to ramsinks. Rest of the sinks used as it is.
Middle part goes a bit further. Hole middle part cut of. NVIO sink remains and VRM is bigger going over the right 3 memory chips. Rest 5 memory chips cooled with ramsinks.
Last one is kinda obvious, 3 sections and ram part made narrow to be attached with thermal tape, rest with screws. Double lines on right is to make a bit of wiggle room for the middle "ramsink" part.

Superb drawings
You are getting very good at this!
A quick note on the TR/Enzo sink, BababooeyHTJ did mention soldering or gluing the Enzos to the TR plate when he suggested this idea some time ago. I agree that it would improve the heat transfer, as would using thermal paste on the sinks instead of thermal tape. Having said that, I also think that the thin aluminum stamped-out vrm plate supplied by Thermalright is a piece of crap, and I would like to tell the Thermalright "engineers" what to do with it

Thermalright has been making their own version of the Accelero, sort-of, for a while now, the T-Rad2. But it didn't fit the 200 series cards, until they made a new revision of it.

Have you seen this first review of the T-Rad2GTX? If this is Thermalright's answer to the Accelero, then it sure isn't looking too good for Thermalright! (Check out the "Final Thoughts" on page 2 of the review):
http://en.expreview.com/2009/08/04/exclusive-review-of-thermalright-t-rad2-gtx-vga-cooler.html
What scares me is that their supplied sinks for the NVIO and VRM's don't look too good at all, and this cooler may very well perform far worse than any of the others!
More sales for Arctic Cooling, methinks!

Back to your excellent cut-out drawings. Those are three very viable options for middle-section clearance of the heatsink and its heatpipes. I really like the way you did the third drawing to cut out a custom section for the ram chips that could be taped on, even including the "breathing space" for it!
So many possibilities. More for me to think about now!

 

[Retro*]

Oh, sexy.

I love the way that uni-sink looks. I was wondering if the unisink gets in the way of the bracket that holds on the HR-03. It's one of the main reasons that I was worried about picking one up.

It's too bad that that modded TR sink didn't work out too well but this is going to look amazing with the uni-sink and stock backplate. I can't wait to see how much this will drop your temps.

It is kinda sexy in a kinky way, isn't it? Black with spikes all over it
Isn't black the color scheme that you said you prefer in your computer? And the stock backplate is also black too!
It does get in the way of the HR-03's hold-down bracket. The HR-03 can't be mounted right to the card under the Uni-Sink without cutting out the middle, as shown in OnBoard's great drawings. I did first try to attach the bracket to the top of the Uni-Sink, it bolts right through the sink. But I had to grind out some notches in the feet of the bracket to clear the "spikes" of the Uni-Sink. Then I was able to bolt the TR bracket and HR-03 right onto the Uni-Sink and through the card. But the heatsink didn't quite contact the gpu due to the heatpies contacting the sink right where they enter the base.
So, unfortunately, the Uni-Sink needs to be cut.

 

[OnBoard]

Thermalright has been making their own version of the Accelero, sort-of, for a while now, the T-Rad2. But it didn't fit the 200 series cards, until they made a new revision of it.

Have you seen this first review of the T-Rad2GTX? If this is Thermalright's answer to the Accelero, then it sure isn't looking too good for Thermalright! (Check out the "Final Thoughts" on page 2 of the review):
http://en.expreview.com/2009/08/04/exclusive-review-of-thermalright-t-rad2-gtx-vga-cooler.html
What scares me is that their supplied sinks for the NVIO and VRM's don't look too good at all, and this cooler may very well perform far worse than any of the others!
More sales for Arctic Cooling, methinks!

It’s a pity that the manufacturer does not provides NVIO heatsink or VRM heatsink for P651 GTX260/GTX280 like HR-03 GTX.
Thermalright explains that P651 GTX260/GTX280 has been phased out, and they suggest the users to apply the included heatsink.
...but the temperature of NVIO heatsink hovers up to 70℃.


Thanks for the link, haven't seen it yet.

Eew, no NVIO sink is bad, but nice that expreview provided that 70C temp. Now we know that a plain ramsink won't work on the NVIO chip and it does heat up quite a lot. Makes me feel better for the work I put making my own.

I find it very hard to recommend it to any GTX 2xx user. Will have even less space under the cooler, than Accelero and you need to get your own fans. For HD4870/90 users the older version with the new VRM sink should be good though.

If only they spent that time designing a proper VRM sink for GTX 260/280, like ATI users got and let T-Rad2 be the way it is. True that these cards have been phased out and something like that should have been done much earlier and with Accelero support

 

[Devil May Cry]

I just wanna say that I did the modification now. I kind of doubted for a while but I sure did cut off the VRM parts, and it all works perfetly now. My temperature doesn't go over 100C in furmark (20min). And in games it doesnt even get close to 70C. It stays about 65 at max in games like crrysis.

 

[Donovan]

This thread has been such a help in working out what to do with my GTX 275 that I thought I would share my own solution as well.

The VRMs are cooled directly by one of the Accelero's two large memory heatsinks cut in half and a piece cut from the Accelero's NVIO heatsink. On the back I've installed my own little Crazy Cool using one taken from a Gigabyte X38-DQ6. The front VRM heatsinks are also connected to the backside heatsink via heat pipes that attach to the second Accelero large memory heatsink mounted on the top edge of the Crazy Cool. The heat pipes were borrowed from an old hard drive cooler and bent using pliers and pipe benders.

The copper memory heatsinks are Enzotech BCC9s and BMR-C1s trimmed with a Dremel, and the remaining heatsinks are from the Accelero, the Thermalright GTX kit, or the Scythe kit. The thermal epoxy is Arctic Silver's mixed 50-50 with original Arctic Silver paste (only used for heatsink-heatsink and heatsink-heatpipe connections). I used Arctic Silver 5 for the GPU, Bergquist thermal pads for the Crazy Cool (held on with screws), and Chomerics Thermattach T411 or T412 tape for all other heatsinks.

Ok, it's overkill for a GTX 275 but I was feeling inspired.

This is my EVGA GTX 275 2GB naked except for the backside Crazy Cool.

These are most of the heatsinks I used. The large Accelero NVIO heatsink has been sliced-n-diced with a Dremel and had two new screw threads tapped so that it can still be used on the NVIO (as well as the VRMs and a couple other smaller chips). The Crazy Cool is not actually copper BTW...it's just aluminum with a copper finish as seen in the areas I sanded smooth.

I broke and re-attached two of the threads on the Crazy-Cool to line up with the screw holes near the VRMs and used J-B Weld to reattach them.

All together this covers everything that my OEM heatsink covered, everything that other OEM heatsinks cover, and everything that my OEM heatsink would have covered if thermal pads had been provided for all the raised areas present. Sadly this model has no VRM temp monitoring so I can't report how effective this piece of overkill is...I don't even have the OS installed yet (still working on the case wiring).


EDIT: Just a note of caution: if you decide to use the NVIO cooler like I did, then be careful of the leads near the top edge of the NVIO heatsink. I used the Dremel to remove some material from the back side of the NVIO heatsink to be sure it would clear them.

 

[OnBoard]

I just wanna say that I did the modification now. I kind of doubted for a while but I sure did cut off the VRM parts, and it all works perfetly now. My temperature doesn't go over 100C in furmark (20min). And in games it doesnt even get close to 70C. It stays about 65 at max in games like crrysis.

You didn't mention which card you have, GTX 260 or 280? Those are good temps, glad the VRM mod worked for you

 

[OnBoard]

This thread has been such a help in working out what to do with my GTX 275 that I thought I would share my own solution as well.

Ok, it's overkill for a GTX 275 but I was feeling inspired.

All together this covers everything that my OEM heatsink covered, everything that other OEM heatsinks cover, and everything that my OEM heatsink would have covered if thermal pads had been provided for all the raised areas present. Sadly this model has no VRM temp monitoring so I can't report how effective this piece of overkill is...I don't even have the OS installed yet (still working on the case wiring).

Wow A bit overkill, like you said, but awesome and innovative work

How did you make the holes for the heatpipes in the heatsinks? Dremel + cut blade and then file down?

Nice pics too and all that part list will help if someone else decides to do something similar Didn't quote the whole thing as it was quite long. One thing, you have it in the case yet? That backside cooler would hit memory on my motherboard, hopefully it doesn't on yours

edit: one thing no-one has done yet is to cut a part of the Accelero it self on the top, where it interferes with higher ramsinks.
Like this, that top part is pretty useless there and with it removed the middle fan would cool the top ramsinks too. Just an idea to someone, won't be as easy as trimming ramsinks, but shouldn't be that hard either.

 

[Donovan]

How did you make the holes for the heatpipes in the heatsinks? Dremel + cut blade and then file down?

I bent the neighboring fins back to give me some room to work but the channel is still too steep to get the cutting wheel in at a useful angle. In the end I just bent the fin back and forth and it popped off very smoothly...used needlenose pliers with the nose right at the bottom of the fin and moved back and forth along the fin with a couple of bends at each point to get a clean break. I finished with a small file to clean up the bottom and then bent the neighbors back into place.

One thing, you have it in the case yet? That backside cooler would hit memory on my motherboard, hopefully it doesn't on yours

Yes, I've got it in and running enough to do some memtest86 passes. Fortunately in my case I am putting the video card in one of the middle slots...only way to fit this monster and still keep enough PCI-E slots available for other cards I need. I did have some concerns about interfering with a half-height RAID card in the slot above it, but the video card is so long that the RAID card (which is not particularly short) doesn't even reach the Crazy Cool. In fact, the video card + cooler is so long that it would have just barely hit the hard drive bays in my case (Silverstone Fortress FT01). Most people with this combination have removed the top four-bay unit, but as I wanted to fill them up I went ahead and moved the bays about half an inch closer to the front of the case.

The left edge of the bays used to be attached to the motherboard tray, so the gap you see is how far I moved it (had to tap new screw holes to anchor it in the new location. That photo also shows the CPU backplate hole I cut in the motherboard tray as well as a ventilation pass-through between the top hard drive bays and the lower 5.25" bays (I'll be putting a low-noise fan there).

I'll probably add some support wires to hold some of the weight of the video card just to be safe...that's a lot of metal hanging off the end and there's no backplate on the GTX 275.

edit: one thing no-one has done yet is to cut a part of the Accelero it self on the top, where it interferes with higher ramsinks.
Like this, that top part is pretty useless there and with it removed the middle fan would cool the top ramsinks too. Just an idea to someone, won't be as easy as trimming ramsinks, but shouldn't be that hard either.

One of my earlier plans for this build was heat pipes on the memory and NVIO chips as well, with some/all of them connecting to the Accelero. That spot you point out was one of the places I considered attaching them (the top/bottom faces of the fins were also possible). Unfortunately there would be a lot more work in attaching heat pipes between the video card and the Accelero...assuming you don't want to permanently mount the cooler, that is.