Best (stock) cooled 4850/4870?

[Ozpa]

Heya,

after spending over 2hours searching I still don't know for sure what 4850/4870 cards have the best cooling.
Well for 4850 I think XFX model is looking good by the reviews and the custom cooling on it. If I don't find a well cooled 4870 I think I'll go for that 4850 XFX card unless suggested otherwise.
I just had an Asus 4850 512MB with the generic cooling, had to turn off the auto fan control as the GPU was going above 75-80c idle with some artifacts and even froze on Far Cry 1 for me once. I set the fan at 40% spin rate unless played the really heavy 3D games, then set that at 50% and it wouldn't go over 65c. The auto fan control feature sucked badly, it was speeding up the fan too late, was getting too hot by that time.

Not planning on overcloking, nor do I need a pre-OCed card, just need to have GOOD cooling.

 

[chuck216]

That would probably be this : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102810 or it's 1 GB variant. I happen to have the 512 mb version and it stays at 25c at idle never over 50c under load in a 75F room with the fan manually set to 100% (3700 rpm)

 

[Ozpa]

That's weird, my Asus 4850 had over 8k rpm on 100%. I guess the cooler was smaller.

 

[ShadowFold]

I've had a few stock cooled 4850's and they do the job great. Just need to up the fan speed. I have head phones so I never noticed it at 100%. That XFX does have the best cooling for a 4850, 4870 the ASUS Matrix is the best
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121298

 

[DarkOCean]

This 4850 has vapor x cooler by sapphire and i think is pretty quiet & cool http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102833

 

[alexp999]

I think Ketxxx will completely disagree that the XFX is a good cooler.

 

[Mussels]

the powercolor ones have a decent cooler. I'm sure theres better out there, but it beats the ATI reference for sure.

 

[chuck216]

This 4850 has vapor x cooler by sapphire and i think is pretty quiet & cool http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102833

Actually that's why I recommended the Sapphire 4870 it's the vapor-x version of that card complete with heatpipes, basically the non-overclocked version of the Toxic.

 

[MRCL]

Gainward 4850 Golden Sample man. I never had the fan over 50%, and temps under load never exceeded 60° C. Not even in Crossifre.

 

[Altered]

For a OC card mine does quite well. It is quiet and the auto fan feature works well enough for the clock speeds the card has 60C max and the fan just bumps 70% every now and then. 60c is where it adjusts the fan from 60% to 70%.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121288
Not to mention the killer price after MIR is back up again. $134.99

 

[Homeless]

The sapphire coolers are much better than the reference coolers.

 

[WarEagleAU]

I like my Asus DK 1GB. Its the 1gb version of the 512mb mentioned above. Hell, with my fan on 100% I really cant hear it at all. Not to mention it comes with a free leather mouse pad

 

[alucasa]

How about HIS IceQ cooler ?

 

[Ozpa]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys, sorry I was out all day and couldn't reply sooner.
I've thought over and I won't be getting a 4850, sorry about that. I'll go over all the 4870s mentioned here:

Sapphire 4870 (by chuck216) - I don't quite understand what this card exactly is. Sapphire have 3 versions of the 4870 (ref. cooled one, Vapor-X version with custom cooling and TOXIC with another custom cooling design but OCed as well). Those pictures on newegg look like TOXIC version but by scouting some user reviews sounds like it's the Vapor-X version. I would personally go for the Vapor-X version with that bigger custom fan on stock speeds, if it ran too cold then I'd OC some, but it's the lowest of my priorities.

Asus MATRIX 4870 (by ShadowFold) - the cooling part is huge in size, looks good to me, good reviews. It's a bit overclocked but that's ok with 2 fans there. My only question, is if those fans are larger than on the ref. cooled 4870? My last 4850 had that and I know how noisy those small fans get past 50% spin rate.

Powercolor 4870s (by Mussels) - I've been dissapointed by that company 2 times already, but that's not the reason I'm not considering it. My hardware supplier simply doesn't deal that brand :<

Asus 4870 DK (by Altered, WarEagleAU) - after reading the newegg reviews there was a number of people who complained about how loud the fan was (especially on TOP version), on the other hand others stated the opposite how they "could hear the PSU fan over the GPU one". I would go with a non-OC 512MB version if I would. The fan looks smaller than on the Sapphire Vapor-X, probably that's where to noise is coming from.

So far so good, I'm leaning towards the Sapphire Vapor-X model.

 

[Altered]

I honestly thought maybe the poor reviews were due to the fan having to tun at 80 to 100% because of poor case airflow making the card kick the fan speed up to higher levels than mine has seen.
Out of curiosity I shut every fan off in my case and turned the card fan to 100% manually. I swear these guys claiming the fan is loud either have given a review to the wrong product or their fan was damaged for some reason. This card is quiet I mean REALLY quiet.
Also I personally have a friend who purchased one the day after I bought mine. And he said his is very quiet as well. He actually said he cannot hear it over the case fans. You could run 4 of these at once and they all together would not be as loud as a stock Intel CPU cooler @ 50% from my personal experience.
I just thought you would like to know my findings on the issue as I read the same reviews before buying my first one. It may be a few bad fans got out the door if that was the case that is what the 3 yr parts and labor warranty is for. I cannot say but of the 2 I know of they are extremely quiet even at max settings.

 

[Ozpa]

Awesome, thanks.

After reading 4 Sapphire Vapor-X reviews I must say the card is probably the best cooled 4870, but the price is waay too high. I'm probably getting that Asus 4870 DK 512 (non OC), if it's loud I'll be demanding a new one.

 

[ShadowFold]

The DK as in this?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121291
I have that card, it's dead silent. The fan on it is too small to adequately cool the card IMO. I had to strap a 120mm on the side of my case to get temps under 40c. No side 120mm It gets up to 60-70c, which is well below the temp line, I'm just a cool nut.

 

[Ozpa]

Yep this card, except with 512MB which is more than enough for me.

 

[dieselcat18]

For a OC card mine does quite well. It is quiet and the auto fan feature works well enough for the clock speeds the card has 60C max and the fan just bumps 70% every now and then. 60c is where it adjusts the fan from 60% to 70%.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121288
Not to mention the killer price after MIR is back up again. $134.99

Probably one of the best deals right now on a 4870....

*+

 

[chuck216]

Forget the vapor-x model just get the Sapphire "Silent Efficiency" model # 100259L or 100259L1 for the 1 GB version from my first post, it's exactly the same card as the "vapor-x" just with the older style heatsink cover, under the cover they're exactly the same and if you stick with the 512 MB version it's only $175 (160 after Rebate) with free shipping. They just changed the look of the cover for the new year.

Actually under closer inspection of the pics of the vapor-x model, it doesn't even have heatpipes. Which must have changed in the past year, I thought this year's "Vapor-x" was based on the "toxic" models which had functioning heatpipes.

 

[Lethalrise750]

I love Sapphire Vapor-X 4870

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102825


It's a bit pricey, but definitely worth it in my opinion.

 

[Ozpa]

That model you mentioned chuck, I can't seem to find it on my supplier's list. Is it some sort of a discontinued model? It almost looks like a TOXIC version and it's not on Sapphire's page.

 

[chuck216]

It's Available through the Egg or right now for $160 after rebate. You're right that model isn't listed on the sapphire site, it's one of the hidden gems probably. It's basically the a non-overclocked version of the toxic, like I said before. The only difference I can tell between the 2 cards is the Toxic is of course slightly overclocked 780/1000 vs 750/900, and copper colored heatpipes for the toxic and silver colored for the card I have. I did buy it before the current model of "Vapor-X" came out but still all things considered, having the same GPU, etc as the current Vapor-X. I think I got a pretty good deal. If You're looking for it at alternative retailers just search for model 100259L for the 512 MB version or 1002591GL for the 1 GB version.
If it comes down to money, remember all these cards under the coolers are exactly the same GPU, memory, though amount varies, Any of the non-reference cards will suffice just choose the best bang for your buck.

 

[Ozpa]

Omg! What can I say.. the 4870 DK 512MB I ordered has arrived!

The max spin rate I can set without me hearing the GPU fan over other case fans is 40%(~2020RPM) and it idles at ~45c temp! I can't believe it haha!

As far as I remember my ref. cooled Asus 4850 was idling at 40%/3400RPM?/58c. Noisy bugger!

Even at 100% spin speed (which is actually around 2420 RPM) it is really tolerable assuming you will be playing games with sound on. I love this DK baby!


Staying on my card's topic there's one more peculiar thing - EVEREST reports that the video card has 1024MB onboard, I think I've seen some other people report this (on newegg?). Now the box clearly states "EAH4870 DK/HTDI/512MD5/A". What the.. ? (not that I'm bitchy about it )

 

[Mussels]

check with GPU-Z. Under vista, sometimes it reports ram assigned from system memory.