Does anyone else miss third-party GPU coolers?

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

I do. I remember clearly the days when Zalman and Arctic Cooling were the best aftermarket ones and they were pretty damn popular. I guess that AIBs have so good coolers these days that there's no need for aftermarket coolers anymore. Except waterblocks.

3x0 · Nov 7, 2022

Raijintek and Arctic still make GPU coolers to my knowledge

Space Lynx · Nov 7, 2022

3x0 said:
Raijintek and Arctic still make GPU coolers to my knowledge

They do indeed.

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

3x0 said:
Raijintek and Arctic still make GPU coolers to my knowledge

I know, they just aren't as popular like they were back in the day.

freeagent · Nov 7, 2022

Not really to be honest :fear:

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

freeagent said:
Not really to be honest

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

freeagent · Nov 7, 2022

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

I always wanted to try one but could never justify it when a fan or two would do well enough..

sam_86314 · Nov 7, 2022

I definitely do. I have an Arctic Accelero Xtreme III on my old GTX 1070, and it's a great cooler.

I had wanted to get another one for my RX 5700 XT, only to find that it's out of stock everywhere.

I know that Raijintek still makes their coolers, and I hope that Arctic will start making new Accelero coolers again.

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

freeagent said:
I always wanted to try one but could never justify it when a fan or two would do well enough..

I had those on GF4 Ti 4200, X800 Pro VIVO @ XTPE and 6800 GS. Did their job damn fine and they were hella quiet.

maxfly · Nov 7, 2022

Their impossible to find if they do still make them and yes I miss them. The arctic ax3 that sam is using is a badass GPU cooler that puts 90% of stock coolers to shame. Particularly underload. They're quiet, powerful, effective and cheap. Well, they used to be. Despite my affinity for water cooling I try to buy high quality 3 fan stock coolers. My GPUs tend to last forever so having a high quality heatsink is a must for their second life as aircooled cards but sadly, most are still so God awful loud underload (compared to what I'm used to) it's maddening while gaming on my back up rigs. The solution used to be replacing the stock cooler with the arctic but the last time I looked for an arctic ax3 they were nowhere to be found. The bonus with the ax3 was that if I decided I wanted to stick it back into a wced rig. I could go the easy route and simply use one of my universal blocks (4 screws and done) with the ax3 heatsinks and I was gtg. Now I have to save all of my full coverage blocks rather than sell them and keep my wcing storage area a lil bit less cluttered.

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

maxfly said:
Their impossible to find if they do still make them and yes I miss them. The arctic ax3 that sam is using is a badass GPU cooler that puts 90% of stock coolers to shame. Particularly underload. They're quiet, powerful, effective and cheap. Well, they used to be. Despite my affinity for water cooling I try to buy high quality 3 fan stock coolers. My GPUs tend to last forever so having a high quality heatsink is a must for their second life as aircooled cards but sadly, most are still so God awful loud underload (compared to what I'm used to) it's maddening while gaming on my back up rigs. The solution used to be replacing the stock cooler with the arctic but the last time I looked for an arctic ax3 they were nowhere to be found. The bonus with the ax3 was that if I decided I wanted to stick it back into a wced rig. I could go the easy route and simply use one of my universal blocks (4 screws and done) with the ax3 heatsinks and I was gtg. Now I have to save all of my full coverage blocks rather than sell them and keep my wcing storage area a lil bit less cluttered.

I had a Twin Turbo II on my GTX 470 SOC and it was way better than the stock Windforce X3. Also the card overclocked better and it was practically silent.

Mussels · Nov 7, 2022

Hugely. Feels like the high end cards get custom waterblocks made for each style just the once (EK runs out of stock? Hah! Never again!) and then the GPU's are doomed if the cooler fails.

I've got a GTX 970 with a weird PCB and a *tiny* stock heatsink, that really needs an upgrade since its a noisy blower style and i cant find anything worth the cost

AusWolf · Nov 7, 2022

I sort of miss the sentiment of it, but I don't miss any particular cooler per se. Let's be honest, they (at least most of them) were ugly as hell, not to mention the lost warranty.

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

AusWolf said:
I sort of miss the sentiment of it, but I don't miss any particular cooler per se. Let's be honest, they (at least most of them) were ugly as hell, not to mention the lost warranty.

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?

AusWolf · Nov 7, 2022

Lenne said:
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?

All I'm saying is it looks a bit home-made compared to this:

It's like a 1999 Honda Civic with an aftermarket rear wing compared to a 2015 Shelby Cobra GT. I appreciate the effort, but...

dirtyferret · Nov 7, 2022

Lenne said:
I know, they just aren't as popular like they were back in the day.

I think they were more known among the DIY PC builders rather than popular among them. With more AIB partners offering custom (and better) coolers the need for them further decreased.

I personally never cared for them, the added cost could be spent on a better video card, CPU, etc.,

P4-630 · Nov 7, 2022

I used this Thermalright cooler for my HD4870

GreiverBlade · Nov 7, 2022

did someone said aftermarket cooler?

(yeah ... i would never miss an occasion to repost my Asus 8800 Ultra with her Prolimatech MK-26 )

edit, and yeah i miss them ... but the Red Devil cooler look so awesome, silent cool and freaking backplate!
the 8800 Ultra needed the MK-26 since the Asus ROG leaf blower was atrocious (why make a ROG model while keeping the reference cooler :laugh:

)

freeagent · Nov 7, 2022

P4-630 said:
I used this Thermalright cooler for my HD4870

View attachment 268862

I have that cooler, was supposed to be for a GTX 285 but I killed the card by shorting it

Never been used lol..

P4-630 · Nov 7, 2022

freeagent said:
Never been used lol..

I still have it with a dead HIS HD4870.

rockit00 · Nov 7, 2022

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 :toast:

A Computer Guy · Nov 7, 2022

P4-630 said:
I used this Thermalright cooler for my HD4870

View attachment 268862

That looks like it might be a good x570 heatsink.

P4-630 · Nov 7, 2022

Also had the Power Color x1950 Pro, it came with an Arctic cooler, it ran amazingly quiet and cool :cool:

I damaged the GPU and a chip broke off, I had the PCIe 256MB version, I was able to RMA it and got a new x1950 Pro 512MB returned!

mclaren85 · Nov 7, 2022

Lenne said:
I do. I remember clearly the days when Zalman and Arctic Cooling were the best aftermarket ones and they were pretty damn popular. I guess that AIBs have so good coolers these days that there's no need for aftermarket coolers anymore. Except waterblocks.

Never heard that before. Am I too young?

Keullo-e · Nov 7, 2022

mclaren85 said:
Never heard that before. Am I too young?

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

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X up to 5.05GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Cooling	Custom loop (CPU+GPU, 240 & 120 rads)
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury @ DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 6700 XT Fighter OC/UV
Storage	~4TB SSD + 6TB HDD
Display(s)	Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless
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Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis remastered at 4K

Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
Motherboard	MSI MPG B550I Gaming Edge Wi-Fi ITX
Cooling	Scythe Fuma 2 rev. B Noctua NF-A12x25 Edition
Memory	2x16GiB G.Skill TridentZ DDR4 3200Mb/s CL14 F4-3200C14D-32GTZKW
Video Card(s)	PowerColor Radeon RX7800 XT Hellhound 16GiB
Storage	Western Digital Black SN850 WDS100T1X0E-00AFY0 1TiB, Western Digital Blue 3D WDS200T2B0A 2TiB
Display(s)	Dell G2724D 27" IPS 1440P 165Hz, ASUS VG259QM 25” IPS 1080P 240Hz
Case	Cooler Master NR200P ITX
Audio Device(s)	Altec Lansing 220, HyperX Cloud II
Power Supply	Corsair SF750 Platinum 750W SFX
Mouse	Lamzu Atlantis Mini Wireless
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Origins Aqua

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X up to 5.05GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Cooling	Custom loop (CPU+GPU, 240 & 120 rads)
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury @ DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 6700 XT Fighter OC/UV
Storage	~4TB SSD + 6TB HDD
Display(s)	Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis remastered at 4K

Processor	AMD R9 5900X
Motherboard	Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero
Cooling	Thermalright Aqua Elite 360 V3 1x TL-B12, 2x TL-C12 Pro, 2x TL K12
Memory	2x8 G.Skill Trident Z Royal 3200C14, 2x8GB G.Skill Trident Z Black and White 3200 C14
Video Card(s)	Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC
Storage	WD SN850 1TB, SN850X 2TB, Asus Hyper M.2, 2x SN770 1TB
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Case	Fractal Torrent Compact RGB
Audio Device(s)	JBL 2.1 Deep Bass
Power Supply	EVGA SuperNova 750w G+, Monster HDP1800
Mouse	Logitech G502 Hero
Keyboard	Logitech G213
VR HMD	Oculus 3
Software	Yes
Benchmark Scores	Yes

System Name	4K-gaming
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 5800X up to 5.05GHz
Motherboard	Gigabyte B550M Aorus Elite
Cooling	Custom loop (CPU+GPU, 240 & 120 rads)
Memory	32GB Kingston HyperX Fury @ DDR4-3466
Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 6700 XT Fighter OC/UV
Storage	~4TB SSD + 6TB HDD
Display(s)	Acer 27" 4K120 IPS + Lenovo 32" 4K60 IPS
Case	Corsair 4000D Airflow White
Audio Device(s)	Asus TUF H3 Wireless
Power Supply	EVGA Supernova G2 750W
Mouse	Logitech MX518
Keyboard	Roccat Vulcan 121 AIMO
VR HMD	Oculus Rift CV1
Software	Windows 11 Pro
Benchmark Scores	It runs Crysis remastered at 4K

Does anyone else miss third-party GPU coolers?

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

3x0

Space Lynx

Astronaut

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

freeagent

Moderator

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

freeagent

Moderator

sam_86314

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

maxfly

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

Mussels

Freshwater Moderator

AusWolf

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

AusWolf

dirtyferret

P4-630

GreiverBlade

freeagent

Moderator

P4-630

rockit00

A Computer Guy

P4-630

mclaren85

Keullo-e

S.T.A.R.S.

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Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S, 3x Noctua NF-A14s
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Video Card(s)	PowerColor RX 6800 XT Red Devil (2150MHz, 240W PL)
Storage	2TB WD SN850X, 4x1TB Crucial MX500 (striped array), LG WH16NS40 BD-RE
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Case	Phanteks Enthoo Pro M
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Memory	4x8gb HyperX Predator RGB DDR4 4000
Video Card(s)	Asrock 6800xt PG D w/ Byski A-AR6900XT-X
Storage	WD SN850x 1TB NVME M.2/Adata XPG SX8200 PRO 1TB NVMe M.2
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Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Black Aluminun Mechanical Clicky Thing With Blue LEDs, hows that for a name?!
Software	Win11pro

System Name	Rainbow Sparkles (Power efficient, <350W gaming load)
Processor	Ryzen R7 5800x3D (Undervolted, 4.45GHz all core)
Motherboard	Asus x570-F (BIOS Modded)
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Video Card(s)	Galax RTX 3090 SG 24GB: Underclocked to 1700Mhz 0.750v (375W down to 250W))
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Motherboard	MSi PRO B650M-A WiFi
Cooling	be quiet! Dark Rock 4
Memory	2x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance EXPO DDR5-6000
Video Card(s)	Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7800 XT
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Processor	faster at instructions than yours
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Memory	superior scheduling & haphazardly entry than yours
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Software	extra mushier than yours
Benchmark Scores	up yours

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Video Card(s)	MSI RTX 2070 Super Gaming X Trio / Intel HD620
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Processor	Ryzen 7 5800X3D/i7-3770/S905X/Snapdragon 8 Gen 2/Ryzen Z1 Extreme
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Cooling	Enermax ETS-T50 Axe aRGB /basic HP HSF /errr.../oh! liqui..wait, no:sizable vapor chamber/a nice one
Memory	64gb Corsair Vengeance Pro 3600mhz DDR4/8gb DDR3 1600/2gb LPDDR3/8gb LPDDR5x 4200/16gb LPDDR5
Video Card(s)	Hellhound Spectral White RX 7900 XTX 24gb/GT 730/Mali 450MP5/Adreno 740/RDNA3 768 core
Storage	250gb870EVO/500gb860EVO/2tbSandisk/NVMe2tb+1tb/4tbextreme V2/1TB Arion/500gb/8gb/256gb/2tb SN770M
Display(s)	X58222 32" 2880x1620/32"FHDTV/273E3LHSB 27" 1920x1080/6.67"/AMOLED 2X panel FHD+120hz/FHD 120hz
Case	Cougar Panzer Max/Elite 8300 SFF/None/back/back-front Gorilla Glass Victus 2+ UAG Monarch Carbon
Audio Device(s)	Logi Z333/SB Audigy RX/HDMI/HDMI/Dolby Atmos/KZ x HBB PR2/Edifier STAX Spirit S3 & SamsungxAKG beans
Power Supply	Chieftec Proton BDF-1000C /HP 240w/12v 1.5A/4Smart Voltplug PD 30W/Asus USB-C 65W
Mouse	Speedlink Sovos Vertical-Asus ROG Spatha-Logi Ergo M575/Xiaomi XMRM-006/touch/touch
Keyboard	Endorfy Thock 75% <3/none/touch/virtual
VR HMD	Medion Erazer
Software	Win10 64/Win8.1 64/Android TV 8.1/Android 13/Win11 64
Benchmark Scores	bench...mark? i do leave mark on bench sometime, to remember which one is the most comfortable. :o

System Name	Not a thread ripper but pretty good.
Processor	Ryzen 9 5950x
Motherboard	ASRock X570 Taichi (revision 1.06, BIOS/UEFI version P5.50)
Cooling	EK-Quantum Velocity, EK-Quantum Reflection PC-O11, EK-CoolStream PE 360, XSPC TX360
Memory	Micron DDR4-3200 ECC Unbuffered Memory (4 sticks, 128GB, 18ASF4G72AZ-3G2F1)
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon RX 5700 & EK-Quantum Vector Radeon RX 5700 +XT & Backplate
Storage	Samsung 2TB 980 PRO 2TB Gen4x4 NVMe, 2 x Samsung 2TB 970 EVO Plus Gen3x4 NVMe
Display(s)	2 x 4K LG 27UL600-W (and HUANUO Dual Monitor Mount)
Case	Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic Black (original model)
Power Supply	Corsair RM750x
Mouse	Logitech M575
Keyboard	Corsair Strafe RGB MK.2
Software	Windows 10 Professional (64bit)
Benchmark Scores	Typical for non-overclocked CPU.

System Name	MSI-MEG
Processor	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X
Motherboard	MSI MEG X570S ACE MAX
Cooling	AMD Wraith Prism + Thermal Grizzly
Memory	32 GB
Video Card(s)	MSI Suprim X RTX 3080
Storage	500 GB MSI Spatium nvme + 500 GB WD nvme + 2 TB Seagate HDD + 2 TB Seagate HDD
Display(s)	27" LG 144HZ 2K ULTRAGEAR
Case	MSI MPG Velox Airflow 100P
Audio Device(s)	Altec Lansing
Power Supply	Seasonic 750W 80+ Gold
Mouse	HP OMEN REACTOR
Keyboard	Corsair K68
Software	Windows10 LTSC 64 bit