no more aftermarket air coolers for videocards?

[80251]

I remember back in the early 2010's there seemed to be 5 or 6 manufacturers of aftermarket videocard air coolers (thermalright, arctic cooling, prolimatech, scythe and raijintek are some that I remember).

Are videocard aftermarket air coolers even manufactured anymore?

 

[sam_86314]

I remember back in the early 2010's there seemed to be 5 or 6 manufacturers of aftermarket videocard air coolers (thermalright, arctic cooling, prolimatech, scythe and raijintek are some that I remember).

Are videocard aftermarket air coolers even manufactured anymore?

I think Raijintek still makes theirs.

RAIJINTEK

Raijintek provides the products - high compatibility, extreme engineering, remarkable performance, amazing design, necessity of demand and multifunctional usage – for high recommendation everywhere to make up your life.

www.raijintek.com

I've noticed that the Arctic Acceleros seem to have been discontinued, which sucks because I really like mine.

 

[freeagent]

The cooler on my 3070 Ti is pretty good.. I want to say awesome but I have to repaste it first to know for sure.. honestly I don’t really see the need for aftermarket. But I also don’t have experience with recent AMD GPU’s or anything that runs crazy hot so..

 

[dgianstefani]

For the price which is usually more than £75, you can almost buy a waterblock, or simply put two noctuas on with zip ties to replace stock fans.

 

[sam_86314]

For the price which is usually more than £75, you can almost buy a waterblock, or simply put two noctuas on with zip ties to replace stock fans.

I'll just say the performance pales in comparison to my Accelero.

 

[erocker]

Accelero IV Xtreme went out of stock everywhere mid-pandemic. Perhaps Arctic will be replacing it with something since they definitely don't seem to be producing it anymore. ID cooling currently makes/sells a FrostFlow 240 AIO that works with a lot of different cards.

 

[joemama]

Too much cost for a small market, if GPUs were designed all similar so the coolers could be shared, there might be a market.
Another thing is that why bother spend money to replace the cooler and void the warranty while you could just pay more for a higher end GPU with a better cooler

 

[eidairaman1]

I remember back in the early 2010's there seemed to be 5 or 6 manufacturers of aftermarket videocard air coolers (thermalright, arctic cooling, prolimatech, scythe and raijintek are some that I remember).

Are videocard aftermarket air coolers even manufactured anymore?

The biggest 1 was arctic cooling but they got out of it sad enough.

There is still rajintek, maybe gelid.

Zalman, thermalright, are out of it as well

 

[Toothless]

NZXT has that bracket where you can stick an AIO on a gpu. Works pretty well and I was able to get an HD5870 going again.

 

[eidairaman1]

NZXT has that bracket where you can stick an AIO on a gpu. Works pretty well and I was able to get an HD5870 going again.

Alphacool makes wbs for AIBs

 

[80251]

Too much cost for a small market, if GPUs were designed all similar so the coolers could be shared, there might be a market.
Another thing is that why bother spend money to replace the cooler and void the warranty while you could just pay more for a higher end GPU with a better cooler

Thermalright manufactured some really unique videocard coolers, I haven't seen anything to equal them from any AIB. For example, the Spitfire (160x150mm heatpipe finstack array) which could be mounted in two orientations (one of which would allow gravity to work with the heatpipes):

http://thermalright.com/product/spitfire/

It had great reviews too.

 

[cvaldes]

NZXT has that bracket where you can stick an AIO on a gpu. Works pretty well and I was able to get an HD5870 going again.

That's not really air cooling.

The NZXT Kraken G12 is an AIO cooler for the GPU chip; it uses air cooling for the VRM which doesn't generate as much heat. I have used the Kraken bracket with my RTX 2070 SUPER Founders Edition card.

This is similar to current hybrid cooling solutions like the ASUS ROG Strix 3080 Ti LC model:

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Ti STRIX LC Liquid Cooled Review

The ASUS RTX 3080 Ti STRIX LC is THE overkill RTX 3080 Ti. It comes with a pre-filled watercooling unit, that provides cooling for the GPU and memory chips. Thanks to a factory overclock to 1830 MHz, this is the fastest RTX 3080 Ti we're testing today, but also the most expensive.

www.techpowerup.com

which again uses an AIO waterblock for the GPU chip but air cooling for the VRM and VRAM.

This is not the same as a full-length waterblock like the Alphacool Eiswolf AIO solution or a custom loop.

The NZXT Kraken works but there's nothing elegant about it. Because of the bulk of the Asetek waterblock head, it made my 2-slot 2070 SUPER FE into something more like a 3.5 slot graphics card. At best, the NZXT Kraken G12 bracket is a hack.

Today's graphics cards generate too much heat for a third-party air solution to make any difference. Air has much lower thermal capacity than water. Today's air cooling designs for graphics cards need to be customized for the particular PCB in question.

Look at the RTX 3080 Founders Edition card. With the v-shaped cutout, this is a tiny PCB relatively speaking. This card can easily be cooled with a waterblock but struggles to be cooled by air.

The main takeaway here is that you can't just clip on a 120x25mm fan onto an already thick air-cooled graphics card.

 

[dgianstefani]

I'll just say the performance pales in comparison to my Accelero.

The noise is much better though. If you want performance you go water.

 

[SpittinFax]

Okay good, so it's not just me then. I was looking for an Arctic Accelero cooler for my GTX 1060 6GB, the fans are too loud but I'd rather not upgrade the entire card. Unfortunately the Accelero coolers just don't exist anymore.

Looks like de-shrouding with 92mm fans is the only option now. Damn.

 

[X71200]

With the bigger cards, I suppose you might still be able to find some coolers such as the Morpheus if you look good enough (it was OOS most the time though).

The smaller cards, well... no point in AIO, maybe some leftover Arctic heatsinks (think small ones). You'll have to resort to looking at lesser common sites.

 

[user112]

if your lucky you may find a broken version of your card on ebay with a better cooler for cheap. these days it's rare for a AIB to use anything other than a reference PCB. then again you also have the option to mod a CPU cooler.

 

[dgianstefani]

You don't have to use 92mm fans BTW, they just fit better. 120 work too they just overhang a bit.

 

[SpittinFax]

A pretty neat idea is adapting replacement fans using a 3D printed heatsink shroud. It would require a bit of design effort to make it mount properly and you have to use the existing heatsink (which can present some obstacles) but the end result would be worth it.

 

[Toothless]

That's not really air cooling.

The NZXT Kraken G12 is an AIO cooler for the GPU chip; it uses air cooling for the VRM which doesn't generate as much heat. I have used the Kraken bracket with my RTX 2070 SUPER Founders Edition card.

This is similar to current hybrid cooling solutions like the ASUS ROG Strix 3080 Ti LC model:

ASUS GeForce RTX 3080 Ti STRIX LC Liquid Cooled Review

The ASUS RTX 3080 Ti STRIX LC is THE overkill RTX 3080 Ti. It comes with a pre-filled watercooling unit, that provides cooling for the GPU and memory chips. Thanks to a factory overclock to 1830 MHz, this is the fastest RTX 3080 Ti we're testing today, but also the most expensive.

www.techpowerup.com

which again uses an AIO waterblock for the GPU chip but air cooling for the VRM and VRAM.

This is not the same as a full-length waterblock like the Alphacool Eiswolf AIO solution or a custom loop.

The NZXT Kraken works but there's nothing elegant about it. Because of the bulk of the Asetek waterblock head, it made my 2-slot 2070 SUPER FE into something more like a 3.5 slot graphics card. At best, the NZXT Kraken G12 bracket is a hack.

Today's graphics cards generate too much heat for a third-party air solution to make any difference. Air has much lower thermal capacity than water. Today's air cooling designs for graphics cards need to be customized for the particular PCB in question.

Look at the RTX 3080 Founders Edition card. With the v-shaped cutout, this is a tiny PCB relatively speaking. This card can easily be cooled with a waterblock but struggles to be cooled by air.

The main takeaway here is that you can't just clip on a 120x25mm fan onto an already thick air-cooled graphics card.

Iunno dude. Looks elegant to me and sure it's not 100% air, it lets someone recycle an unused AIO for some pretty good performance.

 

[sam_86314]

A pretty neat idea is adapting replacement fans using a 3D printed heatsink shroud. It would require a bit of design effort to make it mount properly and you have to use the existing heatsink (which can present some obstacles) but the end result would be worth it.

View attachment 246131

This is actually something I've been planning to do.

I designed this one for my GPU a while ago. Probably still needs some work, and I haven't gotten my printer out of storage yet.

I want it to attach where the factory shroud does, and that has proven difficult to design. I won't know if it's even remotely close until I get around to printing it.

 

[Mussels]

saw t

I remember back in the early 2010's there seemed to be 5 or 6 manufacturers of aftermarket videocard air coolers (thermalright, arctic cooling, prolimatech, scythe and raijintek are some that I remember).

Are videocard aftermarket air coolers even manufactured anymore?

saw this myself trying to replace a dud fan on a GTX 970, all the older ones are gone too

I can get kraken G12 and slap an AIO on there, for 20x the cost i paid for the card

 

[cvaldes]

Iunno dude. Looks elegant to me and sure it's not 100% air, it lets someone recycle an unused AIO for some pretty good performance.

(Sigh)

I never said it was 100% air. I said it was AIO cooling for the GPU chip and air for the rest. Go back and re-read my post. CAREFULLY.

Your photo actually clearly shows that this is now a three PCIe slot solution. So thank you for confirming my assertion that this is a kludge. Like I said, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Founders Edition is a 2-slot card.

You can't just recycle any old AIO cooler with the NZXT Kraken G12. You need to use an AIO with the exact Asetek bayonet mount.

If you do this correctly, you'll also use up three fan headers: one for the radiator fans, one for the AIO pump, and the last for the VRM fan. And you still need to improvise fan curves unless you have a motherboard where you can attach a thermal sensor.

I am okay with kludges as long as it is clear what they are. What I find unacceptable are kludges that are passed off as elegant solutions. The NZXT Kraken G12 is not one of the latter.

When I tried this, I used MOS readings from my MSI MAG B550-M Mortar. Rather than squander a fan header for the AIO pump, I ran it at 100% power from the PSU.

 

[tabascosauz]

I'll just say the performance pales in comparison to my Accelero.

Doesn't accelero use 20mm ish thick fans? The A9x14 is a really weak fan, and there's lots of heatsink there uncovered by the fans.

A pretty neat idea is adapting replacement fans using a 3D printed heatsink shroud. It would require a bit of design effort to make it mount properly and you have to use the existing heatsink (which can present some obstacles) but the end result would be worth it.

View attachment 246131

Looks super nice, but fans that overhang the heatsink significantly still affects performance in a big way.

Sadly deshroud effectiveness is really situational, it's no more universal than acceleros/Morpheus coolers with their compatibility considerations.

Fans need to be pressed up against heatsink (so cards with interfering metal tabs don't work), fans need to cover almost all the heatsink, but fans can't overhang significantly, SFF cases with bottom vents work better with fans as pull not push, proprietary and custom adapters for connecting to GPU, heatsink needs to be substantial and not too thin like on some small 2-slot cards, loss of rigidity etc.

I used to use a G10 for my 7970 GHz, but I'm not sure if that would work for modern cards with GDDR6X.

 

[Toothless]

(Sigh)

I never said it was 100% air. I said it was AIO cooling for the GPU chip and air for the rest. Go back and re-read my post. CAREFULLY.

Your photo actually clearly shows that this is now a three PCIe slot solution. So thank you for confirming my assertion that this is a kludge. Like I said, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER Founders Edition is a 2-slot card.

You can't just recycle any old AIO cooler with the NZXT Kraken G12. You need to use an AIO with the exact Asetek bayonet mount.

If you do this correctly, you'll also use up three fan headers: one for the radiator fans, one for the AIO pump, and the last for the VRM fan. And you still need to improvise fan curves unless you have a motherboard where you can attach a thermal sensor.

I am okay with kludges as long as it is clear what they are. What I find unacceptable are kludges that are passed off as elegant solutions. The NZXT Kraken G12 is not one of the latter.

When I tried this, I used MOS readings from my MSI MAG B550-M Mortar. Rather than squander a fan header for the AIO pump, I ran it at 100% power from the PSU.

The 100% air comment was to reference the thread title, but okay.

You also seem to have clearly made what is and isn't a kludge based on your opinionated facts, but we can roll with it.

Also using only Asetek AIOs, thought that was obvious but, it's not? Iunno bud, I just read the advertising and had some unknown Corsair cooler on my shelf and bam, revived HD5870. The stock air cooler is damaged and $25 ain't bad to bring some life back.

You do you, unknown person in the internet.

 

[cvaldes]

The 100% air comment was to reference the thread title, but okay.

You also seem to have clearly made what is and isn't a kludge based on your opinionated facts, but we can roll with it.

Also using only Asetek AIOs, thought that was obvious but, it's not? Iunno bud, I just read the advertising and had some unknown Corsair cooler on my shelf and bam, revived HD5870. The stock air cooler is damaged and $25 ain't bad to bring some life back.

You do you, unknown person in the internet.

Who said anything about exclusively using Asetek AIOs?

Again your reading comprehension needs work.

You were lucky that you shoved a shelved AIO unit and got your HD5870 to work but it was blind luck, not any intelligence or research on your part.

But nice try at a recovery to save your behind. No one with half a brain here will be buffaloed though.

If you are who I imagine, you will dig yourself deeper into a more embarrassing hole. Toothless is a well selected handle for sure!