Changing 8800gt Cooler

[thegatekeeper]

My 8800gt is hitting some high temps when playing stressfull games, as high as 85 degrees and this isn't good is it? I was thinking of changing the cooler on it but this isnt as simple as changing the cpu cooler. How hard is it exactly, the stock cooler that came with my card doesn't look like it will go out easy, im using the BFG version. Also, what cooler is the best for this type of card, and do i need to buy heat sinks for other components like card ram or does the cooler cover everything?

Thanks.

 

[Pailin]

I bought an Accelero S1 for my Asus card:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-023-AR&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1008

Comes with RAM sinks. I hear a lot that the supplied thermal tape is very poor...
personally it worked fine for me

In my case passive temps are 43c
but I have great airflow

Load temps are about 57c

I must add that my Asus 8800GT was the new 2 slot solution and its voltage regulator HS was too high and I had to mod the S1 cooler to make it fit...
but I think it should be fine on your card.

 

[kpo6969]

My 8800gt is hitting some high temps when playing stressfull games, as high as 85 degrees and this isn't good is it? I was thinking of changing the cooler on it but this isnt as simple as changing the cpu cooler. How hard is it exactly, the stock cooler that came with my card doesn't look like it will go out easy, im using the BFG version. Also, what cooler is the best for this type of card, and do i need to buy heat sinks for other components like card ram or does the cooler cover everything?

Thanks.

There are some good options and many opinions on the subject. The most popular (in no particular order)
HR-03GT
Accelero
VF1000 and VF900
DuOrb

Different situations, different options
Here's a good starting point to see what others are doing:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=164140

http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTQyMywxLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdA==

 

[rook]

I put an S1 on my BFG, Temps went from 51/78 to 38/46 with the turbo module. I had problems with the ram sinks. I just used Thermaltake A1933 Aluminum Ram Sink for the voltage regulators and where ever the supplied ram sinks wouldn't stick.

 

[doormatderek]

Are you making sure the stock fan is spinning up under load? My x1950pro never gets over 60 and I just use ATI tool to crank it up before i game. 80% is about fast enough. even in Crysis

 

[trulaker9]

Before you change the cooler, have you checked to see what % power your fan is spinning at? Keep in mind that Nvidia drivers for some reason set the fan to only be able to run at 29% and this could definately cause your card to heat up during stressful games. Download a third party GPU tool such as Riva Tuner to manually set your fan speeds.

 

[doormatderek]

Before you change the cooler, have you checked to see what % power your fan is spinning at? Keep in mind that Nvidia drivers for some reason set the fan to only be able to run at 29% and this could definately cause your card to heat up during stressful games. Download a third party GPU tool such as Riva Tuner to manually set your fan speeds.

YES, exactly.

 

[homerdog]

50% does it for me, overclocked to 700MHz core, 1805MHz shader, and 1900MHz memory.

 

[doormatderek]

n00bs... ~

 

[bildo123]

In my build 50% was noticeable above all other fans making it loud, the loudest I really would maybe wanted the stock was 40% and it blended in alright. So I slapped a Accelero S2 with turbo modules and bam, literally sounds like a passive solution with temps that never pass 50C. Not only that if you ever rip the stock HS off you'll have a good laugh at their vein attempt to cool this thing. Not only that there's a bit of fun and that 'sense' you did something a little extra to juice it up. This is with my card @ 700/1000 My best personal OC was 770/1925/1000 with Volt Mod 1.26V idle 1.3V load. But temps reached almost 80C during 3DMark06 Test and I did not gain any noticable improvement so I removed the mod and stuck with my 700/1000.

 

[monst0r]

i got a vanilla HR-03 (GT was like 20$ more, and its basically the same)
i have my card @ 700/1000 idle: 49 load:70ish

oh yea, its completely passive, its purty sweet

 

[raidersmack]

I'm in process of building after surfing reviews got to the conclusion the Accelero S1 is a good value it can be used without a fan inside a case with good air flow or you can add a fan with zip ties or get the matching set Accelero turbo kit this will ensure plenty of cooling that is how I"ll be installing, oh and I also will be adding a Thermalright's PWM voltage regulator ramsink kit found some tests that mention temperatures rise to hot on this part when overclocking

 

[thegatekeeper]

My fan speed is at 80% at the moment, but nobody answered my question as to whether it is hard or not to change the cooler .

 

[prolfe]

The answer is, no, it's not that bad. Most of the reviews already mentioned include installation notes from the models the reviewers, so we probably didn't think you needed us to spell it out for you.

 

[bildo123]

I'll second that, it's easy as long as you take your time and think ahead a little bit. Probbably 10 minutes or less job.