Accelero S1 - which version for X1800XL

[Plekto]

I managed to get ahold of an ATI X1800XL from a friend. It's nice, but it's hideously loud compared to my older X850XT with a Zalman GPU fan installed(easily 40+db difference).

I have excellent airflow in my case out the rear, but I need to know which of these passive coolers will work best with the card. They make the S1 and the S1 rev2. I know about the problem with the heatsink glue as well on the original one - has this been fixed, or should I get some of the blue Zalman memory heatsinks instead?

 

[raven_87]

Those Zalman heatsinks arent tremendously effective unless you have good airflow over them (as with all heatsinks) - just a friendly reminder.

You could always go with an S2 - hell, if you feel like you want to drop the $$... a VNF100 I hear tell are quite nice.

 

[Plekto]

Thanks. I'm planning to run a slot fan two slots away from it(yes, the whole thing will take 4 slots combined) Doing this with the older Zalman active GPU cooler resulted in a 5C drop in case temp as the air was immediately vented out of the case.

Of course, the only other card my new system will have is my sound card, so it looks like I'll be fine - gotta love integrated features.

Apparently the VNF100 just doesn't have enough surface area to get the job done - the heatpipes are a DIY assembly process and too long, plus the thing just won't fit if you have a heatpipe northbridge setup or a big GPU cooler.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/zalman-gigabyte-vga_9.html
Not good. Thermal runaway.(97C was the last value before it bricked)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/vga-coolers_10.html
Same video card with the S1 - loaded it runs a tiny bit cooler than the stock fan at 100%, and that's before any slot fan is added to the equation.