I'm dying for one of these '70's and I know its a 2 slot "out the back" system already, but with the temps the '50s are showing I am seriously considering waiting till we see some of the ATI partners come out with some variations on cooling. Does anyone have an idea how long it usually takes before these companies come out with improved cooling solutions.

BTW I am really only interested in improved cooling solutions (cooler, quieter) not so much OC'd cards.

Thanks!

Soon, I hope. I read a review yesterday where a site installed a Thermalright HR-03 (can't remember which at the moment) and got the temps down considerably. So its not the architecture, but the chosen cooling solution that is the hindrance.

Does anyone remember how long it usually took for the ATI partners to come out with variations in the past?

Get off these boards ronka. Your intentions here are only to bash ATI and spread misinformation. Every single post you have made involves negative comments or a flat out lie. I am starting to think that you are indeed employed by Nvidia.

There is no architecture issue at all. The fan speeds are working at a lower RPMs than what they should be at the moment and currently there is no fan speed control.

In the end of July, HIS is supposed to be coming out with the ICE Q series. The issue is that supplies are so short right now, all of the companies need to move units as quickly as they get them. When supplies start saturating the market they will then take the time to customize the cooling solutions.

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php? [...] 9&Itemid=1

Aftermarket coolers bring the temps down the best. Down in the 40's for the one Sailer mentioned. Check out the link below. They do involve a little work to install though.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/for [...] ew-21.html

gtfo, will you?

"We tried the Thermalright HR-03 GT, Thermaltake DuOrb, Coolink GFXChilla and Arctic Cooling S1 Rev.2 and every one of them fit without any problems at all."

A good point they made from that page.

I think the problem is the fan speed control which should be fixed in an update. Also somewhere I saw some one strip off the cooler on a 4850 and the thermal paste was TERRIBLE. I think reapplying some AC MX2 or OCZ Freeze will easily slash those temps. considering the cooler has heat pipes on the 4870. Add that to when the fan problem is fixed and everything should be fine, I hope.

I thought I heard the IceQ line are supposed to be out late July. I don't remember where I saw this though so I can't give you the source.

Yea late July is a LOT longer then I want to wait... Heck, if I wait that long I might as well wait and get an X2... Hmmm (shakes head) no no no! lol

The only GPU headsink/fan I ever mod'd was putting a Zalman on my 9800pro.

IF I do decide to get a 4870 now I assume that VT or HIS are the 2 I should look at?

And IF I go for an aftermarket cooler, which one should I get? I'd be looking for cooler temps but at an accetable noise level. It doesn't have to be silent, but I don't want pilots showing up at my house looking for the airport runway...

Thanks!

Oops, sorry SpinachEater. Like I saind, I didn't remember where I heard it

That is true. I wanted to wait too but my rig has been sitting for a couple of months waiting for this card. I ended up getting one when I was sleep walking...I couldn't control it... (that is what I tell the wife anyway)

This will be my first ATI card so I can't recommend any supplier over the other. Right now, they are all the same card...VT, HIS, Sapphire, PC...they are just slapping their stickers on HS and selling them. It would come down to how well they support their card if you choose to get a reference design right now. There is a thread not too far down with a discussion about the different suppliers.

I am not sure about the noise levels on the aftermarkets. I am thinking about getting an aftermarket too but I am going to wait to see how ATI tackles the fan speeds. The HS on the 4870 has heatpipes...it looks like it has potential...often though looks don't mean squat so it could be absolute junk. Since I like the rear exhaust dual slot cooling, am going to replace their thermal paste with the stuff I put on my CPU and see how that goes over.

The best air cooling setup so far that I have seen has been the Accelero S1 rev2 and the Thermalright HR-3 that sailer mentioned. They are meant to be passive but if you slap a 120mm fan on there....YIPES! The only problem is that I imagine it would take up at least 3 slots with the fan on. I think the xigmatek battle axe takes up 4 slots. The larger the fan though the quieter it should be. A good 120mm on low-med speed is almost silent and wouldn't sound like your case was going to fly away.

I read that the 4850 wasn't clocking itself down to <300mhz, it was idling at 500mhz which gave it high idle temps. A bios update/fix thing is supposed to fix that and the fan speeds.

Homerdog posted a bios tweak from MSI....let me dig that up


http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios [...] 80605.html

http://gathering.tweakers.net/foru [...] e/30312532

Someone should sacrifice their card and test it out....and then let us know what happens...with lots of pics

http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=810140

this one pump's the hot air out the back its cheap and is supposed to be good check it fits