How long till 4870's get enhanced cooling solutions?

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.

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

"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 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!

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.

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

PS. any cooler that fits the 3850/3870 will do