Best cooler for HD4850

Devilz

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Aug 4, 2008
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I have Asus HD4850, which gets extremely hot sometimes while playing games. Though it doesn't crash or something, to be on safer side, i am thinking to replace the stock fan with GPU cooler. I was reading article in computer magazine which states zalman vf900 is very good to put on HD4850. Its bit noisy but it will keep GPU temperature down. Another disadvantage is; pci slot next to it won't be available to use anymore which i am willing to sacrifice as i don't need it anyway.

Need your views about GPU cooler, any suggestions?
 

Phin

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Oct 25, 2007
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One option may be for you to check out RivaTuner. I'm not sure if it is compatible with the 4800 series of gpu's, but I use it for my 3870's and the temps stay way down when i manually set the fans up to 80-100% speed. Check it out. It may save you some cash. Good luck to you.
 

Devilz

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I have tried Rivatuner, but it doesn't support 4800 series. Also I have ASUS Smart Doctor with which i can monitor temperature and fan speed. Whats the highest safe temperature?

my card current temperature is 53C/127F
 

surfbum

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53C is fine. if you have the smart doctor utility, set your fan speed to 40% and leave it there and don't worry. your GPU won't have a problem, assuming you have decent case ventilation.
 

jthorn

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I have read much on 4850's since I bought one myself last month. I am no expert but the gpu should be safe for temps of 80c or even 90c. I have read the stock fan on the 4850's throttle between 14 and 24 percent. So one fix has been to write a custom fan profile in the gpu bios to speed it up. There are posts describing this and most feel that even a fixed speed of say 30 or 40 percent is a great improvement. GPU temps might drop from 90c to something around 70c under load. Of course, the con to this approach is an increase in noise db. My new build should arrive this week so i hope to sort it all out.
 

Primus462

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I have a 4870 and I think mine idles at 70C! Surely the 4870 isn't expected to be that much higher. I would say 53C is fine.
 

the last resort

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make sure that you can tolerate a VERY LARGE amount of noise before setting the fan to above 50-60%. I tried 70%, and it was around 2x-3x as loud as a 140mm (at 80 some CFM) and 3 120mm fans (88 CFM) all at max. Right now, when the card is under load, I put the fan speed to 40%, and the temp might hit 70C. As soon as load is gone, goes to about 45C.
 

Andrzej_Pl

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Get GFXChilla, by Coolink. I put it on my 4870, so it should fit also 4850. It will "eat" one of the close slots, for 4850, because it's as thick as the 480 dual slot cooling solution.

Temps? 4870 idling at 47C :), if you'd also get yourself nice 80mm fans, to exchange those from Chilla, you could go down even more.