Radeon HD5870 VGA Cooler

[mstang783]

I have 2xSapphire Radeon HD5870 in crossfire and was wondering if there is a vga cooler that has the same dimensions or less for this card?
I can't have one any bigger because the space between my cards is small like 3/16 of an inch if that.

 

[welshmousepk]

nope.

ive been researching, since my 5870 arrives tomorrow. there are very few aftermarket coolers it will fit. and none that will allow for crossfire. hell, i couldnt even find any aftermarkets for my 4890's in crossfire...

 

[uRSALOG]

thought of water cooling at all? i have two 5850s in crossfire and the company that made my water blocks says that theyre the same dimensions as 5870s bought mine from koolance, you can set up your pumps externally if space inside is a problem but i dunno what you money situation is because the blocks are kinda pricy, the pupm i bought from amazon the p500 i think it is from thermaltake, its running like a champ atm

 

[mstang783]

I dont know. I wish I could find a vga cooler but i dont believe I will ever find one small enough to fit in between the cards. My temp on card 1 gets up to 87C with a 40% fan speed. Cards 2 stays about 10-15 degrees cooler. Are these temps ok? I thought about just stayin with what I got.
Will you give me some prices on your watercooling setup? I have never watercooled. Is the pump loud? Is it real big? What do you have to do to upkeep watercooling?

 

[theholylancer]

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=027381&cid=FAN.251

this is the version 1 (I think) version 2 (version B) would have one where the fan would be blowing into the heatsink instead of underneath and sucking air down, and that was suppose to make it even better

It's quieter , or it can cool better if you crank up the airspeed / replace with a LARGER/faster 120mm fan

o and that's from canada, ncix is better if you are near BC, check the egg for US I guess

quality WC costs around 500 USD++ don't go cheap WC or else it will not be better and may be more dangerous.

 

[mstang783]

$500??? Im out I just got built this computer and I cant spend that much. Well how can you post pics on here from your hard drive. I was gonna put a pic of my system on here to get advice and to see if my setup is good on airflow..

 

[theholylancer]

what case do you have?

 

[mstang783]

antec 1200

 

[mstang783]

will the arctic cooling accelero twin turbo work in my situation with crossfire? The space between my cards is around 3/16 of an inch and it stats that it is crossfire capable.

 

[theholylancer]

no clue, the one I gave is what I have and it is a two slot in the default configuration of the fan inside the fins.

 

[LoneWolf_53]

will the arctic cooling accelero twin turbo work in my situation with crossfire? The space between my cards is around 3/16 of an inch and it stats that it is crossfire capable.

The only way I could see that working is for someone who has three PCI-E slots for graphics cards on their board and places the cards at opposing ends.

I tried one of those once and though it's quiet and worked great it's huge and I didn't even add the optional fans to it.

It took up at least the equivalent of three slots.

 

[theholylancer]

btw with motherboards, some allows you to change into 16/4/16 mode, so you can use a extra long flexible crossfire bridge and use the accelero no problem

but others you are limited to 16/16/4 or 16/8/8 which would mean reduced performance, esp in the 16/16/4 mode like my evga 3x sli, where it will not switch to even 8x mode and thus limiting me to 4x speed operation

hence me looking for an actual 2 slot after market hsf and found this little puppy from scythe

 

[welshmousepk]

is it the scythe musashi you are looking at?

thats what i was going to get for my 4890. is it compatible with the 5870? if it is, i really want one...

 

[theholylancer]

no, its the setsugen, the newer version that uses a single low profile 120mm fan with accordingly large heat sink

and afaik, the musashi (sp) is NOT compatible (at least not listed on their website) with the 5870s and these setsugen are only compatiable if you know how to use one of these and have visited their EU forums and used a german translator to follow the steps

and I have it up and running:

 

[theholylancer]

note how much TALLER it sticks out on top, you need to have a good case (I have a HAF 932 and it fits) in order to house this monster

you can have the fans either in the inside of the thing (tucked in) and have a 2 slot cooler for CF operation, or you can get a better and bigger fan to put on the outside to better cool it but making it a 3 or 4 slot cooler.

That's the reason I got this, it's to allow for 120mm 120 CFM panaflos to sit on top of it, but that will come later.

o and about 25-30 C drop under load with stock setting, and around 5 C ish for idle i what i remember is right, i will upload the before and after temp pictures after. Also this is done with IC diamond thermal interface compound and not with the stock TIM, as the ID diamond uses diamond dusts as a thermal interfacer and not just some cermique, it likely influenced the temp drops.

 

[welshmousepk]

nice, that looks great. im not sure how it would fit in my lancool though. i may have to find some dimensions. if it fits, i want one.

yeah, id be using TX-2 TIM if i got one, i never trust the random TIM they supply.

is it quieter than the stock fan? looks like it should be. :S

yeah if we could see some benchies with that cooler it would be awesome

 

[welshmousepk]

bump.

lancer, hows it going?

im tihnking about ordering when of these tomorrow when i get paid. is that a good idea?

specifically if you could get some GPUz logs id be mighty thankfull. i'd like to know how it does at keeping the VRMs cool. alot of aftermarket coolers seems to have issues with that, and since i overvolt my 5870 i need one that can handle the task.

does this come with VRM sinks? or are they just cooled by the fan. it seems the fan blows away from the card which should help cool the VRMs more than most. but im not sure it will be as good as the stock backplate.

anyways, any info would be helpful. ill probably buy one. i just hope i wont end up regretting it.

 

[theholylancer]

well they do supply VRM heatsinks, but they are kinda on the small side (but they work, as I will show soon) as I have the AMD clock tool, and it was a drop of temp across ALL sensors (even the VRM sensors lol)

also are you running in CF mode? If you are not, then grab a bigger sflex (or delta 120 CFM :O)and it would definately cool better

also, the box that comes with it is roughly the height of the thing, so before you take it out, try it on for size in ur case, because not everyone has a full tower case like I do and may run into issues.

 

[welshmousepk]

hey lancer, Ive just ordered it. should be here tomorrow, so ill know for sure then.

i know the temps are looking good, the main worry i have is the VRMs after overvolting. im hoping use the card regularly at 1000mhz on the core, which requires 1.3v and generates ALOT of heat. im sure the GPU and RAM will be fine, but the VRMs may be an issue..

im not running crossfire, but intend to some time down the road (after a price drop. hurry up fermi!) so will probably keep the stock fan. i dont need to worry about noise, since i game with 7.1 surround headphones at high volume. i just want good cooling.

i THINK it will fit. roughly how far does it overhang the card? i only have a mid tower, but its a lian-li/lancool mid-tower, so its very roomy for its spec.

im kinda excited, so i really hope it does fit. i may zip tie an extra case fan near the GPU though to help get the air away quickly.

i think when i order my second card ill get a vapor-x version (weren't available when i ordered the current card) so i just need this card performing well..

EDIT: and would it be an absolute waste of cash to get one of these: http://www.modster-pc.co.nz/shop/product_info.php?cPath=120&products_id=2848

thinking it will help vent some of the hot air straight out of the case, instead of it all running through my CPU heatsink and increasing temps. but it also looks like it wont move too much air...

EDIT again: and could you link to the 5870 install instructions for this heatsink please lancer? ty

 

[theholylancer]

http://www.scythe-eu.com/forum/musashi-vga-cooler/1379-musashi-compatibility-ati-5870-5850-a.html

you'll have to register, the important tidbits are in english, but the replies are in German (in short, 5770/5750 are incompatible after some digging by forums
members), run it through google translate and what nots

btw, the instructions are sparse with the 5870, so I hope you have at least done a gpu hsf install before so know what to expect eh

one MAJOR thing is that first, you want to keep the stock HSF and ALL the screws so that you can put it back on if you RMA

second MAJOR item is that when you are screwing in the backplate, make sure to not just screw one side (there are 4 different screws/nuts) and you need to apply even pressure across all of them, as unlike CPUs, they have exposed silicon and no IHS!!! if you only screw in one side, it will crack the core and you will have a dead card that most AIBs won't fix, just be careful and do one, then the diagonal, then the one next to it and then the diagonal.

Be sure to attach the VRM heatsinks as shown in the fourm thread and double check with the stock heat sink, where ever there is contact between the stock heat sink and the pcb, there should be a passive cooler there (aside from the center one on the core that is, that's for the big guy)

and note, the only position for the adjustable mounting holes in the second one, as seen here:

as you can see this thing is made for multiple GFX, so make sure you choose this setup.

for a fuller set of pictures and what nots, read:
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/scythe_setsugen_meets_radeon_hd5800/
if you can't read german (I sure as hell can't) use google translate and look at the pictures, the broken translation is helped by a ton by the detailed pictures they give.

 

[theholylancer]

Also, look carefully at the picture I have posted, download the thing (its 8 MP if you get the full version from image shack, and huge) and you can fit it life size with ur 5870, and you can see how well it will fit in ur case.

or conversely, get a 120mm fan and fit it over ur 5870 and you'll have a rough idea, or just use the box as that is approx the height (not the length)

 

[welshmousepk]

thanks lancer. the HS didnt arrive today, so i won't have it til Monday now

can't wait to try it out though. installation looks a little tricky, but i think i can handle it.

 

[theholylancer]

ok here you go, i actually remember to uploaded the temp pics and after oc pics they are split into 1 and 2 for all three so there are 6 pics in total (2 b4, 2 after, 2 oc)

temp b4:

temp after:

light OC attempt with CCC (I used auto OC and walked away to dinner lol... I will do more later on):

 

[theholylancer]

I used Vantage to stress the GPU and thus the MAX value should be taken as load and the MIN taken as idle, the value at that time is just what it cooled to after the vantage test

I think I can dig up some of my other installation pics for ya and they server well as die shots of the 5870 I guess, if you haven't seen it around the web.

Make sure you have all the tools needed before you start to take things apart, them small screws at the back needs some good screwdrivers to take out...

annndd the final setup, I had to MSpaint away the picture to keep me annon but otherwise un-changed

especially the keyboard, unchanged since about 1996 and stayed with me since my family's first computer till my own now (If you know where the hell to get wireless, or wired usb, buckling spring keyboard WITH a metal backplate I would love to know, the thing is built like a tank, but with mobos removing PS2...)

Maybe I should put up a 56k warning....

 

[welshmousepk]

thanks for the pics lancer, makes it look very promising.

still worried about VRM temps though, so thinking about getting one of these: http://www.coolerguys.com/vrmr.html

good idea? should help keep them in line, but it may be overkill.

the cooler arrived into the store yesterday, but i was far too hungover to go pick it up :S. ill go get it tomorrow and hopefully have it installed nice and quick. ill let ya know how it goes.

and btw, AWESOME figurines!