Reviews

by: lonewolf

Accelero Xtreme 9800 http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=102

Packaging:

It was in blister packaging. I should note the packaging was very easy to open, no need to destroy it just to open it, always a plus. :good:

Came with:

Instruction sheet, very basic but easily understandable

Slot bracket, goes in the 3rd slot under the card for extra ventilation. (I couldn’t use it because I have fan controllers mounted there.)

Heat sinks for the Vregs

Mounting screws

Thermal pads for the memory chips

Case badge

Description:

Installation was very straightforward, I have the early model 9800GTX’s, I have heard of people needing to trim the cooler down on some later models. It should also be noted that Newegg advertising this as fitting the 9800GT’s, Accelero makes no such claim, so buy at your own risk if trying to fit the GT’s.

Step #1: Remove the stock cooler: remove these 17 screws, there are also 2 screws on the bracket side of the card. If your card is under warranty, make sure you do not remove the sticker containing the card’s serial #, if necessary carefully lift the corners to access any mounting screws.

WARNING: If you are going to use these cooler in an SLI configuration, make absolutely sure the warranty sticker on the bottom card is sticking very well, trust me, the fans on the top cooler can and will suck it it up, destroying the sticker and causing a big problem should you ever need to RMA the card!!

Carefully pull the stock cooler away from the card, the old thermal pads should stick to the cooler. As you can see here, I did have one pad stick to a Vreg. Note the mess from the old TIM on the GPU, Accelero recommends using a paper towel to remove it, I personally prefer the Arctic Clean 2 step cleaner.

Step #2: Following instructions, I next used an eraser to rub the Vregs and memory chips, Accelero cautions the heatsinks and thermal pads will not stick if you skip this step!

Step #3: Apply the heatsinks to the Vregs, and the thermal pads to the memory chips. Here is a picture of the card prepped and ready for the new cooler. Please note the circled area at the top of the picture, this tube thing (sorry about the technical jargon) for the LED will interfere during installation, you might remove it, I just forced it aside as I installed the cooler, the LED does still work.

Step #4: Place the cooler upside down on a flat surface, plug the fan power cable into the card, and carefully line up the mounting holes as you place the card onto the cooler, making sure not to smear the pre-applied MX-2. As I lowered the card, I had to firmly push the cooler towards the slot bracket because of the LED tube (sorry again ).

Once the card and cooler are together, install the mounting screws. It only uses 9 screws, so don’t worry about all the unused holes on the card.

Here again you can see the heatsinks and thermal pads, as well as the pre-applied MX-2

As you can see in this picture, the fan housing has a ‘lip’ built into the slot side. I’m not sure what it’s purpose is, I’m guessing it’s to help support the card.

The card would fit not in my 750i FTW with the ‘lip’, so I grabbed my trusty snips and away it went. A Dremel would probably do a neater job, but I was worried about getting small bits of plastic in the fans, no one will ever see it once it’s installed anyways.

How it compares:

I was going to use Furmark for load temps, but I run 2 cards and couldn’t figure out how to read both cards separately. So I chose to use Hwmonitor for all temps, with all clocks set to stock, and Folding@home running for my load temps. On another note, I seem to have lost my picture of load temps with the stock coolers, and being too lazy to re-install them just for a quick temp reading I will have to ask you to take my word for it on that.

So here goes:

Idle temps

Idle temps with stock coolers: 43C on the top card, 44C on the bottom card

Idle temps with Accelero coolers: 46C top card, 37C bottom card

Load temps

Again, I will ask you to take my word for it, average load temps for the stock coolers, while folding, ran between 72C-78C

Load temps with the Accelero coolers: 66C top card, 48C bottom card!

So I have a difference in idle temps on the top card of 3C , and -7C for the bottom one

At load it looks more encouraging, but still helps the bottom card more. -6C to -12C top card, -25C to -30C for the bottom card! :yahoo:

Conclusion:

I would absolutely recommend this cooler, especially for someone with a single GPU set up. I have excellent airflow in my case, but using two for an SLI set up is a very tight fit. Accelero’s website lists the height as 31 mm, but that’s just for the cooler itself, with the fans it’s about 55 mm tall, measure your case carefully! You can see here just how close it is, I would estimate about 1-2mm clearance.

The bottom card clearly sees the most benefit, but the top card also runs cooler under load. Make sure you have good case airflow, as this cooler does not exhaust the hot air outside of the case. I was afraid my CPU would run hotter as a result, but haven’t noticed any difference there. I am considering a spot fan near the top card to feed it some cooler air, with the tight fit, the fans draw it’s air from directly above the bottom card.

One other thing to consider is the ‘WOW’ factor, two of these coolers in a modded rig are definitely a thing of beauty!!

Any questions or comments are appreciated, thanks for reading! :drinks:

Tags: accelero, amp, arctic cooling, case badge, catalog product, description installation, memory chips, models, paper towel, risk, screws, sli configuration, slot bracket, step 1, stock, thermal pads, ventilation, vre, warranty