Accelero X2

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Just ordered one of these to replace the stock cooler on my Powercolour X1800XT 512. I was wondering what thermal paste would be the most efficient? Would it be better to use some AS5 or the paste supplied with the cooler. I assume the paste that comes with the cooler may be best as it's specifically designed for the job but thought I'd ask you guys for your thoughs.

Also please could those who are using one of these coolers also give me an idea of what increase in ambient case temps I can expect (the cooler doesn't exhaust hot air out the pci slot like the stock cooler). I'm cooling my CPU with a ninja passively at the moment so may have to look at trying to get more efficient airflow to keep case temps down.

My case temps are usually around 32deg but have been as high as 35deg in this hot weather so I'd like to know how this Accelero X2 will impact temps.

Looking forward to a quieter PC though I must admit.

Why they can't supply a cool and quiet cooling solution in the first place with the more expensive higher end cards is beyond me :rolleyes:

anyways thanks for any pointers. :D
 
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Mine arrived about two hours ago and was easily fitted without any issues thankfully :D
It's certainly a lot quieter than the stock cooler and cannot be heard over my case fans even under load.
My temps are much better too with this cooler :-

Stock Accelero
Max GPU 89 75
Min GPU 59 45
Avg GPU 75 57

The X1800's environmental temps are up a few deg though with a max of 59 deg (stock was 55deg).
I have also noticed my case temps rise by about 3 deg peaking @38deg after about a half hour bf2 session and my cpu temp has risen about the same peaking @55deg (cpu is X2 4200+ @2.75GHz running passively with a ninja;))
I have a spare 120mm fan that I'll probably use to lower the cpu and possibly the case temps too.

Overall I pretty pleased with the results of this cooler for the relatively low outlay (£14 if you shop around) and is worth a purchase imo.

I just wish higher end card manufacturers gave you as equally good stock coolers in the first place mind :confused:
 
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Agree with above - got an X2 and fitted last week for £12 it's a bargin.

Fitting - fairly easy - naff all instructions with the X2 but fairly obvious.

A quick run through for those who are considering it -

On the X1900 there is a bracket with 4 very small screws - un screw these (need a very very small cross headed screwdriver) and then take the bracket off.

There are 4 more screws holding the main cooler on - these are slightly larger and tighter but came away fairly easy.

Cooler then justs lifts off the gfx board.

X2 comes with 7/8 (can't remember) thermal pads - i applied these to the RAM chips on the gfx card. It also comes with artic compound on the bottom of the cooler. I cleaned the gunk off the gpu with cotton buds and the wifes makeup pads!!! The X2 comes with thermal paste pre-applied to it so i just used that.

I just then turned the card over - lined up the screw holes and screwed the main screw holes back (only 3 of them are used now) and then added the bracket back and screwed them up.

Overall fairly easy to fit - about 15/20 mins if you take your time and clean the gpu etc.

Temps wise - used to idle about 48/50 in windows - temps are now idle about the same.

Gaming in PRMM (BF2 mod) used to hit about 72/75 with stock cooler, now max'd out at 63 after about 40 mins yesterday. big saving there.

Case temps are up slightly but nothing major.

my card is only running at stock 500/1200 as this is way quick enough and i'm having problems with the drivers defaulting back to 2d settings etc with ATI tool. :(

The biggest and best saving for me is the noise - since i fitted my DFI motherboard and the X2 my noise has reduced to about a 1/3 of the previous level. Big improvement in the noise levels in the pc.

overall very impress so far and has quietened my pc substantially.
 
Soldato
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Im going to get the X1 for my 6800U. From their site:

Application:
NVIDIA 6800 series
NVIDIA 7800 series (just PCIe)
NVIDIA 7900 GTX
not compatible to most 7900 GT boards (passive cooler for 7900 GT will be available from 06/2006)
 
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Monstermunch said:
Accelero's are pants..... The Zalman vf900cu is a much better cooler....!

Rubbish! I've seen about 5 professional reviews that say otherwise, and several users on XS have tested and confirmed the X2 as being significantly better than the 900cu on an X1900 series card!

I also had a 900cu on an X1900XT, so tonight i'll tell you how the X2 on an XTX compares to it. ;)
 
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Richdog said:
Rubbish! I've seen about 5 professional reviews that say otherwise, and several users on XS have tested and confirmed the X2 as being significantly better than the 900cu on an X1900 series card!

I also had a 900cu on an X1900XT, so tonight i'll tell you how the X2 on an XTX compares to it. ;)

Plus its half the price, its bargainous :D
 
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Well, just installed with a nice layer of AS5 and the silence... ooh the silence... :D

XTX is OC'd to 700/800 and seems to be settling at 53c idle for the moment. This is almost a full 10c cooler than stock cooler at 665/770 on my old XT... and a bit more than 5c cooler than the Zalman 900cu which was also at 650/770 on my old XT. Good, no?

Will run some benchies and get the ATI log and we'll see the load temps very soon. :)

EDIT - Scratch that, just over-ridden GPU fan to 100% and idle temps now 45c...
 
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Just ran 3DMARk 2005 a couple of times and max temps were consistent... an average of 68c over 3 runs... that's over 10c lower than the Zalman 900cu... which let me remind you was running an X1900XT at significantly lower clocks. Ambient temps are back down to 45c compared to my stock cooler which was 60c.

I call that... win. :D
 
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The test

We ran idle tests on all of the coolers by letting the system boot into Windows XP, run one run of our Half Life 2:Lost Coast *******-chopper timedemo to warm the system up a little bit, and letting the system idle for 20 minutes afterwards with nothing running. Our load tests were conducted after 10 continuous runs of the Half Life 2:Lost Coast timedemo in windowed mode at 1280x1024 with HDR, 4xAF, and high quality textures. Temperatures were read using Asus PC Probe and ATI’s built in temperature monitoring in Catalyst Control Center.

Our noise readings were obtained an inch away from the side of the case where the video card resides. The Radio Shack Digital Sound Meter was placed atop an Asus A8R32-MVP Deluxe box and consistently placed in the same spot give or take 1/8 inch. The case cover was on the case as well as the two fans the SG01 has.

GPU temperature

Zalman’s VF900-Cu beats out the VF700-Cu and Accelero X2 in both idle and load tests. At its lowest and quietest setting the VF900-Cu is able to beat out the other two coolers under load by 5-19%. The only other cooler to come close to the VF900-Cu’s “low” performance is the VF700-Cu—in its performance mode. We were disappointed with the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2’s cooling performance. With an idle temperature of 52C and a load temperature of 70C it isn’t much better than stock.

CPU temperature

In our compact SFF case heat doesn’t leave the case as fast as most towers thus dissipated heat from the GPU fan can typically float around the case and increase the CPU and case temperature. Here we see a trend where the CPU temperature increases slightly as the fan speeds increase. The Zalman VF900-Cu in its lowest fan setting is on par with the stock blower fan in terms of load temperatures.

Case temperature

We see the same correlation of fan speed and system temperatures as we saw with the CPU temperature. Here the stock cooling keeps the case temperature the lowest with its blower fan, though the VF900Cu follows closely behind.

Noise levels

The stock cooler on ATI’s Radeon X1800XT is loud and any of these three coolers will be quieter. Zalman’s VF900-Cu once again beats the other two coolers by only producing 51 decibels of noise in its lowest fan setting. At its highest setting the VF900-Cu is still quieter than the ATI stock cooler. The VF700Cu and Accelero X2 produce noise levels 1 decibel louder than the VF900-Cu—which is very close. We were disappointed in the VF700-Cu in its performance mode as it was as loud as the stock cooler under load and louder than the stock cooler at idle.
 
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Richdog said:
Just ran 3DMARk 2005 a couple of times and max temps were consistent... an average of 68c over 3 runs... that's over 10c lower than the Zalman 900cu... which let me remind you was running an X1900XT at significantly lower clocks. Ambient temps are back down to 45c compared to my stock cooler which was 60c.

I call that... win. :D

Were you running the VF900 on high?
 
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Monstermunch said:
Were you running the VF900 on high?

Of course...

And regarding the review you posted above... you really shouldn't take it as gospel, there's a lot of bad/inaccurate reviews floating around on the net...
 
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Well all that matters to me is that the X2 is quieter and cooler than the stock cooler and only cost me £14 for the privalage. :p
I used the thermal paste that came pre-applied with the cooler would I see an improvement if I replaced it with as5?
I went for the X2 because it was supposed to be quieter and cooler than the stock cooler (which it is) and gave all this for relatively little outlay.
Obviously if your looking for a cooler and don't mind paying extra them I'm sure the vf900 is the choice for you ;) but it seems there's conflicting reports as to which is best.
Which ever you buy I'm sure you'll be happy with it's performance :D
 
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Hawklord said:
Well all that matters to me is that the X2 is quieter and cooler than the stock cooler and only cost me £14 for the privalage. :p
I used the thermal paste that came pre-applied with the cooler would I see an improvement if I replaced it with as5?
I went for the X2 because it was supposed to be quieter and cooler than the stock cooler (which it is) and gave all this for relatively little outlay.
Obviously if your looking for a cooler and don't mind paying extra them I'm sure the vf900 is the choice for you ;) but it seems there's conflicting reports as to which is best.
Which ever you buy I'm sure you'll be happy with it's performance :D

spot on - exactly the same here - quieter and cooler than the stock one and saved £15 on the price for the Vf-900 in buying the x2.
 
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