Installing An Arctic Accelero Xtreme III To A HIS R9 290.

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 11:19

Full before and after photos and temps to follow, but first a few Public Safety Announcements for those considering doing this.

1. Don't attempt this when full of Man Flu as you will forget things..

2. The standard Accelero Xtreme III kit doesn't come with enough VRAM heat sinks. You will need to buy these separately. I used the Alpenfohn Passive DRAM / VRAM Coolers kit.

3. Be patient. This will help avoid having to remove too-high VRAM coolers that clash with the Accelero's heat pipes at midnight..

Donpaolo · 24 Nov 2013 at 11:23

Really looking forward to the results good luck dude.

r7slayer · 24 Nov 2013 at 11:33

Terminal_Boy said:
Full before and after photos and temps to follow, but first a few Public Safety Announcements for those considering doing this.

1. Don't attempt this when full of Man Flu as you will forget things..

2. The standard Accelero Xtreme III kit doesn't come with enough VRAM heat sinks. You will need to buy these separately. I used the Alpenfohn Passive DRAM / VRAM Coolers kit.

3. Be patient. This will help avoid having to remove too-high VRAM coolers that clash with the Accelero's heat pipes at midnight..

Ahh just the man I want to ask!
Can you screw down the VRM heat sink from the Alpenfohn Passive DRAM / VRAM Coolers kit? opposed to sticking it on with tape to hold it in place? It looks like there are screw holes in the pics.
and also looking forward to seeing the results!

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 12:22

r7slayer said:
Ahh just the man I want to ask!
Can you screw down the VRM heat sink from the Alpenfohn Passive DRAM / VRAM Coolers kit? opposed to sticking it on with tape to hold it in place? It looks like there are screw holes in the pics.
and also looking forward to seeing the results!

Didn't use it as it's too tall and clashes with the Accelero's heatsink.

tommybhoy · 24 Nov 2013 at 15:42

Don't be a

Real men get it to fit with one of these:

Might get my 290 sorted tonight, problem being, the 7970 Extreme contact has a raised offset plate, my older 5870 Extreme might have to go on as a temporary solution until I decide to buff down the 7970 Extreme plate or cut the 5870 to accommodate the Alpenfohn-it is better than any other vrm solution(outwith full water plates).

chaparral · 24 Nov 2013 at 15:58

edited,,,

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 17:09

I do own a Dremel, but couldn't be arsed chopping stuff about when I had Arctic parts that did fit.

Just wiping out the beta 9.4 drivers and re-installing 9.2 to get "after" temps.

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 20:41

So, this took a little longer than expected..

PC Specs:

Corsair Carbide 300R case / Asus P8P67 MB / 16GB 1866 RAM / i5 2500K @4.3GHz

GPU and VRM temps stock HIS cooler:

Number of heatsinks in standard A X 3 kit:

r7slayer · 24 Nov 2013 at 20:45

Terminal_Boy said:
So, this took a little longer than expected..

PC Specs:

Corsair Carbide 300R case / Asus P8P67 MB / 16GB 1866 RAM / i5 2500K @4.3GHz

GPU and VRM temps stock HIS cooler:

Number of heatsinks in standard A X 3 kit:

You forgot the heat sink in the left corner for the small VRM.

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 20:50

Insulating strips for voltage regulators:

Laying out the Alpenfohn heatsinks. Can anyone spot what I missed?

* Hint : top left of above photo...

The 4 Arctic heatsinks I had to use as the Alpenfohn ones didn't let the XAccelero seat correctly:

Insulation for the last 3 heatsinks:

Together at last:

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 20:52

Installed:

After 30 minutes of Heaven 4.0 with AX III:

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 21:12

Issues encountered:

1. Arctic needs to spend 5 minutes updating the mounting instructions for the R9 series they now claim to support.

2. Standard AX III kit doesn't have enough VRAM heatsinks - 4 short and nothing low profile enough to cover the IC partially covered by the AX III mounting plate.

3. Alpenfohn VRAM heatsinks too tall to be used on the 4 VRAMs closest to upp edge of PCB.

4. Used the Arctic VRM heatsinks as I didn't feel the Alpenfohn ones had enough contact area nor cooling area.

Conclusions:

1. The swearing and working through my Man Flu was worth it.

2. Using the 12V feed to the AX III's fans is quieter than the stock cooler at idle and way quieter under full load. Is much quieter than my HIS IcyQ 7950 Boost under full load. AX III's fans are only just audible over my fairly quiet case fans.

3. The AX III's 3 fans sit dead opposite the extra fan mounting grille on the 300R's side panel and are drawing additional cool air into the case where the stock cooler was leaking heat into the case.

4. GPU temp full load is down to 57 deg C from 95 deg C.

5. VRM1 temp seems to have increased by 2-3 deg C, so perhaps this is the one component that the stock cooler actually works well on.

6. VRM2 temp is down to 5o deg C from 84 deg C.

So, for a total of £350, I have a quiet and cool R9 290 now instead of mid-January that I'll spend the holidays overclocking and being rubbish at BF4 with..

chaparral · 24 Nov 2013 at 21:17

Terminal_Boy said:
Installed:

Good job that cooler looks great..and you have some great temps there...

Terminal_Boy · 24 Nov 2013 at 23:15

Another bonus is that all temps are back to case ambient temp (low 30s) in just a couple of minutes after the GPU is idle.

tommybhoy · 25 Nov 2013 at 03:05

Well done, great guide.

Put mine on too, along with the beast cooling the vrms.

old gamer · 25 Nov 2013 at 08:28

another guide that may be of intrest

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,3671.html

old gamer · 25 Nov 2013 at 10:27

Terminal_Boy, did the cooler come with deent thermal paste and glue for the heatsinks or did you buy another brand

Terminal_Boy · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:05

old gamer said:
Terminal_Boy, did the cooler come with deent thermal paste and glue for the heatsinks or did you buy another brand

I mainly used the thermal adhesive which came with the AX III, but as I left the lid off (as I thought I was done), it had cured so I used the thermal adhesive with came with the Aplenfohn VRAM heat sinks to secure the last 3 heat sinks on the components at the top left side of the PCB that I'd missed.

The main cooler comes pre-loaded with thermal paste which I didn't mess with as the Tom's Hardware article didn't mention it being a problem.

old gamer · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:06

Terminal_Boy said:
I mainly used the thermal adhesive which came with the AX III, but as I left the lid off (as I thought I was done), it had cured so I used the thermal adhesive with came with the Aplenfohn VRAM heat sinks to secure the last 3 heat sinks on the components at the top left side of the PCB that I'd missed.

The main cooler comes pre-loaded with thermal paste which I didn't mess with as the Tom's Hardware article didn't mention it being a problem.

nice one thanks

Terminal_Boy · 25 Nov 2013 at 11:07

old gamer said:
another guide that may be of intrest

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/r9-290-accelero-xtreme-290,3671.html

That's pretty much what I followed, but I still missed those 3 heat sinks in the top left corner...

52.5mm holes (hole 2 in Arctic guide) and the 2.5mm (shortest) white nylon spacers.

Be careful with the self-adhesive discs you get to secure them as they're a bit fragile. Double sided Cellotape is a good replacement.

I fitted the cooler mounting bracket BEFORE the various heat sinks as per the Arctic guide to ensure the spacing was okay and removed it after the adhesive had cured.