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ThermalRight HR-03 PLUS on an 8800GTS Review and Impressions

jrodga2k5

jrodga2k5

jrodga2k5

Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2005
Posts
9,190
Location
Scotland
Well guys it arrived today, the beast of a cooler with its lovely HSI heatsink so that it could fit my 8800GTS!

THis of course I am talking about the ThermalRight HR-03 PLUS heatpipe cooler for the 8800series. Now I bought one but unfortunately it didnt come with the 8800GTS compatible heatsink but after some searching I found one but I also recieved confirmation from ThermalRight my HSI heatsink for 8800GTS compatibility will be sent out next week in regards to the first cooler purchased.

So look forward to seeing a brand new HR-03 Plus with the HSI heatsink for GTS on the MM soon!

Okay so on to the main course!
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As I opened the box I was pleasently surprised with the heatpipe cooler itself, it aint too heavy but certainly is big, once installed it stops me using any PCI slots due to the orientation.

It comes nicely padded and all the accessories were there that were needed but there are things I would recommend you take to heart. The ram sinks are fine in terms of adhesive and can stick fine to the ram chips on the card but there are a total of 4 PWM IC heatsinks and these things are completely shocking, they just do not stick at all. My solution was to use some Arctic Silver 5 as it at least helps it stick on, the supplied thermal paste was rubbish for this.

Installation:

The installation of the HSI heatsink requires a bit of effort and messing around with but I found by far the best way to install it was to push the pins through the Heatsink first and this made pushing them through the holes on the card much simpler. I saw the capacitor that made the problem with the old heatsink but the old ones could be cut to fit no problem.

The final part is installing the heatpipe cooler and the fan.
The cooler is easy enough to get on but trying to tighten some of the fasteners ended up losening the screws, annoying but you work at it and it works out fine eventually.

THe wires to attatch the Fan of your choice IMO are actually fantastic, iv heard bad things said that their very hard to use but I found it easy, fan connected and on in 30seconds.

The fan I chose for this in Question is a Xilence XPF92R Red Wing 92mm Quiet Fan and it is not only silent but shifts a nice ammount of air onto the cooler! Works a treat as we'll see in the initial temperature comparision.

FInally back in my case and the thing took out my PCI slots so Im back to On Board sound, im telling you I would have been gutted if the temperatures werent worthwhile ;)

Initial Temperatures:

NVidia Stock cooler @ 78% on 3DMark 06
Idle: 58degrees
Load(Peak): 78degrees

Well this is pretty much the story with all 8800 cards where they run hot but it is certainly okay. THis was the peak load when running 3DMark 06.

Now what impact has this HR-03 PLus had on my card?
Well remember this is initial so the AS5 wont have actually had time to get to its prime state and may knock off a few degrees or stay at where it is, we will see.

HR-03 Plus w/Xilence Red Wing 92mm on 3DMark 06
Idle: 43degrees
Load(Peak): 52degrees :eek:

Amazing cooling performance so far and this Xilence Red Wing works a treat too, shifts good ammount of air and is ultimately silent as you can hear the 8800GTS cooler when @ 78%! So I am taken aback by this product in terms of its performance. I mean what I have experienced is what I thought was a MASSIVE drop in Idle temps by 15degrees but the Load temps are even more impressive, I mean a whole 26Degrees, that is unreal!

Temperature Improvments:
Idle: 15 degree drop
Load: 26 degree drop

I dont know about you but I am just astounded by the performance by this cooler + 92mm fan combonation can do!

Overclocking:

Well since I run this card @ OC2 settings 580core and 850mem I decided I would check if i could increase on my max overclock with the stock cooler.

Max on stock cooler was 659mhz core and 1.95ghz memory!
I can now achieve higher with the new cooler, a small difference but a difference none the less. 660core and 2ghz memory, not sure if its the new max but it ran there so I will maybe push a tad higher to see how high it will go.

3DMark Score 9746 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4553 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4615 Marks
CPU Score 2110 Marks

If i could have increased my e6300 to higher than 2.45Ghz I could break 10k but unfortunately I cant.

Those overclocked settings of 660core and 2ghz mem increased both idle and load temps by a whole 1 degree! woohoo!

Conclusion:

Well what can I say about this cooler, there are a few cons in terms of a somewhat cumbersome installation process but there is a massive improvement in temperatures which so outweigh everything else its unreal!
I cant think that Zalmans upcoming cooler can outperform this, its just too good

Totally recommended by me, get one if you want to get low low low low temps!
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Pictures:

14042007077qr7.jpg

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Quite big eh! Oh yeah Im aware one of sticks of ram have a copper sink, need to buy another one lol!

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*UPDATE*

New orientation fits and here it is here! Got my Audigy back in and I am very happy!

20052007114cn4.jpg

Added three degrees to idle 46degrees now but thing is its warmer weather now

20th May 2007
 
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should have done testing with atitool if it worked, since atitool would be able to generate a higher stress level than 3dmark so it would have been a better test.

the stock cooler fan was running at 78%, should have tested that with the cooler running at 100% so people can really get a proper idea on how much of a difference there can be between the stock cooler and the HR-03.

those are the only 2 negatives to say, apart from that its a good review and its nice to see a 9cm fan being used, im sure others will manage to slap on a 12cm fan ;)
 
jrodga2k5 said:
Quite big eh! Oh yeah Im aware one of sticks of ram have a copper sink, need to buy another one lol!
Click to expand...

i had one of them copper heatsinks on a 512ramstick well two, a identical match and i sold them for 20 quid about 2 days ago :rolleyes:
 
Cyber-Mav said:
should have done testing with atitool if it worked, since atitool would be able to generate a higher stress level than 3dmark so it would have been a better test.

the stock cooler fan was running at 78%, should have tested that with the cooler running at 100% so people can really get a proper idea on how much of a difference there can be between the stock cooler and the HR-03.

those are the only 2 negatives to say, apart from that its a good review and its nice to see a 9cm fan being used, im sure others will manage to slap on a 12cm fan ;)
Click to expand...

Thanks, I just see the 120mm as overkill really as you need to use other means to attach it, a decent 92mm fan can clearly cut the mustard however.

Well tbh, I disagree with the 100% thing as it isnt really useable at that speed now isnt it? Because the noise is unbearable , i see 78-79% being the upmost percentage that you can put the stock cooler to without much noise just some! Higher and it does become very noticable.

So really in terms of sound if I was to keep the two = it would be the stock cooler on automatic settings as thats the fairest comparison! as it produces the same end product in terms of sound
 
I just don't see the point TBH of this.

It blocks all the pci slots :eek:

I doubt it will give higher clocks on the core and memory.

If you are going to invalidate your warranty then only do so for watercooling IMO as the stock HSF more than does its job.

seeing lower temps is one thing but when the card is not throttling and performing as it should like my 8800 GTS @650/2000 then I don't see the point.

BTW this is not knocking your review which by reading is very well put together :)

Cheers

easyrider
 
Thanks Easy.

I understand what your saying but I posted recently that my GTs seemed to top out at 950MHz on the Mem and 659mhz on the core, when at these settings it would pack in straight away on 3DMark 06, I am going to try it out just now and see how it fairs @ 659Mhz core and 1Ghz(2Ghz effective) mem and see if I can actually run it this time :D

*EDIT*

IT RAN! :D WOOHOO!

Core @ 660Mhz and Mem @ 2Ghz! :D
It would max out at a core of 659mhz and mem 1.9Ghzmem before the cooler and now it reached a bit higher on the memory

3DMark Score 9746 3DMarks
SM 2.0 Score 4553 Marks
SM 3.0 Score 4615 Marks
CPU Score 2110 Marks

oh and the idle temp was 44degrees and the load at 53degrees, ohw ell 1 degree raise on the new clocks lol back to OC2 settings now

I so wanna break 10k but new Mobo required :( damn 945 chipset!
 
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Installed one of these on my 8800 GTX yesterday, 68 Idle/89C load drop to 52C idle and 68C load.. Can't fault it, it's a change to install a 3rd party cooler that actually makes a difference.
 
Shocky-FM said:
Installed one of these on my 8800 GTX yesterday, 68 Idle/89C load drop to 52C idle and 68C load.. Can't fault it, it's a change to install a 3rd party cooler that actually makes a difference.
Click to expand...

What fan if any are you running on it? did you use the thermalright thermal grease or anything else?

@ Irakis it just depends whether you really need the slots, luckily for me I dont and can put up with onboard sound no problem :)
 
Yea it might be useless to you but not for everyone, some people have big enough case to accommodate such a large cooler. I have 1 free PCI slot with this cooler on and still I couldnt find a use for it so if you're not gonna use the PCI slots why let the space go to waste?

For a £35 cooler it gets beaten by a good 10-12C by mid-high/high end watercooling setup looking at other forums but high end WC isnt cheap and some people just dont trust water running inside their PC, not to mention it would raise the temps of other components you are cooling on the same pump.

The stock cooler is good but if you actually put your hand around the slits around the heatsink when its running, you ll notice how hot the air around it is creating a rather large hotspot. This isnt exactly good if you're running a case with the PSU mounted at the bottom like myself (TJ09) as it draws the already hot air to try cool itself meaning the fan is spinning faster than needed. With this cooler I noticed the hotspot around the 8800 is gone and the 120mm fan I strapped onto it help keep airflow moving.
 
mcc49 said:
Yea it might be useless to you but not for everyone, some people have big enough case to accommodate such a large cooler. I have 1 free PCI slot with this cooler on and still I couldnt find a use for it so if you're not gonna use the PCI slots why let the space go to waste?

For a £35 cooler it gets beaten by a good 10-12C by mid-high/high end watercooling setup looking at other forums but high end WC isnt cheap and some people just dont trust water running inside their PC, not to mention it would raise the temps of other components you are cooling on the same pump.

The stock cooler is good but if you actually put your hand around the slits around the heatsink when its running, you ll notice how hot the air around it is creating a rather large hotspot. This isnt exactly good if you're running a case with the PSU mounted at the bottom like myself (TJ09) as it draws the already hot air to try cool itself meaning the fan is spinning faster than needed. With this cooler I noticed the hotspot around the 8800 is gone and the 120mm fan I strapped onto it help keep airflow moving.
Click to expand...

Couldnt agree more, I couldnt afford to Watercool this pc plus my centuriun case aint exactly the largest either so I am more than happy with the performance and the fact its completely silent and knocking off masses of degrees in temperature I just cant complain.

People may say their useless but in terms of performance they certainly aint!
 
jrodga2k5 said:
What fan if any are you running on it? did you use the thermalright thermal grease or anything else?

@ Irakis it just depends whether you really need the slots, luckily for me I dont and can put up with onboard sound no problem :)
Click to expand...

Umm, Vantec stealth, 1750rpm. Only 92mm fan I had available but it's doing a decent job and it's quiet enough. I used AS5..

I didn't have much choice, card was reaching 89C load in winter so it needed to be changed before summer as I could easily imagine 95C+ Load and 70+ idle which isnt good.
 
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People seem to forget not everyone uses every pci slot, if any.

And by the way, the cooler can be 'wrapped' around the card, well the version before that one can, as i have it.

Installed it on my x1900xtx and its dropped temps loads as far as i can tell. AND its god knows how much quieter than the stock cooler.

Amazing product quite frankly.
 
easyrider said:
I have a pci GFX driving my other two monitors and an xfi so yes its to big
Click to expand...

Easy as we are trying to say for some people it isnt too big, for others like yourself it is!

If you can afford to use the space with the cooler then its all good :D
 
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