Installation of aftermarket gfx card coolers

95thrifles · 16 Jan 2009 at 15:12

Hi all
Thought I'd post up my experience of installing these aftermarket coolers in case anyone else is thinking of doing this too. I've got 2 Sapphire 4870 512mb gfx cards in crossfire, I decided to install aftermarket coolers because the stock ones that came with them were horribly inefficient, as default speed (24%) they struggle to cool adequately, and when turned up they make far too much noise. So I bought 2 akasa neo vortexx coolers and installed these, the result, they cool about as well as the stock ones did at 60% speed, whilst making less noise than running at the default setting, theyre great, temps are 43C idle and peaked at 64C on first card and 56C on second card when under load running 3dmark. They dont have the variable speed but you dont need it, they run at one speed and cool better and make less noise

Pics showing installation to follow

95thrifles · 16 Jan 2009 at 15:21

My 2 cards with the stock coolers

first card stripped, you have to remove ALL the screws on the back to get stock cooler off, and the only difficulty is disconnecting the power cable, I had to use a screwdriver to prize it out from the bottom, quite easy and no risk of damage, just it was pretty wedged in and couldnt be removed by hand - sorry for bluriness

This shows the cards side by side, new cooler and old

And an overhead shot for comparison too

And finally the 2 new cards refitted in machine, I connected the power cables directly to PSU via the 3to4 pin adapters provided, rather than using mobo connectors, they will connect to mobo but due to location of my connectors it would have been more hassle than worth anyway

They also light up in dark and look pretty cool too, although this pic isnt best and doesnt do them justice as well as being on the side for some reason???

ConTRo13R · 16 Jan 2009 at 15:23

Looks pretty dam awesome! personally would change either the blue leds for green or vice versa just to keep color co-ordination...but i am ocd lol

95thrifles · 16 Jan 2009 at 15:31

Yeah I might get round to that, happy for now though

It'd be changing the CPU cooler to blue as the gfx cards and all (7) case fans are blue

ConTRo13R · 16 Jan 2009 at 15:33

95thrifles said:
Yeah I might get round to that, happy for now though It'd be changing the CPU cooler to blue as the gfx cards and all (7) case fans are blue

I did notice that after i had posted lol

95thrifles · 16 Jan 2009 at 17:47

Of course there is a certain something with the CPU being green in the middle of all the blue, kinda highlights the hub of the computer

Raziel1 · 16 Jan 2009 at 20:00

Nice

I have a 4850 with a vortexx cooler on it, looking at getting another with cooler & new monitor when I get paid next week.

If you haven't got one already I would recommend getting one of the akasa UV cathodes. the vortex cooler is very reactive & glows a treat. Just mount it by the rear fans

mpj88 · 16 Jan 2009 at 20:10

So is there no way to control the fan speeds with a neo?

nelsby · 16 Jan 2009 at 20:31

That was a helpful post. Thanks

Raziel1 · 16 Jan 2009 at 22:54

you can either plug them into the motherboard, or you can make a converter so you can plug them into the card as normal. I made one from bits lying around in the old spare cables box

Blackberries · 16 Jan 2009 at 22:59

Looking good! In future maybe make use of the macro setting on your camera though? Should clean up the closeups a little!

Did you need to fit extra bits for the VRAM or was it just the big cooler? I've never swapped a GPU cooler before and I'm worried it'd be beyond my abilities..

Raziel1 · 17 Jan 2009 at 00:11

the neo vortex is just one big cooler that covers the ram too. You just have to put some pads ontop of each chip that make contact with the plate on the cooler. Its very easy to fit

mpj88 · 17 Jan 2009 at 00:40

So you could control it from a fan controller?

Raziel1 · 17 Jan 2009 at 00:44

the vortex has a standard 3 pin plug for connecting to motherboard, so yeah a fan controller would do just fine

95thrifles · 17 Jan 2009 at 07:14

Hey guys
yeah installation is really simple, I thought about adding more photo's to show the process more gradually but it really was so simple, and everything you need comes in the box. Yeah you can either connect to mobo and adjust speed in BIOS or use a fan controller, but as I say they're so quiet theres no need really, just let em run at full speed, great cooling and very little noise
And yeah I need to improve my photography skills

UltimateBadger · 17 Jan 2009 at 09:32

Thanks for the post rifles - I've been mulling over replacing the cooler on my hd4870 for a while - think I may go for it now!

95thrifles · 17 Jan 2009 at 17:45

Yeah Id been thinking about it myself, was even considering WC, but went for this option instead and really pleased, thats why I thought I'd post, in case anyone else was interested.

toon_mad · 17 Jan 2009 at 17:50

wish i could have got my 8800gt stock fan/heatsink off, i voided the warranty trying and couldnt get the bugger off anyway, even when it was warm the thing wouldnt come off, i wanted a dou orb on it. When i get my gtx eventually im deciding if i should replace its fan, what do you think?

Nice pics by the way 95thrifles

95thrifles · 17 Jan 2009 at 18:01

not sure as Ive not had teh gtx's, the main driving factor for me was the noise, to get decent cooling with the stock coolers on the 4870's you have to set the fan to manual speeds of 50-60% which sounds like a mini aircraft taking off. These new akasas though cool like the stock ones at the faster speeds and make less noise than the stocks at default speeds, so best of both worlds, very glad I did it

ashmanuk67 · 17 Jan 2009 at 22:17

Great job 95Thrifles,
You have made me want to upgrade my cooler now "THANKS" lol How do you feel not having any warranty, that bit scarer's me as mine are all in warranty.

Could you post a screen of GPUz to show us your temps.
Nice work mate