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7950 custom cooling shenanigans

Uncle Petey

Uncle Petey

Uncle Petey

Soldato
Joined
22 Jul 2012
Posts
16,126
Location
London
Following on from later posts in here, I figured I should get my own thread and show you what pointless stuff I've been up to :D

Today, I got bored and thought what the hell and removed the dual-x shroud/fans and stuck a couple of Spectre Pro PWM 120's on there with the aid of two thin strips of gaffa tape and a couple of rubber bands.
Hey, I had no cable ties lying about and there's nowt wrong with ghettoing it in the name of science :p

TL;DR? Have some crappy phone-cam pics. Turns out my Blackberry is actually a potato...


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I used Arctic Silver 5. Despite the conductive properties of AS5, it's all I had to hand and I used the spread method to ensure that no paste could possibly ooze over the edge of the gpu core.

So how did we do?
Sorry to spoil it, but the answer is lolwhut or just meh...

My current test of choice is a back to back benchmark run using Sleeping Dogs at extreme settings. This obviously gets the GPU core temps up, but more importantly it'll heat up those VRM's like nobody's business.
I think it's a good real world test for those that like to max out their games.
Also, this is purely a heat performance study. Noise levels are irrelevant right now.

7950 @1150/1400 1.15v. Ambient 20C, side panel off.

STOCK Dual-X with custom profile fans up to 100%
GPU- 69C
VRM1- 87C
VRM2- 64C

Spectre bodge @1900rpm
GPU- 68C
VRM1- 86C
VRM2- 66C

Spectre bodge @1200rpm
GPU- 78C
VRM1- 94C
VRM2- 69C

I'm at a little bit of a loss to explain this.
With the core temp, I could argue that since the stock heatsink is so thin compared to an Accelero and certainly an Alpenfohn Peter, it can only do so much regardless of what fans you throw at it.
Therefore, the stock setup is fine as it pretty much hits the limit of what the heatsink is capable of.

Looking at reviews (pro and user) and seeing their core temps when using the above mentioned coolers seems to back this theory up and we all know that more surface area = better heat dissipation.

As for the VRM's... You tell me lol. No, really.
I have a few theories, but I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

I'll more than likely be grabbing the Alpenfohn Peter next week, so expect updates.
 
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RetrogamerX said:
My aftermarket Cooler on 20% fan runs 45c on full load and 28c on idle. Those temps are very high?
Click to expand...

What OC are you running and have you tried the above test?

I know Accelero's can get great core temps. This test kinda shows the limitations of the Sapphire heatsink.
 
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The sleeping dogs benchmark represents the game at those settings.

Just did a heaven run (tessellation - Normal, AA - x4) .
GPU- 66C
VRM1- 78C
VRM2- 64C

The reason for the high temps is that the card is overclocked. Nothing more than that :)
If I left it at 950mhz or went up to say, 1050 at stock voltage it'd be significantly lower.

The fact that using way better fans with the same heatsink and getting virtually the same results as two fairly crappy 92mm fans kinda shows that the heatsink is the limiting factor.

Putting a bigger heatsink on there will lower temps drastically. Of that, I have no doubt.
My question is more to do with lowering VRM temps which could likely get worse when using a much thicker cooler.
 
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Remember that (at least mine does and we have the same card) the Dual-X fans run at 3282rpm @ 100% according to GPU-Z. Maybe this is the reason why your results came out the way that they did.
 
Maybe. You've seen how thin those little fans are. At close to 2000rpm, I reckon the Spectre's easily chuck out more air.

I'm sticking to the skinny heatsink theory.
 
Probably is that but if u can get those fans running at a higher speed i think it might run cooler.. i wont be messing with mine again as im pretty happy with it after using the Zalman TG2 now :) Idle temps down from 34c to 31c and noticed those few extra degrees less coming from the GPU has dropped my CPU temp down a degree or so now.

Btw im gona leave the Zalman water cooler for a while and order a Zalman Z9 Plus case this week on offer @ £41.99 :D More fans (2 up top + 1 on the bottom) and better cable management and then possibly grab a H100 later on :)
 
Dude, 1950rpm is what they go up to and due to the noise I wouldn't run that on a daily basis, never mind higher :D

I may grab some more suitable TIM for the next stage although core temps aren't really the problem and definitely wont be with a beefier heastink.
May also attach the Alpenfohn sinks to the existing cooling plate with a bit of TIM and a dab of superglue and see what happens.

The Z9's a good case at that price.
I'm not even gonna try to talk you out of an H100 lol, but are you sure it'll fit in there with fans?
 
Remember without a shroud you are losing a fair bit of the air from the fans out of the sides, so you wont be getting all the airflow through the heatsink.

Perhapsyou could ghetto a shroud out od some paperclips, some sticky back plastic and some duct tape?:D

All joking aside, good mod, but i think a shroud would help and even get some more airflow to your VRM's. Im sure the spectre fans are quieter and have a less annoying note too.
 
I guess GPU-Z is reading stuff wrong again if u mean the Dual-X fans only going to 1950rpm.

Think i read somewhere that somebody got a H100 in the Z9 but maybe lost his rear case fan.. anyway it all depends on the temps i get with my current cooler. This Zalman CNPS10X Quiet cooler is amazing for the £35 i paid for it around 2 years ago :D The fan on it only runs at 1400rpm max and it keeps temps around 70c - 75c with my 5.0GHz OC :p
 
psychodil said:
Remember without a shroud you are losing a fair bit of the air from the fans out of the sides, so you wont be getting all the airflow through the heatsink.

Perhapsyou could ghetto a shroud out od some paperclips, some sticky back plastic and some duct tape?:D

All joking aside, good mod, but i think a shroud would help and even get some more airflow to your VRM's. Im sure the spectre fans are quieter and have a less annoying note too.
Click to expand...

I could ghetto a shroud from cardboard and gaffa tape :D
Not sure it'd make much difference tbh. The 120's do cover the entire heatsink as well as the pcb.
The only advantage 92mm fans have is that they're centrally pointed at the card. 120s are about 23mm off the outside edge so can't direct absolutely everything at the card.
Still reckon the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.

MyBrains said:
I guess GPU-Z is reading stuff wrong again if u mean the Dual-X fans only going to 1950rpm.

Think i read somewhere that somebody got a H100 in the Z9 but maybe lost his rear case fan.. anyway it all depends on the temps i get with my current cooler. This Zalman CNPS10X Quiet cooler is amazing for the £35 i paid for it around 2 years ago :D The fan on it only runs at 1400rpm max and it keeps temps around 70c - 75c with my 5.0GHz OC :p
Click to expand...

lol no, I was on about the spectre's :)

Get a nice beefy dual tower and keep those buggers at 1000rpm ;)
lol just kidding. It's not worth the time or money.
 
i'm thinking those fans aren't pushing air directly at the card. no shroud, and in addition they're too big. the motor blocks a large amount of area, and the actual air also just goes out the side, where the sapphire fans not only have smaller motors, but also the air is constricted to move directly at the heatsink. is my theory.
 
Well, just made a ghetto shroud from a bit of card.
Temps:
GPU- 71C (+2C)
VRM1- 91C (+5C)
VRM2- 69C (+3C)

Cba to post a pic, but I must say that my shroud is even better than Sapphire's. Their one just looks nicer ;)
Shame it raised the temps though...

I'll agree with the motor section blocking more area than the stock fans.
Kinda why I want to go with the Alpenfohn fan bracket as that gives a bit of space between the sink and fans which should help to minimize the effect.
I'll also be using Scythe GT's (AP-15's).

Interestingly, I found a review the other day for the Alpenfohn Peter which showed that side mounting the fans (using their bracket) dropped temps drastically compared to traditional 'under mounting'.
I'll try and get a link to it.

EDIT: Also, note the 'widthways' layout of the heatpipes here. Compare that to the lengthways orientation of pretty much any quality cooler, add in the extra fin area and draw your own conclusions :)
 
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So I p-p-p-picked up a Peter (Seriously, 'Peter' or 'Dracula' are **** names for a heatsink :rolleyes: Pretty cool if you're either me or king of the vampires though ;))

Just a sneak peek for now as I'm still testing configs and cutting a 230mm hole in my side panel for a DEMCiflex filter.
No sir, no out of the box fit n forget action here. Custom bodging is mandatory.

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