7970/50 Arctic Accelero Users

[LtMatt]

Technically yes, the fins will be closer, but I don't see it making a difference.

Don't get me started on the foam matt, it's a ******* nightmare to remove, it's absolutely horrible mate, it's as if it welds on, probably due to the heat off the core.

I can imagine. I remember when i first took the cooler apart for my second refit. I was expecting the back plate and foam to just fall apart but nope it was welded on tight. I'm tempted to try and fiddle, i won't lie. Argh where's Petey when you need him with some reassuring words and the Arnie picture.

Did you leave the plastic white+black spacers on?

 

[LtMatt]

Yeah the spacers are fine, in fact, they are essential tbh as you will flex the PCB without them-not good.

Wouldn't bother taking the foam off, just leave it, I highly doubt removing the foam will reduce temps in the slightest.

You are a bad influence on me Tommy!

BRB...

 

[LtMatt]

Tommy we have a problem! The pad is stuck to the back plate. If i peel it off it will rip.

 

[LtMatt]

Will you ever learn Matt? The foam is only there to stop the metal bracket shorting out the board. Without the bracket there's no need for foam but I'd be leaving the bracket on IMO unless you have the card supported elsewhere.

In addition to the bracket I used a tie wrap to tie the end of the card to a piece of my case so it's not dealing with the extra weight.

You can't short the card if the metal bracket is not attached you daft bugger. That was the whole point.

As i was about to do the deed i got a case of fiddlers remorse, swiftly followed by a case of fiddlers droop. So i decided to leave the foam and back plate on for now. Core temps are already low anyway so i figured a few C either way on the core won't make much difference. I did swap a couple of the heat sinks around though.

 

[LtMatt]

Finally got round to ordering one of these, will the akasa tape offer good enough performance? I don't really fancy using any glue since i may want to remove it for reselling in a few years time.

The tape works ok but you will see significantly higher temps on the vrms.

 

[LtMatt]

Hi guys, I have been a long time lurker around these forums but never got round to posting.

Anyhoo, I got 2 of these coolers today and have been fitting them today to my day 1 reference 7970's. They are currently curing so will probably leave them till tomorrow now.

So I just wanted to say what a very helpful bunch you are and how this thread has, hopefully if all goes ok, made this process less daunting than it may have otherwise been. I used to work in IT, building desktops, servers etc so I manage ok with this sort if thing but all the helpful info in this thread really helped.

Thanks to all who have contributed info to make this easier for others.

Welcome aboard mate. Did you have the tube of glue or the two white and grey sachets?

 

[LtMatt]

For Uncle Pete...

Accelero VRM Testing Requirements

Unigine 4.0 -http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2205/Unigine_Heaven_DX11_Benchmark_4.0.html

HWINFO64 - http://www.hwinfo.com/download64.html

7970/50 to be run at stock voltage and stock clocks. One complete benchmarking run of Unigine 4.0 using stock clocks and voltages. As soon as the final score comes in quit unigine and post a print screen of HWINFO here for others to compare. Thank you come again!

This is not a competition, just a useful comparison so we can compare vrm temps and share tips for improving temps using various heat sinks from around the internet.



7970 @1010/1375 - 1.112v

 

[LtMatt]

Sleeping dogs overclock run Pete

1200 core @1.155v. 1600 Memory at 1.6v.

CPU was at 4.5ghz btw for these runs.

 

[LtMatt]

Dirty Pete with his dirty 'Peter' only wins because he has more fans than Justin Bieber.

 

[LtMatt]

I will never cheat on the accelero!

 

[LtMatt]

Lies! I have the emails to prove it

I was young and needed the money.

 

[LtMatt]

Alpenfohn Peter installation log for Matt and other interested parties
Fear not, TL;DR guys! It's pretty much just pictures in there

Spoiler

First off, the usual cleanup operation involving a rubber eraser on VRAM and VRM's plus some electrical insulation tape on a few spots just in case.
The heatsink will never touch these points, but better safe than sorry eh?

Next, I placed Akasa tape on certain spots where I'd be placing heatsinks.
I'd pre-prepared the VRAM heatsinks with neatly cut Akasa tape beforehand.

Now to apply some Alpenfohn thermal adhesive to the 'beast'
I think I put a little more on after this pic and it got a good spread when I placed it.
This stuff sets pretty quickly. No 5hr/overnight job here and it ain't gonna fall off either
It's useable within an hour or so and dries in a rubbery way.

I then popped on the rest of the heatsinks shortly after.

Main heatsink installed using Gelid GC Extreme thermal paste.

Scythe Kama 92mm PWM fans cable tied to ze beefcake.
Note the foam spacers. These help reduce the deadzone as well as provide an anti-vibration measure.
I attached them with Akasa tape.

Installed!
Only a very small amount of pcb sag/flex.
The PCIe cables help a little, but they aren't taking any major weight. They're cable tied to the bottom of the 5.25" bay.
It's not a lightweight solution by any means. If installed properly it's fine.
Why did they send me TY-140's instead of TY-147's? Why?

With side fans (Alpenfohn Wingboost 120mm)

Results!
*FYI: Ambient temp hovered between 19-21.5°c in all tests and the bay mounted fan shown in the case pics was in operation at all times @1350rpm*

Heaven 4.0 Extreme/8xAA 1080p

Stock 1010/1375/1.175v

120mm Side Exhaust @1500rpm

GPU: 49°c
VRM1: 45°c
VRM2: 43°c

Spoiler

92mm fans @2300rpm

GPU: 46°c
VRM1: 46°c
VRM2: 42°c

Spoiler

92mm fans @2300rpm + 120mm side exhaust fans @1500rpm

GPU: 43°c
VRM1: 43°c
VRM2: 40°c

Spoiler

Overclocked to 1200/1600/1.219v

120mm Side Exhaust @1500rpm

GPU: 57°c
VRM1: 56°c
VRM2: 51°c

Spoiler

92mm fans @2300rpm

GPU: 50°c
VRM1: 53°c
VRM2: 47°c

Spoiler

92mm fans @2300rpm + 120mm side exhaust fans @1500rpm

GPU: 48°c
VRM1: 50°c
VRM2: 44°c

Spoiler

Sleeping Dogs Extreme Benchmark 1080p [All maxed with Vsync+Frame limiter off]

Overclocked to 1200/1600/1.231v (needs a bit more juice than Heaven)

92mm fans @2300rpm + 120mm side exhaust fans @1500rpm

GPU: 51°c
VRM1: 56°c
VRM2: 46°c

Spoiler

Well there we are.
I'm very happy with the temps, but I do recall seeing at least double the advantage when adding side exhausts on my previous 7950.
Then again, I also recall getting noticeably worse results despite using lower clocks and voltage, so I'm not complaining
Fwiw, I think I was a bit more generous with the thermal adhesive this time round.

If there are any other tests you guys would like me to run (except furmark ) or there's anything you're curious about that I haven't covered, let me know

Great results Pete. Thorough as usual.

I was hoping you could show us some pictures of the different fan setups you were using, if its not too much trouble.

 

[LtMatt]

Thank you, sir.

I did show pics of the different fan setups, it's just that I was lazy and didn't bother to remove anything when testing.
All I did was disable the side or bottom fans for whichever test

Sorry what i meant was i wanted to see pictures of the actual fans on the gpu in the case, how it looked etc. Don't worry though if thats as big a pain in the ass as i expect it is.

 

[LtMatt]

Maybe I'm not following you, but the bottom two pics show the fans on the GPU in the case.
Paint me a picture here dude

Sorry pete ive shamed myself publicly. (not for the first time either) Somehow i clicked every other spoiler but that one.

 

[LtMatt]

You did a real goob job pete, now i can actually see it.

That vrm sink is so beefy. I just wish the peter looked like the accelero and id snap it up in a heart beat.

Great pictures and great summary as always.

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks mate. I tried

I was looking at these fans, but never got round to it.
They're much better looking than the Scythe's and obviously go nicely with a black and white scheme. Only a little slower.

YOUR BASKET
2 x Zalman ZM-SF2 Shark Fin 92mm Multi-purpose Cooling Fan £8.99 (£17.98)
Total : £17.98 (includes shipping : FREE).

I think the GT's look sexy. I think i might be a GT fan boy though so i don't even need to advise you what i think.

 

[LtMatt]

HI mr Ltmatt i think we have the same card msi7970 oc, I've fitted my Accelero Xtreme and i'm really happy with the quietness.The core stays coolish in gaming (crysis3&tomb raider) 55 ish (1175 core/1575mem/1225 vcore) But as we seem to be focusing now on vrm temps mine are going to 82 on 1 & 79 on 2 this seems high to what you and others are getting would you recomend this is ok ?.I fitted the heatsink's as the instructions said and the 2 part glue provided, could the Alpenfohn Peter fit our Accelero's or which cooling did you end up with on the vrm's?

The problem is the G1 two part glue doesn't do a very good job of firmly sticking the accelero heat sinks to the card. Its possible to order some thermal adhesive from arctic's website (http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/accessori...ac/en/p/accessories/587/thermal-adhesive.html) which provides a much better fit and results in dramatically better vrm temps. However its a bit more difficult to get the heat sinks off. It can be done as i did it recently, but it requires elbow grease, a lot of wiggling and patience. It will come off though its not completely permanent. Like petey has said with the peter stuff ( i think its the same as the accelero adhesive) it dries like a rubber sealant. Just remember to only use it on the vrm sections, use thermal tape/G1 for the vram chips as you don't want to pull them off accidentally. When you apply the adhesive, apply a thin line to each heatsink and press down on the vrm firmly for 30 seconds.

I posted a picture here showing the best possible heat sink placement. A few of the sinks in this picture are placed incorrectly but by reading the red writing it should show the best possible placement.




To confirm.

One L shaped heat sink top left on the vrm. One long thin heatsink on the top right vrm, followed by thee L shaped heat sinks below it. If you want to refit the accelero you will need to clean off the g1. Thoroughly clean off the vrms, vram chips and heatsinks using TIM cleaner and a rubber. (a pencil type rubber, not a condom )

 

[LtMatt]

Thanks for the pic is this what i'm looking for
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-005-AC&groupid=701&catid=27

why not a condom didn't it work?

That stuff you linked really is permanent. If you use that it will not come off. The stuff i linked you will be able to get off, with some effort.

 

[LtMatt]

Can you check the link it just goes to the general producs page (if thats within the rules)

Yes sorry i posted the link twice it seems which defaults to another link.

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/accessories/587/thermal-adhesive.html

 

[LtMatt]

Today i have woken up with the urge to buy my own beast and stick two 1850GT fans on there. I'm hoping it passes and normal service will be resumed shortly. Damn pete for teasing me with those vrm temps.