GPU coolers

PapaLazaru · 29 Oct 2011 at 20:35

I am looking for a cheap way to maximise my experience of BF3 with what I have got already, namely a Phenom 965 and a 5870. I did have some money to put towards a new GPU but my mobo failed this morning and now wont accept any RAM, so am going to have to replace it instead.

The CPU is not an issue as I am happy pushing it, but am wondering about my 5870. Would using a Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2. VGA Cooler give me much more headroom for clocking, rather than the standard cooler (rev 1)?

A friend of mine is reckoning it is a good idea and for £30 or so quid, it is a cheap upgrade, but is it worth it?

Tealc · 29 Oct 2011 at 23:42

Well it'll be quieter. If your card is overheating when overclocking it might help but if it isn't it's hard to see how it could get you a better speed. It'll drop your temps for sure but that doesn't make it automatically faster.

£30 at the beginning of the life of your card might have been better but now, considering you'll change it sooner rather than later for one or two fps seems a tad pricey to me.

I'd do it for the noise.

PapaLazaru · 29 Oct 2011 at 23:58

Noise is an issue and I have been slowly buying up new fans for my case on the MM. I have stock Coolermaster fans in my case (CM-690 II) and they are slowly driving me insane. It was all going good till my mobo died this morning.

I really just want a cheap boost for my current setup which is handling BF3 quite well (it will be my main game) and I know I can get my CPU to 4Ghz stable (it has been in the past bar overheating in my case) and was thinking a 10 / 15% or so overclock on my GPU would also be a nice cheap upgrade.

I have clocked it in the past but the fan goes mental.

Leeroy123 · 30 Oct 2011 at 00:07

Im with you on the noise issue mate, i have 2 evga 1gb 460gtx cards, and im ordering coolers myself tomorrow. Cant decide between that same cooler you have chosen or one of the accelero arctic cooling ones. I need 2 of them , so need to make sure they will fit with sli.

PapaLazaru · 30 Oct 2011 at 00:19

The problem with the Gelid, as far as I have read, is that you cannot control the fan speed. They spin pretty quick at 2100rpm. The only other one that i have seen which I like is the DeepCool V400, though they are not available here. They are single fan coolers with a 120mm fan.

Tealc · 30 Oct 2011 at 09:37

Most aftermarket coolers for graphics cards dont plug into the card itself. I'm not sure why that is.

What I did was buy a Thermalright Shaman and created a wiring solution that took the card's PWM and also get power and rpm feedback from the motherboard. I had a few graphics fan header connectors kicking about so utilised one and also the wiring from an old fan. You can buy a cable adaptor in eBay too if you want to use the card's fan power output. Lmk if you want a link to it as it's quite hard to find.

Apparently the Arctic uses the card PWM.