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** Prolimatech MK-26 Multi VGA Cooler - R9 280/290/290X Compatible

^ Don't use the 79xx shims. All should be clear if you do a test fit/line up first :)

R3X said:
Shame ocuk cant un-correct the prices :p

Alternative is spend £429.99 on an ocuk 290x card
and then 52 or 57 quid on this beast and attach yourself to save 60-70 quid.

Man that is quite a bit of cash to install it, if your not confident in doing it yourself and considering £400-500+ type card perhaps its worth spending the extra !

I love large coolers, and silence is a big factor in gaming for me so this would be perfect.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it does work out a lot more expensive than doing it yourself.
Still, given that not only is someone else doing it for you, you still get a proper warranty, it's not too bad I guess.

Of course, you could buy an MSI card from OcUK and not void your warranty by fitting a cooler, so... ;)
As you say, for those that aren't too confident with fitting one of these, it's a good option.

dukanvadet said:
Does the 290x have the same hole spacing around the core as the 7970? In that case I think the regular peter won't work.
The Peter 7970 edition got extra holes in the retention bracket to fit 7970 so you would need that bracket or drill the holes yourself.

Do you need a shim on the 290x?
Click to expand...

Not sure on the hole spacing, but the Peter universal still has the multiple hole options that the 79xx version does, so I reckon it would fit.
Besides, other universal coolers like the Arctic Extreme III/Hybrid, MK-26 and the Gelid Icy Vision fit the 290, so why wouldn't the Peter?

No shim required as far as I know.
 
teppic said:
A step by step guide with pictures to installing one of these would be brilliant :)
Click to expand...

I will do this tonight for you all, with pics of every step and before/after temps.

Hold tight.

Uncle Petey, the Prolimatech VRM cooler is not a screw-in one, it just has a double-sided thermal pad stuck to the bottom. So my plan is to use the Alpenfohn vrm sink (if it clears the heatpipes etc), which also comes supplied with a thermal pad, or should I use the thermal glue to apply this?

Thermal pad will be cleaner and easier to remove should I ever need to return the card to stock, plus it being an Alpenfohn supplied thermal pad I'm sure it will give good performance.

EDIT: Based on watching a youtube video I think the Alpefohn vrm 'thermal pad' might actually be an insulator pad..
 
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I guess you could try it with the pad and see if it holds it properly.
I did a test fit with Akasa tape and found that it could hold it on decently enough when the card was cold. Whether it would perform well with it is another question as I never tested it beyond that.

You will get noticeably better temps with the glue, but I guess the trade off with sticky pads is the ease of removal...

I guess you'll have to try it and report back :D

EDIT: I lie!
Turns out I actually did use a thermal pad (and a dab of hotglue) to start with when I used the Peter on my old 7950.
Temps were way worse than the glue (Around 10°C).

If you want to use a sticky pad, you'll be better off using the narrow Alpenfohn heatsinks IMO. Glue still beats that easily though.
 
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OK I think I will use the glue for the VRM. I assume the glue is totally non-conductive i.e I can use quite a bit without worrying of it spilling over the sides and shorting anything out?

The Aplenfohn kit comes with what I thought was a thermal pad for the vrm sink but I think it is an insulating pad that sits between the side of the vrm sink and the large black components in front of the mosfets (not sure exactly what they are!). This is what you do with the Accelero Xtreme on the 7970 at least.
 
Uncle Petey said:
Not sure on the hole spacing, but the Peter universal still has the multiple hole options that the 79xx version does, so I reckon it would fit.
Besides, other universal coolers like the Arctic Extreme III/Hybrid, MK-26 and the Gelid Icy Vision fit the 290, so why wouldn't the Peter?

No shim required as far as I know.
Click to expand...

according to apenfhöns website there is in fact different brackets for 7970 and universal.
This is for 7970
retentionBracket79XX.png

and this is universal (cut to a better size, the original available on alpenföhns website):
1backplates.jpg

So the universal doesn't have the 54mm holes needed for 7970. I looked on this picture and tried to measure in paint and it looks like the mounting holes are the same, but its hard to be sure. The scale seems to have some perspective. It could even be 2 different pics cut together.. http://pclab.pl/zdjecia/artykuly/vega/2013/wrzesien/AMD-R9-290X-vs-HD-7970-PCB1.jpg
 
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I had the MK13 versions on my 470 SLI setup and thought the stock heatsinks were absolute rubbish. I used enzotech copper heatsinks to replace them, they stuck perfectly, not a single one fell off and they cooled much better.
 
@dukanvadet

Right.
Check this pic. I had to use one of each bracket as the screws on one side refused to budge. It still went on just fine with the 53/54 brackets.
YCTNAD8.jpg

Gimme a sec and I'll try and fit the universal bracket to the other side and see if mounts on my old 7950.

Brb.
 
Itching to get home now to install my MK-26!

@Uncle Petey, what software can I use to read my VRM temps? I tried GPU-Z and HWiNFO64 but neither show anything but the core temp. Perhaps they are not compatible with the 290x yet?

I wanted to show before and after vrm temps in my guide.
 
Hard to say. They're probably within a few degrees of each other on the core depending on what fans/rpm you use on the MK-26.
I'd wager that the MK-26 with the right VRM heatsink will win on that particular front, but again, that's fan dependent.
 
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