Quiet cooling for third-party RX 5700 XT

piphil

piphil

piphil

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Hi all,

I bought a base-level PowerColor RX 5700 XT for my new rig, which I'm happy with performance-wise:

https://www.powercolor.com/product?id=1565842787

However, I'm a fan of quiet PCs, and despite it being inside my (now somewhat old) Coolermaster Silencio 550, the card gets pretty loud, especially when I use the 'Auto Tuning' feature in the Radeon Software.*

I've never tried replacing the cooling system on a graphic card, but I see there are replacement coolers available - either cooling blocks or block and fan combinations, or even AIO units.

However, most of them specify that they're certified compatible only with the reference design cards, and my PowerColor card is not reference.

So what are my options? How would I go about choosing a cooling solution for this card? One thing I've wondered is whether I could keep the cooling block, but replace the fans with quieter models? Is this an option?

Many thanks for any advice in advance!

* I'm aware this probably isn't the best way of overclocking a GPU, and may be contributing to the noise problem...
 
Arctic Accelero Xtreme III is what you need...used them on my 6950 crossfire setup about 9 years ago and made a world of diff to temps...dropped from 80c sounding like a hoover to silent and under 50c if I rem right...bargain if you can pick one up second hand for £20...the vrm heat sinks can be bought cheap plus I used thermal adhesive to attach them...permanent but they didn't fall off on to the (back plate less) card below :)
 
Hi postmanfw, thanks for the reply. :)

I'd had a look at the newer version of that cooler, the version IV, and the reviews I've seen look good. I think the main difference is that the version IV comes with a backplate? This wouldn't be useable on my card as presumably the backplate is shaped for the reference card.

Would the IV version also work? I take your suggestion on a second-hand unit, but I'm happy to shell out a bit more for everything to come in a single package and to have warranty cover.
 
Having done a bit more research, it appears the difference between the III and IV is that the III comes with mini heat-sinks to put on the IC's etc on the top of the board, while the IV comes with the backplate and pads to apply to the back of the board instead - so I'd need to use the backplate. It looks like the backplate will work with third-party cards - at least, I've seen reviews using the version IV with other cards than my own, not specifically the PowerColor version. I'm tempted by the version IV as the installation process is a bit more fiddly, but I can imagine the backplate has more surface area and heat capacity than the little heatsinks. I'd need to make sure there was good airflow over the backplate, and it's possible any advantage would be lost by the fact the heat has to travel through the PCB...
 
Had seen the new version but didnt realise it didn't come with little heatsinks.....i can see the advantage though of the backplate rather than glueing heatsinks onto the vrms and memory chips.

I have mine on a 280x at present that I bought for mining ages ago second hand. It would hit 85c within seconds with stock cooler so mining was a no go.

Put the accelero on it and it sat at 45c with the fans at about 80%...had to keep the fans up high because the memory heatsinks I had were too tall so I tried it without them.
The airflow from the fans through the metal was giving them sufficiently cooling as long as I kept the fans up relatively high....ran fine 24/7 for over a year like that mining with no issues....now sits in my old rig and scans my hard drives for POC mining on them.

Mine were a bargain at £20 yes but I see the new ones are £53....i would say definitely worth it.

It would definitely fix your problem regarding noise plus give you a very substantial drop in temperatures even when heavily overclocked.

Remember to factor in the extra space required though as its a triple slot cooler if the same as the 3 version....plus clearance required for backplate...some large cpu coolers would cause a problem if card was in the top slot ...but that's why most have another one too :)

Let us know how you get on :)
 
piphil said:
Hi all,

I bought a base-level PowerColor RX 5700 XT for my new rig, which I'm happy with performance-wise:

https://www.powercolor.com/product?id=1565842787

However, I'm a fan of quiet PCs, and despite it being inside my (now somewhat old) Coolermaster Silencio 550, the card gets pretty loud, especially when I use the 'Auto Tuning' feature in the Radeon Software.*

I've never tried replacing the cooling system on a graphic card, but I see there are replacement coolers available - either cooling blocks or block and fan combinations, or even AIO units.

However, most of them specify that they're certified compatible only with the reference design cards, and my PowerColor card is not reference.

So what are my options? How would I go about choosing a cooling solution for this card? One thing I've wondered is whether I could keep the cooling block, but replace the fans with quieter models? Is this an option?

Many thanks for any advice in advance!

* I'm aware this probably isn't the best way of overclocking a GPU, and may be contributing to the noise problem...
Click to expand...
I've had good luck just replacing stock GPU fan shroud and fans with some 80/90mm 25mm thick fans held on with zip-ties.

But before you start doiing things like that, what case and case fan setup do you have? You might find basic guide to airflow and how to optimize it in link below of interest. If case isn't supplying components wth cool air thing will run hot and loud regardless of what coolers are being used.
https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/t...-i-put-my-temp-sensor.18564223/#post-26159770
 
Thanks!
I agree, stock fans with max speed of 800rpm will not be able to supply enough airflow. Case needs more good intake fan area than component fans have. If it has less intake case fan area then it will flow less air into case than coolers use making cooler re-used their heated exhaust .. bad, bad, bad! I would remove all PCIe back slot covers to improve rear vent area around GPU to get better front to back airflow and thus lower air temp entering coolers and lower compoent temps and fan noise. Fill front fan vents with some high pressure rated fans and block any opening in fan mounting panel not covered by fans so air they push into case has to move through case and out the back, not leak in front of intake fans and go in circle cooling nothing but maybe the intake fans.
 
frustin said:
better check this out....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0eYigMcgpg
Click to expand...

touchy...not good at all then :(

The 5700xt is a 225w tdp and the 6950 I used it on originally was only a 200w tdp...but the 280x is 250w tdp.....like he said in video they are great coolers but just didn't work with this particular card...though it is the 3 version he is using that doesn't have the backplate.

Piphil there are other coolers available that don't come with fans so you can add your own

One mentioned in the comment in that video is

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/raijintek-morpheus-ii-core-black-heatpipe-vga-cooler-hs-028-rt.html

If you used two high powered fans on it connected to a fan controller then that would give you performance when you needed it and silence when you don't...extra expense though...and hassle...and wiring lol...
 
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