Extreme Air Cooling: Our Five-Slot (Quiet) Radeon HD 7970

[ptmmac]

i am really looking forward to the Sandia Labs cooler.
https://share.sandia.gov/news/resources/news_releases/cooler/

 

[FormatC]

The fan bracket was installed one space too low compared to other reviews I've seen for this cooler. Also, I don't see any memory temps compared here either.

The answer can be found here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3246-56-extreme-cooling-five-slot-quiet-radeon-7970#t97472

or here:

This is a HD 7970 GHz Edition

 

[eddieroolz]

As I read this, this constant thought was nagging in my mind.

------------------------------

The year is 2012. AMD has furiously raced to match the performance lead set by NVidia.

Enter the 7970 GHz edition!

But the noise was a big concern.

Enter the Peter! With its behemoth cooling and tolerable noise, it seemed like a winner despite its exorbitantly high price!

-------------Meanwhile-------------

Other simply bought a GTX 680 or regular 7970.

 

[jeffgedgaud]

I kind of wonder about the weight, I have an Accelero Extreme on a GTX 460 and worry about the weight of the cooler and fans pulling it down in the slot when in a regular case. I use a block to brace the cards up when installed in regular PC case but at present I have a open case where the MB is flat and the card is sitting upright.

 

[JamesSneed]

The answer can be found here:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/3246-56-extreme-cooling-five-slot-quiet-radeon-7970#t97472

or here:
http://media.bestofmicro.com/G/T/346637/original/Cooler.jpg

This is a HD 7970 GHz Edition

I see the 7970 socket is higher up causing a clearance issue with the heat sink and fan bracket. Would it be possible to mount the fans to the heat sink via zip ties or do you feel that would be to much weight or unstable?

 

[FormatC]

This is not the best idea (hotter and louder), but possible. Don't forget the dead zone in the middle of each fan. You can try slim Scythe Sliptream and rubber do get a distance of min. 5 mm.

 

[Guest]

Am I the only one the finds this kit (per the review) very amateur, poorly made, expensive, and doesn't even fit correctly?!? I'm sorry, but I would NEVER pay for this piece of junk! 143.6 deg F at 40db!!! That's less than optimal, in fact, that's pretty horrible! That's what... 65-70 deg ABOVE ambient? Jesus what a POS! my 450 GTS stays cooler than that with it's stock POS nvidia reference fan. An acceptable temp would be around 100 deg f ~ 120 deg f under full load.

Wow, I can't see how anyone would like this thing. I mean... just... wow!

 

[kooldj]

facepalm

 

[A Bad Day]

So, can I Crossfire these? Or are the CF cables too short?

 

[rexdale_punjabi]

Sigh, Gosh. 41 decibals is quiet now.

and only 62 under heavy load with 12 volts (more like 12 hammers to my ears)

This is why I'd rather drown.

 

[Guest]

That looks very heavy, is weight an issue at all ?

 

[FormatC]

You can find the weight on page 2 (table). 590 gram for such a large construction are acceptable. The fan bracket is screwed separately.

 

[Guest]

antec 620 or corsair equivalent zip tied will give better results while being cheaper

 

[FormatC]

antec 620 or corsair equivalent zip tied will give better results while being cheaper

How do you use a CPU cooler with a GPU? And, by the way, at 300 watts the Antec 620 will be a fireball in the evening wind... This is a toy

 

[Guest]

Two Words... Water Cooling. I have my entire system water cooled with the pump and radiator in my server room. No noise, no heat.

 

[jassenjj]

Something is wrong with this cooler... Why the fans are positioned so far from the heatsink? It seems like the two parts are designed completely without trying to match them for the ultimate solution.

Big iron with some airflow will always have some effect...

 

[FormatC]

I've already described above:
Fans have a dead zone and the cooler itself needs little pressure. 1cm less distance would be better, but it is acceptable.

 

[mubin]

What a game gear........

 

[Guest]

So you got this cooler and didn't even try out the overclocking potential? And focused solely on quiet cooling?

 

[Guest]

Another thing that really grinds my gears(thank you Family Guy). Why do all these CPU/GPU heatsinks have these heatpipes? Whats the point? I never noticed such high temps. a few years back when if you wanted to overclock, you grabbed a quality beefy, cooper heatsink with a thin sorface and alot of fins. Or if you had to, a huge aluminum heatsink (aka. the Novatech Alpha).

The problem is, when you have such a confined area to work with, heat pipes simply do not work! And just look at that picture, the heat pipes are UPSIDE DOWN! In order for them to function, the MUST remain vertical. This is so the condensed fluid flows back down to the contact area. If they are upside down, the refrigerant just sits there. Besides that, Heatpipes ONLY WORK AT A CERTAIN TEMP. RANGE! What that means is that the CPU/GPU MUST climb to that temp before the refrigerant in the heat pipes start to evaporate.

So.. A think (1/8 inch) slab of copper with a large amount of fins creating a large surface/contact area is by far THE way to go. I'll be happy when all this heat pipe nonsense goes the way of the dodo!

/end rant.

 

[Scotty99]

This strikes me as insane, for 140 bucks you can buy a graphics card that will play pretty much every game on the market at near highest settings! (gtx 460/radeon 6850).

 

[3DVagabond]

[citation][nom]ShadyHamster[/nom]how about comparing this with other aftermarket coolers? such as arctic coolings accelero extreme[/citation]
I agree. Why would anyone use such a ridiculous cooler as this?

 

[FormatC]

Again, I sent an email to Arctic: no response, no sample.
In my eyes: no interest or fear. Why do you think?

 

[3DVagabond]

[citation][nom]FormatC[/nom]Again, I sent an email to Arctic: no response, no sample. In my eyes: no interest or fear. Why do you think?[/citation]

Fair enough. Not your fault there was no sample. Out of fear? I doubt it. Sorry though, if I had received this to review I'd ask the design team/marketing what they are thinking marketing this. How many of these are they actually going to sell?

 

[drandersoninc]

Be VERY careful prior to and during install making sure this fits, regardsless of what DeepCool tells you. I was told by a rep that it would fit my card, it didn't (which they also confirmed after the evidence), and you CANNOT remove the thermal adhesive once it is dried in. Forced to remove it because it was overheating the card, that adhesive caused damage to the card itself, ultimately bricking my 7970. And when I asked to be transferred on to the supervisors to discuss the issue, I was told 'you cannot talk to them directly'!

Read more here:

So be careful!!!