HD 4850 - Better Cooling/Better Performer!

[XSAlliN]

I personally love the silence, manage to build a silent system but my new HD 4850 ruined my plans so I had to find a fix for that. Silence is just one of the problems for this card straight out of the box. The temperatures go so high that in crashes my games after 20 minutes of play (Cod 4, Crysis, The Witcher). My logic blamed the temperatures but others with a similar product blamed the drivers abd that got me thinking. :confused:

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/9231/picture001dj6by7.jpg

Anyway, I wasn't gonna wait for a miracle, I'll make it happen. And with those word in my mind I searched for better alternative for cooling my new card which has a faulty cooling - and that's not just my opinion. :shakes:

Since I already have a case with good airflow, I put My fate in my old cooler (Accelero S1. Rev2) + a couple of RAMsinks like Zerotherm ZH100 (http://www.zerotherm.net/eng/product/ZH100.asp): and a AC Turbo Module (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=139)

http://www.zerotherm.net/eng/images/img/ZH100/b01.jpg

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/pics/tmMain_470.jpg

And now for the results:

Step 1 - I removed the faulty cooling and put those RAMsinks on PWM/RAM. I have to Arrange them in certain position so the heatsink would fit just right. I even covered the parts uncovered by the original cooler.

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/5629/fegl0.jpg

http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/1658/99984703ef9.th.jpg (http://img392.imageshack.us/img392/1658/99984703ef9.jpg)

http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/8017/24439457ux5.th.jpg (http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/8017/24439457ux5.jpg)

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5535/11fo8.th.jpg (http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/5535/11fo8.jpg)

Step 2 - Installed the Heatsink, as shown in the next pictures:

http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7988/51997139tx3.th.jpg (http://img205.imageshack.us/img205/7988/51997139tx3.jpg)

http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/2731/71827882qz8.th.jpg (http://img505.imageshack.us/img505/2731/71827882qz8.jpg)

Now it's ready for passive cooling, but I adeed the Turbo Module for my internal peace and of course: better OC results if I needed a litle boost of performance. That takes as to Step 3 - AC Turbo Module:

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6182/11ed3.th.jpg (http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/6182/11ed3.jpg)

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3139/12zk8.th.jpg (http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/3139/12zk8.jpg)

Step 4 - not that the beast it's all dressed up it's time to put it where it belongs:

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6753/29835631ja6.th.jpg (http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/6753/29835631ja6.jpg)


All fans or connected to the front fan controller (Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus Black ). It's all silence related, but as you will see shortly, even a silent solution can be a good performer. Here's the complete installation and my idea of a good air flow for a cooler and better performing system (let's not forget the silence - as mentioned repetitively above):

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9990/10jx9.th.jpg (http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/9990/10jx9.jpg)

The final results:

Idle as in the first picture:

http://img120.imageshack.us/img120/9066/picture001hd7.jpg

The temperatures in Load after doing some OC:

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/9210/picture003ffuy9.jpg

Ok, that got me +1000 points in 3D Mark 2006 but that's far from my main interest.

http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/1997/picture002ffim6.th.jpg (http://img517.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture002ffim6.jpg)

It's cooler, performs better (closer to HD 4870) and no more crashes. Same games, same driver (8.7) and after 3 - 6 hours in different games my system didn't crash, yet before it use to crash after 20 minutes. Overall I'm more then happy with this results. Hope this helps other people to deal with the cooling problems of HD 4850. :up:

LE:I used Noctua NT-H1 as thermal paste. :cool:

[systemviper]

Bam, thanks for the tips, I have heard the same thing,
I have 2 accelero 2900 extremes that I can mod for these cards,
so i will for sure now...

Keeep em cool :up:


thanks again

[XSAlliN]

I used an Accelero S1 Rev.2 which is compatible with HD 4850, don't know about Accelero 2900 Extreme, shows only HD 2900 series on compatibility list (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=153&data=7&disc=).

[systemviper]

You see the size of that cooling unit, it's monsterious but I saw a thread here that someone modified it for the 4850.
You just have to slice off a small corner of the fins.

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/pics/products/153_big.jpg

very cool...

The Thread (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=193671&highlight=4850+2900)

I will have to look at it closer, but i was thinking about leaving part of the original heatsink on it, the part that covers the front end of the card, the mosfits. because i heard they get really hot and the last fan on the accelero 2900 should just rest on that.

he says 5 out of 8 holes fit, i figure that is the gpu (4) and 1 other. So i will have to make sure the others don't touch anything, might just dremmel them off.

Also i might be going to 4870's so i need to think real hard if i want ot try this mod, might just put them on maze 4's with heatsinks on the ram?

i will figure it out this weekend, when i take it all apart.

regards
steve

[Alex-Ro]

Good job mate.;)

[jaredpace]

nice work:clap: