Anyone actually install the HR-03GTX yet?

[Retro]

Yes, I think Ket really made some worthwhile improvements to many of Asus P5Q series bioses. Looks like he has gone back to the T Power board for now.

My 280's temps. were not too bad either lately with the stock cooler, as long as I kept the fan at 100%. Summer will be another story though. Guess we are fortunate that we didn't get one of the early cards that were hitting something crazy like 110C. just by running Crysis for a few minutes

[BababooeyHTJ]

Yes, I think Ket really made some worthwhile improvements to many of Asus P5Q series bioses. Looks like he has gone back to the T Power board for now.

My 280's temps. were not too bad either lately with the stock cooler, as long as I kept the fan at 100%. Summer will be another story though. Guess we are fortunate that we didn't get one of the early cards that were hitting something crazy like 110C. just by running Crysis for a few minutes

He has his work cut out for him with that Tpower. I sold that board in less than a week after I bought it.

My 280 runs cooler than the early 260 that I had, but that was during the summer. I had to rma a 260 that got that hot. That thing heated up my whole case. It would have made a nice space heater during the winter time.

[kiparosu]

Not exactly HR-03GTX , but I'm posting in regards to the vrm cooling. I used the enzotech sinks after cleaning the mosfets. Once the mosfets heat up the 3M thermal tape improves it's hold on the mosfets and the enzo sinks. VRM temps are 85deg max in Atitool, 76deg max in games and 103degrees in Furmark. I don't game in Furmark, so they work for me. (temps are in celsius )

[Retro]

Not exactly HR-03GTX , but I'm posting in regards to the vrm cooling. I used the enzotech sinks after cleaning the mosfets. Once the mosfets heat up the 3M thermal tape improves it's hold on the mosfets and the enzo sinks. VRM temps are 85deg max in Atitool, 76deg max in games and 103degrees in Furmark. I don't game in Furmark, so they work for me. (temps are in celsius )

Thanks for the information, kiparosu. Much appreciated
Good photo, that's a very nice waterblock you have on the card. I haven't gone that route yet though! Regardless of air or water-cooling, the vrm's still have to be cooled. Good to see that the Enzotech sinks have worked out well for you. Your temps look very good too.

I was glad to hear that the thermal tape did hold after being heated up by the vrm's. They do get quite hot so that would make sense that there is enough heat to help activate the tape. I have some thermal adhesive but have not put any on yet as I am reluctant to bond them permanently.

I think I will try what you did and see if the tape holds for me as well.
Unfortunately, I can't test it yet until I get my replacement bios chip for my P5Q Pro that I "bad-flashed"
Hopefully it will get here this week so I can try this out. Anything to avoid using the glue that bonds forever

[wendigo4700]

So the enzotech mosfet's should work just fine (even tho they're a bit to big for the VRM's) but they just needed to get heated up a little???

I'm still reconsidering using them for my GTX285.

[Retro]

So the enzotech mosfet's should work just fine (even tho they're a bit to big for the VRM's) but they just needed to get heated up a little???

I'm still reconsidering using them for my GTX285.

I am testing the Enzotech mosfet sinks right now. I decided not to use any kind of thermal adhesive, just the included little itty bitty squares of 3M tape that come with the sinks. When first installed, they don't take much force to remove from the vrm's, but as kiparosu reported, they do bond better after heating them up as you use the card. I first installed them yesterday and they are still stuck to the vrm chips so far. Worth trying out, and there is no risk involved using the tape.
Thanks to kiparosu for the report on using the Enzotech sinks with the tape


I did some early testing with Rivatuner while running ATITool for about an hour (no overclocking on the card yet). Ambient room temp. 18C.


My GPU temps. under load maxed out at 51C.
The vrm's (phase 1-5 in R.T.) have hit a max. of 75C. in ATITool, averaging 67C under load.

Idle temps are about 38C for the gpu and 39C for the vrm's.

So far I'm quite happy with the outcome., with the expected drop of 15C or more on the gpu, and the vrms are running at very good temps.

Time for some overclocking, and voltage boosts

[Jsunn]

Nice, great results!

Can you post a part list? I will be looking to do the same for my GTX285!

-J

[BababooeyHTJ]

Thats really not bad on the VRMs, core temp is great. Now you just have to OC and run Furmark for a few minutes.

[Retro]

Nice, great results!

Can you post a part list? I will be looking to do the same for my GTX285!

-J

Sure, I will post a list tonite along with a photo of the card in the finished system. This should work well with your 285

Thats really not bad on the VRMs, core temp is great. Now you just have to OC and run Furmark for a few minutes.

Seems to be doing well on the vrm's, and the HR's are always good for a big drop on the gpu temps.
I will get back to overclocking the card soon, just recovering from that bad flash, nice to have a spare bios chip handy
I want to try a few other things such as newer drivers and EVGA's Voltage Tuner. Nothing really new about the voltage trick but their utility makes it easy. Furball, eh? Well it didn't blow up my card with stock cooling so I guess I could give it a try again

[BababooeyHTJ]

Retro you are the man! I have got to do this after I figure out weither I need to rma my GTX280 or my psu for the third time. Im leaning twords the psu.

[Retro]

Here's a shot of the finished product.

Nice, great results!

Can you post a part list? I will be looking to do the same for my GTX285!

-J

Ok Jsunn, here's the parts list:
I had to use different sized ram sinks depending on where they went due to clearance with the cooler, nb sink, and at the back to allow access to my ram. The prices will vary for you depending on where you get the parts, sales, etc.
TR HR-03 GTX - $75 (1)
Enzotech CNB-S1L NB Heatsink - $20 (1)
" BMR-C1 Reg. Profile Ramsinks (2 packs, used 9 sinks) 2x$17
" BCC9 LP Ramsinks - $18 (1 pack, just used 1)
" MOS-C1 Mosfet Sinks - $14 (1 pack, used 7)
Skythe Slip Stream Kaze Jyuni 120mm 1600rpm 88cfm -used 2 - 2x$12 (there are better fans of course, but these are fine for me)
Misl.: 3 of the Thermalright LP Ramsinks from the kit for the 3 ram chips under the HR-03 GTX's heatpipes
3 Thermaltake LP Copper Ramsinks I had lying around (cleared my nb heatsink better than the Enzotech LP sinks which came too close for comfort) - about $10 per pack of 8
1 120mm fan guard - came with some fan I bought years ago - I cut it in half and bolted half to each fan where the blades were exposed on the outer sides. This prevents the blades from launching any stray sinks just in case they fall off
MX-2 Thermal Paste

The scary thing is that added up, it cost me about $200 for all this stuff

Retro you are the man! I have got to do this after I figure out weither I need to rma my GTX280 or my psu for the third time. Im leaning twords the psu.

Thanks
I will post some Furball results later.
RMA? Is that the PCP&C power supply again? The same one I have? Yikes!
Mine has been working great for over a year now. You are not having much luck with yours! I hope your 280 is ok though, keep us posted on that.

[Retro]

A quick 10 minute Furball run. Not the clearest shot, may have to try a different screen capture program. Just a basic stability run without AA. I was surprised that the gpu and vrm temps didn't exceed the temps of the ATITool test I ran. I think I'll keep Furball installed

[BababooeyHTJ]

I noticed that spike on vrm1. My GTX280 does the same thing on GPU-Z and Rivatuner, any version. What did it read? Mine is allways 127c and I also just noticed it on your other SS. That makes me feel better. Really nice temps, btw. Better than a stock cooler on the vrms, now thats impressive. If you run Furmark with some AA you will, especilly fullscreen you will see temps sky rocket.

Good work and it looks sexy mounted. Excelent job with cable management in that case, too. This might be the best aftermarket aircooled rig that I have ever seen. Nice!

[Demo]

@Retro

Is it just me or are you getting artifacts on that ATI Tool on the top left side ?

[Retro]

I noticed that spike on vrm1. My GTX280 does the same thing on GPU-Z and Rivatuner, any version. What did it read? Mine is allways 127c and I also just noticed it on your other SS. That makes me feel better. Really nice temps, btw. Better than a stock cooler on the vrms, now thats impressive. If you run Furmark with some AA you will, especilly fullscreen you will see temps sky rocket.

Good work and it looks sexy mounted. Excelent job with cable management in that case, too. This might be the best aftermarket aircooled rig that I have ever seen. Nice!

Thanks!
I have always had those spikes as well. If I move the cursor over them to read that temp, it still reads 70C or less. Nothing beyond that in the log either. I think it's some kind of bug with the software reading the 280's temps, nothing to worry about.
I will run Furmark with some AA fullscreen as well. Good way to break in the thermal tape

@Retro

Is it just me or are you getting artifacts on that ATI Tool on the top left side ?

It's not just you, I saw those dots too. I re-ran ATITool to watch for any but there were none. Then I checked the original image on my computer, the ScreenHunter capture shot, and it is completely free of any dots. Somewhere after uploading it the distortions appeared. Just to bug me

[Retro]

If you run Furmark with some AA you will, especilly fullscreen you will see temps sky rocket.

I will run Furmark with some AA fullscreen as well. Good way to break in the thermal tape

Wanted to post some temperature results obtained with a short run of Furmark. This is with fullscreen (1680x1050) and full 16X AA enabled in the test. The card is overclocked and volted up a bit as in the screenshot.
Not wanting to burst anyones bubble, especially my own, but this is why Thermalright is not too keen on it:
Quote:
"In our lab tests we have discovered that when running Furmark to test for temperature, it tends to show results that would never be achieved in any circumstances (under normal running or overclocking). Running Furmark is highly risky therefore we do not recommend running this program for tests. This program pushes the VGA card to the point of maxing out, beyond limit and will burn out any cooler, stock or after market coolers after long period of testing. Even running games such as Far Cry 2 and GTA 4 extensively for long hours, the temperatures would never reach what Furmark’s excruciating tests put out. Furthermore, it is crucial to have a 12cm fan installed running at 1600 RPM. This will ensure enough airflow to not only the HR-03 GTX heatsink body but also to the VRM heatsink plate. If you would like to run software to test for heatsink’s temperature stability, we strongly recommend ATI Tools."

Nonetheless, Furmark will show anyone, very quickly, how high the temps can be pushed. I could heat it up even more by running Furmark in Xtreme Burning Mode, but I may just as well hold a blow torch to it for that kind of fun

[BababooeyHTJ]

Yeah, I never run it in fullscreen anymore (could be part of the reason that I need to rma my card now). The temps get insanely hot. Im surprised those vrm temps aren't much worse than the stock cooler and in real world useage you'll never have to worry. Im not a big fan of ATI Tool. My GTX280 gets hotter in Crysis which is acctually a pretty good program for stability testing.

Is it overclocking any better with the lower core temps? I hear these things love a low core temp.

How is the thermal tape holding up?

[Retro]

You do have to be careful running Furmark! I am not a big user of either program, ATITools can be a bit flakey and I don't find it very up to date. There are other programs for gpu stressing such as Nvidia's Human Head Demo.

What ultimately counts is how cool the card runs for what you normally use it for, which is generally going to be gaming. I think this cooler helps a lot for any gpu-intensive games such as Crysis. I have also noticed an improvement in smoothness when running GTA IV which can also put a lot of stress on a card.

I haven't really gained any increases in overclocking, I didn't expect to, based on previous results fitting TR HR-03 coolers to a few 8800 series cards.
I am still playing with EVGA's GVT which hasn't really produced any gains either Mainly that the card is running stable and cooler.

So far the thermal tape is holding, the ram chips stick very well, the vrms not quite as solid but staying on.

Good luck with your rma. It's good that you went with EVGA, they are good for rma purposes.
I have been there, but that goes back a few years to the 6800 Ultra, after the third faulty rma replacement was sent to me "personally tested" from one of their staff, still in it's factory shrink-wrap, missing a capacitor, I got a refund from EVGA and played with ATI cards for a few years

[BababooeyHTJ]

You do have to be careful running Furmark! I am not a big user of either program, ATITools can be a bit flakey and I don't find it very up to date. There are other programs for gpu stressing such as Nvidia's Human Head Demo.

What ultimately counts is how cool the card runs for what you normally use it for, which is generally going to be gaming. I think this cooler helps a lot for any gpu-intensive games such as Crysis. I have also noticed an improvement in smoothness when running GTA IV which can also put a lot of stress on a card.

I haven't really gained any increases in overclocking, I didn't expect to, based on previous results fitting TR HR-03 coolers to a few 8800 series cards.
I am still playing with EVGA's GVT which hasn't really produced any gains either Mainly that the card is running stable and cooler.

So far the thermal tape is holding, the ram chips stick very well, the vrms not quite as solid but staying on.

Good luck with your rma. It's good that you went with EVGA, they are good for rma purposes.
I have been there, but that goes back a few years to the 6800 Ultra, after the third faulty rma replacement was sent to me "personally tested" from one of their staff, still in it's factory shrink-wrap, missing a capacitor, I got a refund from EVGA and played with ATI cards for a few years

Yeah, I think that Ill stick to gaming to test for stability. I wasn't really stressing it since I bought it just FO3 and The Witcher. They aren't the mose stressful games in the world. I had been playing GTA4 I noticed something was funny. I just had some artifacts in UT3 and Qrack which I never had before. The PSU is fine so Im not sure what happened.

My last RMA with Evga went well, but it was for a new card since I bought a GTX260 where the IHS wasn't making proper contact and running hot as h*ll. Im a little worried about a refurb since I hear their quality control isn't the best in the world, but their customer service is good. I'll know soon since they're cross shipping me a card.

[Retro]

Let us know how the new or refirb card works when you swap it out. First the 260, now this. Maybe we should start another thread on that Cross shipping is another nice option to have, saves a lot of down time if you don't have access to a spare card or another system.

The problem with quality control mainly lies with the fact that these cards, regardless of brand, are all stamped out by the zillions at one or two sweatshops, in China. Pretty hard to produce a quality product when you are forced to work under slave labor conditions.
An example of this, although not the same factory Nvidia uses to stamp out their cards, which could very well be even worse:

http://observers.france24.com/en/con...dell-ibm-china

[wendigo4700]

So do you guys think, the Enzotech MOS-C1 should outperfom the new thermalright VRM heatsink made for the GTX285?

I mean..the thermalright VRM heatsink for GTX285, have more cooling area, since its one big block. While the Enzotech MOS-C1 are small individual heatsinks.

I'm really confused what to acquire

[annihilus]

The thermalright VRM heatsink for GTX285 won't fit, they are for the 280. And frankly you don't need any. I put some sinks on them just to be sure but they only get lukewarm.

[Retro]

Update:
I did some more testing of my card's overclocking with the HR-03 GTX compared to the stock cooler. It clocks a bit higher now, my previous best clocks with the stock cooler were:
Core:730/Shader:1515/Memory:1300
Now:
Core:735/Shader:1540/Memory:1350
I upped the voltage to 1.200v for kicks but the card overclocks the same without the voltage boost.
Not a huge gain but it shows that the TR cooler with the mods does help.

The temp. shown is back at idle but it doesn't get too hot when running 3D06

So do you guys think, the Enzotech MOS-C1 should outperfom the new thermalright VRM heatsink made for the GTX285?

I mean..the thermalright VRM heatsink for GTX285, have more cooling area, since its one big block. While the Enzotech MOS-C1 are small individual heatsinks.

I'm really confused what to acquire

I just think the Enzotech sinks are a better way to cool the vrm's than TR's supplied light aluminum plate. The Enzo's are copper with a tall fin area and supply individual cooling to the vrm's.
They also allow air to flow more freely throughout that area of the card.
TR's plate design does not look very effective.

[Retro]

Nice, great results!

Can you post a part list? I will be looking to do the same for my GTX285!

-J

Hey Jsunn,
Haven't seen any new posts here from you, the creator of this thread, for a while
I hope my total price on the parts list didn't scare you off
Anyhow, now that I have been running this "creation" for a while, I will say that I have been very pleased with the overall temperatures and overclocking gain. It also helped me to get into the 20 Grand+ Club in 3D06, which is a goal I had not been able to quite hit before replacing the stock cooler. Haven't tried Vantage yet, but I do have a freebie copy from EVGA that I could load on my W7 h.d. #2 install. Another benefit is that even with two 120mm 1600rpm Skythe's running, it is quieter than the stock cooler was when running at 100%.
And so far, all the heatsinks are holding firm with their supplied thermal tape.
Let us all know what ya plan on doing with your GTX285

[Jsunn]

Retro,

I have been keeping track of this thread, just absorbing the info. I am trying to figure out the best way to go with my GTX285... I am also using my older 8800GTS G92 as a physX card and if I move to the HT-03GTX I will need to get of the physx card and I'm not sure I want to do that yet, unless I can come up with a new config for the HT-03.

I will definitly be using your parts list, that is for sure!!

-Jason