Mini Review: Accelero S1 + 140mm Yate on 3870!

[Miwo]

Cooler:: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 + 140mm TwistyTie mod
Video Card: HIS 3870 512MB
Case: Coolermaster CM690 with 4 - 140mm Yates / 2 - 120mm Yates on a Sunbeam controller.
TIM Material: AS Ceramique - only stuff I had laying around atm, dirt cheap, safe, non-conductive.

Update 12/01: 1Ghz on Air!
Finished applying the voltage mod today, and used 1.53v. AFAIK I am the first to hit 1GHz on the 3870 using an Air Cooler . Temps after a round of 3DMark06 are about 55C. Getting a little on the warm side, but still acceptable I'd say. Screenies and links:



Compare: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=3991966

11/21
I got my 3870 yesterday and the first thing I did was switch out that crappy Stock heatsink . To heat up the card, I used RTHDRIBL using 16x Multisample running Full Windowed. It gives me the same end-temperature as ATITool artifact test.

Here are some pictures:

Dieshot


HIS 3870 Card.
NOTE: The stock cooler is only held by the 4 screws in the 'square' area. I opted to keep on the ramsinks, vreg sinks because I have heard horror stories on the sinks that come with the Accelero S1. Any cooler that is compatible with the x1900 series should work with the 3850/3870.


Accelero S1 on the card


Added the 140mm Yate Loon
To secure the fan, I just used twisty-ties on the top two corners and the bottom left. The fan is very secure and I can't hear any vibration noise from it. I did not center the fan directly above the core because I figure that this was a dead-spot with little air. The 140mm fan blows air on all the components on the front and reaches as far as the VREG sinks


A side shot with the S1+140mm Yate


Comparison shot between Dualslot Stock cooler & S1+140mm Yate
Note: As you can see, the actual heatsink area of the stock cooler is very small!!! In fact, I think my x1900xtx might have a larger sink vs the 3870


Results
I ran RTHDRIBL for roughly 9 hours. Started it this morning before work, and took this screenshot when I came back home. Card was tested at 860/1200. I have not played around with memory speeds at all, and core speeds are restricted due to BIOS. Currently awaiting an updated flasher to use the BIOS that Stilt posted earlier this morning.


Summary/Misc Notes
Very very impressed with the cooling performance I am getting from the S1 + 140mm Yate. I am getting 41C Load Temperatures on a fresh application of Ceramique from last night. It cost me about $20, which is a good deal cheaper than what you will spend for a similar Zalman VF900, Thermaltake DuOrb, or Thermalright HR-03. Strap a quiet 120mm or 140mm fan you have lying around (to be expected, this is the Air Cooling section after all), and it becomes a very quiet and effective cooler, not to mention cooling the entire front side of the card. I expect my results to get slightly better once the Ceramique settles in.

There is on big Disadvantage to the S1:
Obviously there is the size issue, but its going to some very creative cutting if you want to try the S1 in crossfire. The first heatpipe column / fin stack blocks the area where you have to run the crossfire cable across to the other card. I am not exactly sure if its safe to run the cable between the finstack, but if you were to try, you'd probably want to insulate it. Even if you were to use these in Crossfire, you probably wouldn't be able to add a large fan to it

Hope this helps anyone curious, or are in the market for a good aftermarket cooler for their new 3850/3870 cards! I will be updating my results once the new Flasher is available for download.

[ChaosMinionX]

Nice little cooler, takes up alot of space though.


Good job on the mini review

[patrickadizzle]

VF900 is a possibility then..

Interesting

[zanzabar]

so, is that a 3 sloter or a 4 sloter

[LuckyNV]

so, is that a 3 sloter or a 4 sloter

I think slightly under 3 slots but could be more if breathing room is needed

[STEvil]

put an 80mm fan on the back and you'd get away with 2 slots.

or an 80mm hung off end of card might work well enough, too.

[Miwo]

Nice little cooler, takes up alot of space though.

Good job on the mini review

Thanks . Your DuOrb setup is really nice looking and cools well to boot. IMO, its the best cooler to use if you plan on making full use of your Intel board using Crossfire. What kind of load temps do you get btw? Just curious for a ballpark comparison sake, since Room temperature, case temperature, and TIM all have a huge difference on heatsink performance.

[AliG]

nice job, can't wait until you get a new bios that actually allows you to push the card, I hate it when companies create uber cheap beasts but then cap them, kinda like the allendales, when the e4300 was first revealed everyone was siked because of the high mult and the low price, but once they're actually released, people are getting stuck at just barely above 3ghz when they should be getting 3.6ghz easy

[TheBeast1590]

WOW O_O
That's impressive!
REALLY nice temps, have u been thinkin about vmod?

[Miwo]

of course, though at this time there are no working vmods out for the 3850/3870. That may very well change soon once if w1z gets around to updating ATITool, or someone discovers how to tweak the voltage values in the new BIOS.

Do not count on Rivatuner for adjusting voltages though, Unwinder has said before in the past that he will never put in voltage options in his program.

[TheBeast1590]

It would be nice with SoftMod...
Are 860/1200 the max clocks u can get? (stable)
What was room temp btw?

[Miwo]

860MHz is the max core you can get before flashing with the updated bios. The flasher was just made available today, so I will be testing that out the first thing when I get home.

I did not test the RAM at all and just set it arbitrarily to 1200 because it was a nice round even number :o.

My Room temperature is about 68F, but my case temperature hovers around34C while stress testing the card. Since the S1 has no rear exhaust, i'd probably expect it to raise your case temperature a few C.

[TheBeast1590]

well...duh... nice cooler anyway ;D
will buy one soon... just to compare with my Sonic Tower xD

[_G_]

the lower plastic cover is removable for better airflow, just have to ziptie to the heat pipes instead of the cover. btw this cooler keeps an 1900xtx around 50c under load with a 140mm yate

[2k7zero]

Oh, thank you. The pictures are going to help me a lot with mounting a fan to the AC S1, thx.

[LordEC911]

Good review!
Thanks for the link.

Any chance that dual 120mm will fit?(I'm bad at estimating size)

the lower plastic cover is removable for better airflow, just have to ziptie to the heat pipes instead of the cover. btw this cooler keeps an 1900xtx around 50c under load with a 140mm yate

Screenies?
I sorta find that hard to believe since my x1900xtx idles at ~45C with a VF900(@low) on it.

[aiya]

nice review

got any pics of it inside your case?

[roadie]

Great review. I am thinking about getting this card and have a spare x1950xtx cooler handy. From what I can see from looking at pictures of both cards naked, the mounting holes of the 3870 are slightly further toward the PCI cover end of the card than the x1950xtx. However, I am thinking that with a hacksaw, the plastic cover of the x1950xtx cooler could be shortened. I guess then the only question is whether the contact block on the x1950xtx cooler would fit the core of the 3870 chip ok?

Anyone have any thoughts?

[TheBeast1590]

btw this cooler keeps an 1900xtx around 50c under load with a 140mm yate

Whats the voltage? 1,45V?...well, no bad, but i get 50C under load at 1,5+ (with my Sonic Tower)

[HKPolice]

Any results with the unlocked BIOS?

[Calmatory]

VERY nice performance indeed! Alot of overvolting headroom, it seems.

[GAR]

nice performance, but that things looks bad :/ but hey as long as it keeps temps down.

[kite7]

Another thumbs up for Accelero S1, best bang per buck vga cooler ever!

[Miwo]

updated my first post with vmodding results!

[zanzabar]

can take a pick of the finished vmod