Thermalright T-rad2 GPU cooler reviewed!

[nullface]

I cant realy find out if the T-Rad beats the HR03 or not, any solid proof apart form expreview?

[LuckyNV]

Its barely available hence no reviews :/

that and vga cooler reviews are few and far between.
Just have to wait

[roofsniper]

mr2sw i have getting similar temps as you are on the core and the memory. i just haven't been so lucky with the vrms. im guessing the vrms that it is reading from are the 3 next to the vitec chip. i covered the pulse and vitec chips along with the 3 vrms next to the vitec and the 2 next to the pulse chips but after covering those with the supplied t rad sinks i saw no difference in vrm temperature. im getting about 60-65 idle and they are always above 100 in load. they usually get up to around 115 and stop about there. maybe there is something im doing wrong? im gonna try to get a fan to blow across the card and see what it does.

[the_pharaoh]

I'm about to send back my T-Rad2 because of the same issues...it can't cool the VRMs well enough to keep the card from crashing.

[mr2sw21]

can any one please please post stock cooler's VRMs for about 5 to 20mins Ati tool test? OR some other after market cooler. So we can compare? Thanks,

[roofsniper]

well i think the supplied vrm sinks don't fit the chips properly. if i look very closely at mine i think i see a small gap between the chip and the sink and i have the best mount possible. what im thinking about doing is getting the rubber thermal mount from the ram on my 3870 stock heatsink and folding it in half and putting a metal bracket across the top and screwing it down into the holes. that should get a good mount on the vrms and should cool it well.

[-noxius-]

mr2sw i have getting similar temps as you are on the core and the memory. i just haven't been so lucky with the vrms. im guessing the vrms that it is reading from are the 3 next to the vitec chip. i covered the pulse and vitec chips along with the 3 vrms next to the vitec and the 2 next to the pulse chips but after covering those with the supplied t rad sinks i saw no difference in vrm temperature. im getting about 60-65 idle and they are always above 100 in load. they usually get up to around 115 and stop about there. maybe there is something im doing wrong? im gonna try to get a fan to blow across the card and see what it does.

I'm about to send back my T-Rad2 because of the same issues...it can't cool the VRMs well enough to keep the card from crashing.

Yeah, that's what I feared since the beginning . Anyway thanks for the tests, it seems that neither the rad2 is able to cool down the VRM's ..

Barely useless cooler if it does the job at 50% , to not speak about the price

[exhausted mule]

what vrms are you guys takling about?

just bought this cooler this weekend and installed with great success. jumped my stable oc from 640 to 745 with 10 degree drop in idle and 20 in loads.

The stock sinks that come with the cooler are aluminum. they're horrible. if you want to cool the vr's you need a copper sink.


something like: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enbcbmlowprf.html

[mr2sw21]

what vrms are you guys takling about?

just bought this cooler this weekend and installed with great success. jumped my stable oc from 640 to 745 with 10 degree drop in idle and 20 in loads.

The stock sinks that come with the cooler are aluminum. they're horrible. if you want to cool the vr's you need a copper sink.


something like: http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/enbcbmlowprf.html

this is the problem my friend. See marked picture. Seem like T-rad2 can cool down the GPU but not VRM.

[exhausted mule]

i dont get those temps readings.

only for the 4870 i take it?


anyways. i dont see how this would be any different than the guys watercooling. they seem to be able to deal with it fine.

[mr2sw21]

i dont get those temps readings.

only for the 4870 i take it?


anyways. i dont see how this would be any different than the guys watercooling. they seem to be able to deal with it fine.

OIC what you mean. Yeah now I feel a lot better cause seem like my test is doing a little better than some of the water cool.

[Hornet331]

this is the problem my friend. See marked picture. Seem like T-rad2 can cool down the GPU but not VRM.

imho this temps are oc, i have a powercolor HD4870 PCs 1GB with zerotherm as stock cooler and under gaming i see -> 10x°C on the vrms, on furmark (with renamed exe to avoide throtteling) 115°C :P

The T-Rad does a decent job, 8x°C is well within the safe ronge for the VRMS (105°C afaik).

[Caveman787]

80 degrees celcius isn't bad that's what they have been recently with most cards just hasn't gotten bad enough to be to hot till 4870 etc.

People have been reporting 100-120 with TRad2 lately which begs me the ? why no one is decideing to use the stock ram/mosfet cooling plate? to keep them nice and cool view the airflow and large surface area.

[mr2sw21]

80 degrees celcius isn't bad that's what they have been recently with most cards just hasn't gotten bad enough to be to hot till 4870 etc.

People have been reporting 100-120 with TRad2 lately which begs me the ? why no one is decideing to use the stock ram/mosfet cooling plate? to keep them nice and cool view the airflow and large surface area.

The reason I didn't use the stock ram sink and mosfet it because it is too deep the can't fit unless I trim them

[roofsniper]

well the trad is amazing at cooling the gpu and ram but for the vrms they weren't thinking. for starters i don;t think the supplied heatsinks even fit on the vrms. when i put them on no matter how i try theres always a gap. the tops of the chips around the vrms are taller and the heatsink sticks to them. what the stock cooler does is get a thermal pad and puts it right across there and the thermal pad doesn't have issues with the surround parts because it is smaller.

the reason why watercoolers aren't having this vrm problem is because they can make custom solutions. theres not much room under the trad to put much under there. some people are just mounting case fans to the vrm area directly. now like i said in my earlier post i had some rubber thermal pads that are on my 3870 stock cooler that i could fold in half and put across the vrms then put a bracket over that and screw it into the stock holes. then i will have something putting pressure on them to transfer the heat.

right now in my current situation i can't work with the way it is. i have only looked at the vrm temps when playing lost planet and grid. on lost planet i have seen the vrms go up to 115C in about 1 minute. imagine if i was playing for a long period of time. and in grid the gpu load isn't even 100% because i got v sync on but the vrms still get to 100-105.

[Caveman787]

What do you mean trim "them"?

The red stock cooling plate for the card is 1 piece, I don't see how it could be to thick to fit under the Trad2

[the_pharaoh]

I did try Thermaltake (ugh, but it was available locally) solid copper ramsinks on the VRMs...with those on they were hitting 95c in Assassin's Creed and Crysis and higher on RTHDRIBL/Atitool/Furmark.

A week of those temps killed my card...it won't game for more than two hours at it's stock speed of 795/1100 now. So I don't recommend stressing the cards to heavily if you're running this cooler until something is worked out to cool these VRMs.

I just said screw it and I'm exchanging my 4870 for 4850 Crossfire :P
I bet those won't need a cooling system so complex it doesn't exist

I did not try the bottom half of the stock cooler, but after trying to take it apart and almost ruining the screws because I didn't have a screwdriver small/flat enough, I decided better not.

[trt740]

I did try Thermaltake (ugh, but it was available locally) solid copper ramsinks on the VRMs...with those on they were hitting 95c in Assassin's Creed and Crysis and higher on RTHDRIBL/Atitool/Furmark.

A week of those temps killed my card...it won't game for more than two hours at it's stock speed of 795/1100 now. So I don't recommend stressing the cards to heavily if you're running this cooler until something is worked out to cool these VRMs.

I just said screw it and I'm exchanging my 4870 for 4850 Crossfire :P
I bet those won't need a cooling system so complex it doesn't exist

I did not try the bottom half of the stock cooler, but after trying to take it apart and almost ruining the screws because I didn't have a screwdriver small/flat enough, I decided better not.

They are nearly as hot as 4870's, I know I have two in 4850s crossfire and most certainly they are hotter than a single 4870. My two Duorbs hit 70c with my 4850's oced to 700/1150. I'm gonna swap one Duorb out for a Gx815 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...7009&Tpk=gx815 due to fan noise on the other two Duorbs I tried, but 70c in crossfire is not bad at all, and the one Duorb I'm keeping is silent. To be fair I do have a thermaltake armor case (with 250mm side fan remove), but it has a True in it with 2x120mm 70cf and 63cf fans mounted on the cooler, plus a 120mm 73CF intake and exit fans ,and two more 92mm 43CF fans, plus a 120mm PSU fan. Try these If you need more air flow, they can handle 4870s in crossfire no sweat. http://www.pctoys.com/840556087687.html they are slimmer than the original ACx2 coolers and can be used with regular crossfire bridges, plus are silent as hell. Here is another option the Gigabyte v power they are super good on 4870 cards and can be had cheap if you can find them http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...2a8c9b3fbe415f (this however is not cheap) Glad I didn't buy the Trad, first Thermalright I have seen thats not great.

[exhausted mule]

i'm curious to know how you guys are telling vrm temps on 4850's.

[the_pharaoh]

They are nearly as hot as 4870's, I know I have two in 4850s crossfire and most certainly they are hotter than a single 4870. My two Duorbs hit 70c with my 4850's oced to 700/1150. I'm gonna swap one Duorb out for a Gx815 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...7009&Tpk=gx815 due to fan noise on the other two Duorbs I tried, but 70c in crossfire is not bad at all, and the one Duorb I'm keeping is silent. To be fair I do have a thermaltake armor case (with 250mm side fan remove), but it has a True in it with 2x120mm 70cf and 63cf fans mounted on the cooler, plus a 120mm 73CF intake and exit fans ,and two more 92mm 43CF fans, plus a 120mm PSU fan. Try these If you need more air flow, they can handle 4870s in crossfire no sweat. http://www.pctoys.com/840556087687.html they are slimmer than the original ACx2 coolers and can be used with regular crossfire bridges, plus are silent as hell. Here is another option the Gigabyte v power they are super good on 4870 cards and can be had cheap if you can find them http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...2a8c9b3fbe415f (this however is not cheap) Glad I didn't buy the Trad, first Thermalright I have seen thats not great.

I tried a DuOrb on my 4870 and ALL the temps went through the roof, so that quickly went back to the shop. Seemed like a cheaply built cooler as well, not trying to knock your setup just my opinion. I am tempted by the Twin Turbo and V Power, but if I do use aftermarket on these cards it will probably be a set of Zalman VF900s I already own from my old X1900 CF setup. Honestly I think this T-Rad2 would probably be perfect for a 4850 but after being told to piss off my Thermalright's tech support just for asking some basic questions I think I will tell them to piss off by not buying the products...I sent the T-Rad2 back to Heatsink Factory yesterday anyways.

[pinoyxpryde]

what mosfet temps are people getting with the stock cooler using furmark?

[trt740]

I tried a DuOrb on my 4870 and ALL the temps went through the roof, so that quickly went back to the shop. Seemed like a cheaply built cooler as well, not trying to knock your setup just my opinion. I am tempted by the Twin Turbo and V Power, but if I do use aftermarket on these cards it will probably be a set of Zalman VF900s I already own from my old X1900 CF setup. Honestly I think this T-Rad2 would probably be perfect for a 4850 but after being told to piss off my Thermalright's tech support just for asking some basic questions I think I will tell them to piss off by not buying the products...I sent the T-Rad2 back to Heatsink Factory yesterday anyways.

If you didn't like the Duorb and it's only slightly better than the stock cooler on high(but it's small enough for crossfire and quieter than the stock cooler) you will hate the VF900 it performs worse than the Duorb and is louder. These cards just run hot.

Example. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...rmaltake+DuOrb

[Caveman787]

DuoOrb's don't have enough surface area to dissipate a 4870's heat.

[roofsniper]

i had the vf900 on my 3870. it cooled the gpu fine but its so small that the vrms would get screwed without proper cooling.

[the_pharaoh]

If you didn't like the Duorb and it's only slightly better than the stock cooler on high(but it's small enough for crossfire and quieter than the stock cooler) you will hate the VF900 it performs worse than the Duorb and is louder. These cards just run hot.

Example. http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...rmaltake+DuOrb

Wow thanks for the heads-up. Guess I'll have to scrap that plan. The VF900s I have owned were def. quieter than the DuOrb I tried, but it seems like some of those are noisier than others.

It sounds like the Accelero would be a good choice for the 4850s then. Don't let me sidetrack this topic any further though :P