4870 & ThermalRight TRad2 - Results

[CleanSteve]

Overall noise on my setup (see sig) was making me look for alternative cooling setups for my system. My primary goal here was equivalent or better cooling that is much more quiet. After some research I went with:

- Thermalright T-Rad2 VGA Cooler
- 2x Nexus 92mm Real Silent Case Fan DF1209SL-3
- ArctiClean Kit
- Arctic Silver Ceramique

Installation Notes:

The job was somewhat complicated by the Kaze Master fan controller I decided to install at the same time.

Overall took me about 2 hours start to finish to take apart the old system/board/cooler and install all the new stuff. Probably if you are at an old hand at this kind of cooler install you can do it a lot faster, but this was my first time so I went kinda slowly.

Another delay I had was that I didn't have a teensy #00 class philips head screwdriver, which was necessary to take the stock cooler off the Asus EAHD 4870. Yay hardware stores!

Still, no major problems. Everything fit just fine.

VRM/Chip Cooling

The worst part about this kit is that the VRM/VDDC coolers (little aluminum heat spreaders) are fairly cheap, though typical of the class from what I've seen. I might re-do with copper ones, or even IANDH's super custom job at some point. Still everything attached cleanly.

Results

Noise: Fantastic results here. Even with the Nexus 92mm's dialed up to max speed they are still nearly silent. With the case closed, they are impossible to hear compared to the rest of the system.

Cooling: Mixed Results.
- GPU is running much cooler. Serious change -- running 15 degrees C cooler under average load (video gaming for 1+ hours). The new system brought temps down from average 65C to 50C or lower. WOW!!
- VRMs are running hotter. Under the same usage scenario they are 5 - 10 degrees C hotter. Used to be in mid 60s, now low to mid 70s, with spikes up to 78C.

Question: Are VRM temps this high a problem?

Would love any ideas/thoughts/input!

[BossBorot]

vrm temps that high are nothing to worry about although it would be nice to have them lower

[chevro1et]

Nice work. Would love to see some pics w. the T-rad installed.

[ChinStrap]

pictures please. :)

[CleanSteve]

LOL I knew you'd want pix ... left my camera at my friend's house will try to take some when I get it.

[petteyg359]

I want pics too :) Any chance you also have an Accelero Twin Turbo and could compare the two? :p My preferred "silent" fans are Noctua, and they cost a bit :) I haven't seen any reviews that compare the two on the same card in the same environment, yet, so I can't find whether the T-Rad² is worth the extra cost once fans are included :(

[CleanSteve]

Ok here are a bunch of pics. Yea I was too lazy to take the thing apart, but I think you can see the key bits. Standard disclaimers about needing to have cleaner wiring.

(1) Overall system shot.

[CleanSteve]

(2) Gives you a view of the guts of the system. TRUE is up top, RAM cooler to the right. The TRUE has a 120mm fan on it. 4870 is in the middle, the card on the bottom is the Xonar sound card.

[CleanSteve]

(3) GPU from above -- you can see how the 4 screws hold the cooler in place. And yes the entire thing barely fits in my case.

[CleanSteve]

(4) GPU from middle. Good view here on the DRM cooling heat spreaders that the T-Rad2 included. Note to the right I put a few heat spreaders on these little tiny chips that had some cooling on the original stock device.

[CleanSteve]

(5) GPU from below. Again you can see the heat spreaders. Good view of heat pipes in the cooler, plus the 2 92MM fans.

[Nebulous]

Nice! Gotta luv TR products! :thup:

[Alien432]

Clean can you post pics of GPUz temps both idle and load. I'd like to see dispio, memio, shader and vdd. Thanks.

Also how many slots does your T-rad take up with those fans?

[CleanSteve]

It takes up 3 slots with the fans. No way I could fit two of these setups in this case.

Travelling for work this week, so won't be able to post GPUz shots for a few days.

[CleanSteve]

Here is the GPU-Z under idle.

[CleanSteve]

And GPU-Z under load.

I generated this load with Furmark and killed it when the temps got where you see em. Started to make me nervous.

Under "normal usage" load I typicall ysee VDDs in the low 70s.

[jason4207]

Yeah, i would try to beef up the VRM sinks.

I put sinks everywhere I could even though I know you don't need them everywhere.

Here's my results today using the HR03GT w/ a 57CFM Panaflo in a 69*F ambient after 25mins of ATI Tool. I have mine hard-modded/BIOS modded to 1.315v under load, and 1.05v idle.

Gotta love TR!

http://img363.imageshack.us/img363/7334/p8020073bh4.jpg

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/2145/p8020072dw9.jpg

[CleanSteve]

jason -- what are your VDD temps under load?

And also -- which sinks are those?

[jason4207]

VDD? I'm not sure what you mean. All temps are displayed in GPU-Z there. I have a 4850.

I'm pretty sure one of those lower 3 temps displayed is the VRM temp if that's what you mean.

The sinks are ones you can find in various web shops (like this one (http://www.jab-tech.com/Microcool-PLL-Sink-Black-pr-3322.html)), and I think someone sells some in the classies.

[Mekks]

your VRM/VDD temps are really high, i think ati spec says upto 120C is fine but imo thats WAY too high. i had some alum stick on sinks and with furmark i would also hit 120-130C (rename you furmark.exe to something else and then run furmark for the non ati hacked results. they will be much higher).

i ended up modding a tr hr-09 mofset sink for them and now i dont see them go over 65C. this would not fit under your sink tho.

[Mekks]

here is the diff in a renamed furmark

RENAMED FURMARK.EXE
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3233/2862943271_8130774747_b.jpg

NON RENAMED FURMARK.EXE
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3244/2863776046_d0c1087605_b.jpg

[CleanSteve]

Yea not sure what the best choices really are to improve VRM temps ... i mean how much is switching from cheap aluminum to fancy copper really going to help?

So options are:
- copper heat sinks
- iandh's custom sink plate for the 4870
- some heavier duty TR item, not sure which, and not sure which would fit under the T-Rad2. Any recommendations?

[petteyg359]

Your best option is probably better airflow. Your fans are doing 28CFM@20db, I think.

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2511/fan-211/Arctic_Cooling_ACF9_92mm_Exhaust_Case_Fan.html?tl= g36c15s700 - 35 CFM, 24 db, $7
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2570/fan-87/Panaflo_H1A_92mm_Fan_BX_w_RPM_Sensor.html?tl=g36c1 5s59 - 57 CFM, 35 db, $6
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7208/fan-424/Noctua_NF-B9_92mm_Fan_31_CFM.html?tl=g36c15s59 - 38CFM, 18 db, $18


If you want to blow the sinks off the card, you could get a couple of these :p
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2536/fan-34/Vantec_Tornado_92mm_High_Output.html?tl=g36c15s700
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7867/fan-482/Delta_92mm_x_25mm_High-Speed_Fan_-_9002_CFM_FFB0912SH.html?tl=g36c15s700#blank

90CFM/50db and 110CFM/56db :screwy:

[MadMan007]

Hey Clean Steve if you could do a measurement for me I would appreciate it a lot. This heatsink piqued my interest because it does not stick up above the card vertically from the mobo at all, I'm looking to piece together a mATX build and the case I have planned only has 1/2" clearance above the card slots, you wouldn't believe how much that limits options. Unfortunately I need it to only block 2 slots at most as well, so this heatsink+25mm thick fans won't work. However some 15mm thick ones might, although I still think it would be a little bit too much by my estimates 35mm thickness is about as much as you can go for two slots and that heatsink+15mm is 39-40mm.

So...can you measure or just look-see if the fans were only 15mm thick whether it would still block a third slot? Thanks :D

[CleanSteve]

petteyg - interesting.

My entire goal here is quiet, not OC'ing so very high db's aren't an option. What reference do you use to get those numbers, btw?

[petteyg359]

The specs from the fans :) The Noctua fans (the third one I linked) cost quite a bit more than some other fans, but the silence is very worth it, IMNSHO. I have several, and running at full speed, they're not audible over my case fans (low-speed Yate Loons, so they're also quiet) and CPU fan.

[CleanSteve]

Read this article

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article734-page1.html

Very interesting.

Basically it's core conclusion is that merely increasing air flow doesn't necessarily you're going to have more cooling. It might, but it might not. And certainly won't have a huge effect.

So, I'm going to guess that I don't need higher CFM fans, but some better way to conduct heat away from the VRMs. Air is a crappy heat exchange medium. Haha no wonder peeps like their liquid cooled systems.

[petteyg359]

Yes, but on a sink like the T-Rad, pressure is important. Higher CFM fans often provide higher pressure. If there's not enough pressure to move the air that sits between the sink and the card (where the RAM/VRM sinks are), then that air absorbs as much heat as it can, but once it is full of heat, if it doesn't get replaced with fresh air, then the heat is stuck. If you have a sink that just cover the GPU core, then high pressure isn't as necessary, as that one sink is all that fan is doing, and case airflow can deal with the rest. A case fan isn't close enough to provide the pressure to move the air under a big sink like the T-Rad or S1, though, so you need a more powerful fan on the sink itself.

[CleanSteve]

Petteyg, what you're saying makes 100% sense -- thanks that was helpful. So, the only way to know if I have inadequate flow to clear the heat load on the sinks is to try higher CFM fans.

As far as I can tell, I have the following test cells to try on my 4870 + T-Rad2 combo, to see how different combinations of fans and heat sinks work.

(1) Current Board: 4870 + T-rad2 + 2 Nexus 92 mm fans

(2) T-rad2 sinks + 2 high CFM fans

(3) Iandh sinks + 2 Nexus 92 fans

(4) Iandh sinks + 2 high CFM fans

(5) Enzo copper sinks + 2 Nexus 92 fans

(6) Enzo copper sinks + 2 high CFM fans

(7) Red metal base (from original 4870 cooler) + 2 Nexus 92 fans

(8) Red metal base (from original 4870 cooler) + 2 high CFM fans

Test cases (7) and (8) assume that this fits under the T-Rad2, but I think it will. To get all this done will require buying about $100 worth of cooling gear and probably take me a day or so to do.

Ugh, I just want to know the right answer!

[satansangel114]

my advise would be to get a bigger hs on your vrm's. I cut down a hs from an old motherboard and set it so the fins would mesh with the fins on my S1, and it droped my vrm temps quite a bit.

[Badbonji]

That looks like triple slot cooling lol, so you only changed the sink on one of those?

[satansangel114]

That looks like triple slot cooling lol

yes it is:p

so you only changed the sink on one of those?


both of the sinks in back of the card were low profile, they didnt cut it (temps in the 80s-90+ under load for the vrms) so I broke out the hacksaw and made better ones.:beer:

[Rich'[ard]]

i'm thinking of getting this cooler for my Powecolor 4850.
i've got the PLAY! edition, but the aftermarket cooler is still pretty crappy. at 680/1075, temps can get to 90c (but it is summer and 30 degrees when i loaded it).
so the mem heatsinks aren't very good? which heatsinks should i buy then?

[CleanSteve]

;5868800"]i'm thinking of getting this cooler for my Powecolor 4850.
i've got the PLAY! edition, but the aftermarket cooler is still pretty crappy. at 680/1075, temps can get to 90c (but it is summer and 30 degrees when i loaded it).
so the mem heatsinks aren't very good? which heatsinks should i buy then?

There is no great answer to this - we're all still experimenting, as far as I can see. But couple of good bits of guidance:

(1) Use the highest CFM (flow rate) fans you can stand, based on your sensitivity to sound. 2 fast 92mm fans will be helpful.

note: I may have to upgrade the fans I have listed in my sig. They are excellent fans, amazingly silent. But they could put out more airflow.

(2) Don't use the stock heat sinks. A good option that I'm looking at are the enzotech copper memory sinks - the will be better than the crappy aluminum ones that come with the GPU. But - the more and the bigger the better.

[jason4207]

The memory doesn't need as much cooling as the VRMs at the back of the card do. That's where you should focus your HS efforts.

[satansangel114]

^^^^yes Im with jason on that one, eaven with good cooling on the gpu the VRMs still get insanely hot.

[WonderingSoul]

The one thing that really worries me is how much weight is going to be pulling the card down :/ That card looks REALLY stressed.

I have an AC-S1 I want to rig up to my HD4870 using the original red heatsink, but might end up putting sinks on them instead. I am wondering how hot the VDDCs are going to get compared to just putting sinks on them. A 120mm fan will be blowing right down on them though.

Or do you guys think putting one of these (http://http://www.petrastechshop.com/enmsmohekit.html) on the VDDcs?

:confused:

[sHape oF gReY]

On my 4850, I have a dedicated 40mm fan over the HS on the VRMs and they still get a bit toasty. When it comes to these cards and cooling, VRMs are not something that should be neglected.

Ever since I mounted the fan over them, I managed to pick up a couple Mhz here and there.