Just bought an Accelero X2 for my X1900XTX

[Siskods9]

Mainly because the noise of the stock HSF is driving me nuts!

I was also quite disappointed with the Sapphire X1900XTX non-existent ability to overclock :(

I don't expect this new HSF to improve that... just to run quieter...

Has anyone tried this combo out yet? I've read some positive review of the product. It should arrive in a few days.

Thanks.

[OWA]

I'm very interested in your results so be sure to report them. I mainly want it for the noise reduction also.

[Siskods9]

I'll certainly let you know.

BTW OWA, did you ever try to push the clocks on your X1900XTX ?

[OWA]

No, I never tried to go past what the CCC picks. My card runs pretty hot so I was afraid to push it. The CCC picks the maximum but I've never really compared that result with what others are getting to see if the CCC overclock is conservative with the overclock or not.

[Monolyth]

I got 2xAccelero's X1's for my 7900GTX's and it was a total waste, I wound up putting the stock coolers back on and dealing with the noise w/some closed headphones. The Accelero's had good connection to the card but it was like a ball of heat in my case. I've got an intake fan that blows across the cards but it didn't help. I had to leave the case open while I did anything. Even got the "your GPU's are being downclocked because they are too hot" message, and I don't even O/C them.

[Siskods9]

I got 2xAccelero's X1's for my 7900GTX's and it was a total waste, I wound up putting the stock coolers back on and dealing with the noise w/some closed headphones. The Accelero's had good connection to the card but it was like a ball of heat in my case. I've got an intake fan that blows across the cards but it didn't help. I had to leave the case open while I did anything. Even got the "your GPU's are being downclocked because they are too hot" message, and I don't even O/C them.

Wow, that’s a stark contrast to all the reviews I've read for the X2. I'm not expecting it to be cooler, just quieter. I certainly don't what it to push the ambient temp of the inside of my case up.

[Darkoz]

I got 2xAccelero's X1's for my 7900GTX's and it was a total waste, I wound up putting the stock coolers back on and dealing with the noise w/some closed headphones. The Accelero's had good connection to the card but it was like a ball of heat in my case. I've got an intake fan that blows across the cards but it didn't help. I had to leave the case open while I did anything. Even got the "your GPU's are being downclocked because they are too hot" message, and I don't even O/C them.

Using the Accelero on a 7900GTX compared to a X1900XTX is probably not a fair comparison.
The excellent stock heatsink on the 7900GTX is better than any aftermarket heatsink available as far as performance goes.
The X1900XTX on the other hand has a less efficient and extremely loud heatsink so using the Accelero will at least give you some performance improvement and definitely give you a much quieter card.

[Siskods9]

Well it arrived today...

Anyone got any tips for removing the HSF from the X1900XTX ???? :D

[fatal1ty]

The Accelero X2 is garbage.....

Once installed you pretty much CANNOT remove it. 1. Because the thermalpads are sticky they are pretty well glued onto the memory once installed. Removing them by pulling yeilded in damaging the memory on one card. 2. If you cut the thermalpads with an exacto the cooler can now NOT be installed again. Without the thermalpads the memory will not touch the cooler so you will have no contact with the memory to the Accelero itself. 3. Performance of the cooler isn't bad on the GPU but on a DFI nForce4 my chipset temps jumped about 10 deg C due to all the hot air being dumped onto the motherboard.

Why are the reviews of this product so good? Because no one has the balls to say anything bad about it. Its a terrible product not due to performance but due to stupidity in the design. Its not replaceable so if you remove it forget it - scrap it. You cannot buy replacement thermal pads. They are sticky and after heating up pretty much glue themselves to the memory so just removing them without ripping them or damaging your video card is impossible. I killed an X1800XT this way - lemme clarify I had extreme artifacting at stock settings due to the memory getting damaged by pulling it gently off (while warming it) - and yes the thermal pads tore anyways. Just stay away from the Accelero series. Pickup a Zalman VF 700 or 900 or do what I did and go water cooling - Maze4 with CPU in the loop I get 33 idle and about 41 load with my X1900XTX at 690/800.

Just to recap - stay away from the Accelero coolers guys.

[Siskods9]

Wow...

And there was me all geared up to install it later on...

OK it seems like I'll have a think about this first and consider other solutions.

Thanks for the advice.

[Riptide]

VF700/900 are fine for stock speeds IMO. Forget it for o/c though - you'll want water. These are hot cards. :(

[balex99]

I just put the X1's on my 7800GT's and they are fine. Nice and quiet. About the same temp but much quieter. As far as the heat being dumped into the case, the stock HSF did it anyway on the GT's so no difference.

[Shocky]

VF700/900 are fine for stock speeds IMO. Forget it for o/c though - you'll want water. These are hot cards. :(

Cools slightly better then the X2, especially for the memory and voltage regulators. also as somebody already stated you can't remove the X2, removing it would put to much stress on the memory and almost certainly damage the card... The VF900 is removable and simply requires a little heat and then twist the ramsinks off.

Also if you want the best cooling possible from the X2 you will need 3rd party software to force 100% fanspeed which you don't need to do with the VF900.

I have tried both coolers, and unfortunately im now stuck with the X2 since its pretty much impossible to remove, really wish I didnt fall for all the BS reviews and user comments... And it increased chipset temp about 5C..

[Siskods9]

So I decided to install the X2.

Bear in mind I wanted a quieter cooling solution...

Well I had no trouble installing it.

It is "substantially" quieter and cooler. anywhere between 7 - 10C cooler actually.

I'm very happy with it. I don't care that I can't remove it. This card is better for having it.

Anyway, just my 2 cents... To each his own. :)

[Dr.Nick]

Does it cool that much better at load too? I've heard that it struggles at load and that it works much better in a BTX setup. I'd like to test one out but I want to be able to remove it if need be.

[Siskods9]

The Accelero X2 is garbage.....

Once installed you pretty much CANNOT remove it. 1. Because the thermalpads are sticky they are pretty well glued onto the memory once installed. Removing them by pulling yeilded in damaging the memory on one card. 2. If you cut the thermalpads with an exacto the cooler can now NOT be installed again. Without the thermalpads the memory will not touch the cooler so you will have no contact with the memory to the Accelero itself. 3. Performance of the cooler isn't bad on the GPU but on a DFI nForce4 my chipset temps jumped about 10 deg C due to all the hot air being dumped onto the motherboard.

Why are the reviews of this product so good? Because no one has the balls to say anything bad about it. Its a terrible product not due to performance but due to stupidity in the design. Its not replaceable so if you remove it forget it - scrap it. You cannot buy replacement thermal pads. They are sticky and after heating up pretty much glue themselves to the memory so just removing them without ripping them or damaging your video card is impossible. I killed an X1800XT this way - lemme clarify I had extreme artifacting at stock settings due to the memory getting damaged by pulling it gently off (while warming it) - and yes the thermal pads tore anyways. Just stay away from the Accelero series. Pickup a Zalman VF 700 or 900 or do what I did and go water cooling - Maze4 with CPU in the loop I get 33 idle and about 41 load with my X1900XTX at 690/800.

Just to recap - stay away from the Accelero coolers guys.

You were right! After seeing decent improvements on the ATI cards temps I noticed that my chipset temps are nuts! Playing a game for even a few minutes drives it up beyond 55C!!! And the chipset fan is over 7000 rpm! Aghhhhhh...

What to do now... :(

Everyone should stay the hell away from this product!

[OWA]

I guess I don't see the difference between going with a Zalman, like some are recommending, and the Accelero. Looking at pics, it doesn't look like the Zalman exhausts the heat out of the case either.

[KickAssCop]

Zalman is very good for the 7900 series. I doubt you can do better with ATi cards though since they run very hot, and stock cooler is the best solution IMO w/ the heat exhaust and all. My X1800XT is causing lots of heat but its being exhausted outside the case. I am not too happy w/ the fan noise but its better to have it exhaust than stay in. A Zalman would not help in this situation anyways.

[fatal1ty]

I guess I don't see the difference between going with a Zalman, like some are recommending, and the Accelero. Looking at pics, it doesn't look like the Zalman exhausts the heat out of the case either.


Well the thing with the Zalman is to make sure you have good case airflow to get that hot air out. At the same time it's not dumping it right on the chipset, which is key here. You are going to have hot air being generated but dumping it onto the chipset (or imagine a cooler that would dump hot air onto the CPU - people would be outraged!) is just not st00pid.

[Sazar]

I guess I don't see the difference between going with a Zalman, like some are recommending, and the Accelero. Looking at pics, it doesn't look like the Zalman exhausts the heat out of the case either.

Well considering that the Zalmans do a fabulous job (imo) of moving the heat off the card, it reduces the heat build-up.

I have a 700 on my card right now, I love it and it keeps my card much cooler. Naturally it doesn't heat up like y'alls :cool: but it still does a very good job.

I also have good air flow in my case so that definitely helps.

[OWA]

Well considering that the Zalmans do a fabulous job (imo) of moving the heat off the card, it reduces the heat build-up.

I have a 700 on my card right now, I love it and it keeps my card much cooler. Naturally it doesn't heat up like y'alls :cool: but it still does a very good job.

I also have good air flow in my case so that definitely helps.
Yeah, what I didn't understand was why one card that exhausts the heat into the case would be considered a lot better than another card that does the same thing when both seem to do a good job of lower temps on the card. I think the answer was that the X2 directs that heat downward toward the chipset causing the chipset temps to go up whereas the Zalman doesn't.