8800GT + Accelero S1 = Love?

[burebista]

I was lucky to catch a good deal in my country, a Gigabyte 8800GT with ~$35 more than a HD3850 so I grab it. Here it is







My rig is a X2 3800+ stock, ABIT KN9, 2 GB Corsair 5400C4, P182, M-12 500, XP SP2 Beta 3205, all updates. Some pictures are here.
First, a 3DMark06 stock and GPU temp (ambient ~ 23°C). I know, crappy 3dMark score, but I'm a silence freak not a benchmark freak. And Crysis GPU benchmark, all high, 1280x1024 no AA/AF.







Second, it's time to put some heat on this GPU. What to choose, what to choose? Bingo! Fur window from Gpu Caps Viewer. If you really want to put some heat on your GPU try it.



Oops! 108°C after 4 minutes. Not good. Why is so hot? Because fan Duty min cycle is 29% and that fan is spinning with ~ 1600 RPM's until 108°C.



Hmm, some measures should be taken here, Accelero S1 +AS5 and some ramsinks.






Aha! Much better now. 40°C less fanless after 11 minutes of heating seems quite right.

Bottom line, stock cooling is a piece of crap, noisy and inefficient, but AC Accelero S1 is one of the best solutions price/performance wise. Just cover VRM's with ramsinks and blow some air on it and Accelero S1 won't dissapoint you.

[SKYMTL]

NICE!!! I can't believe that the S1 is capable of dropping your temp so much WITHOUT a fan. That is actualy pretty impressive.

Now add the Turbo Module and drop 'er down another 10-15*C.

I'm also going to start searching high and low for those ramsinks. They would look SWEET on an ATI card.

[burebista]

Frankly I was shocked too about temps drop. But remember that even if S1 is fanless I have that middle inner fan who blows on it and on PCB back and SpeedFan controls it linked by GPU temp. Now it's on 600 RPM, but it seems to be enough.

I'm not an OC-er but I tried some OC on CPU/GPU. Now I have more numbers on 3DMark and Crysis.


Pentagram ramsinks are cheap and they're doing their job. I have another set on my 7900GS and it was OK. And you have 3 colours to pick: red, blue or black.

[SKYMTL]

WOW!! Nice OC. I am pretty sure you could push your CPU to at least 2.6Ghz without too much problem on a good air cooler.

[burebista]

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

WOW!! Nice OC.

Really? Thanks.
I just put some round numbers in RivaTuner, 700/1750/2000.

I have Ninja fanless on CPU but it isn't very cooperant above 2.4GHz.

Anyway, it doesn't matter, I'm happy with my GPU temps.

[enaberif]

Acclero S1 really is a piece of work for the 8800GT!

[werty316]

Yep, your CPU is definitely holding you back as your 3dmark06 score shouldn't be that low for a 8800GT.

[SKYMTL]

Yeah. Pop a fan on the Ninja and OC your CPU some more.

[Zertz]

Is 700Mhz your max on the core?

I'm working on something (read: review) with my 8800GT and it can go up to about 720~. Still a very nice overclock though :)

[Kopi]

I've been swearing by the Accelero series since the day I received mine. 39c max load on a 7900gs with the turbo module. It is without a doubt the best GPU cooler for that price, and it matches coolers twice its cost! I absolutely love my S1 :)