Testing and Results
Testing was done at a stock clocked state only in this review. More information will be provided as to why this was the case.
Ready for the results? Me too:
100% fan speed was used for this testing. The Accelero is not exactly dead silent at that speed, but it is definately something I could live with. On the other hand the 7970 gets extremely loud and sounds like a jet fighter taking off at full speed.
I must note that for some reason temperatures with the Accelero were quite high for a couple of days. Temperatures lowered by a large amount on the 3rd or 4th day of testing so I would assume that it was due to the paste burning-in.
Normally we would next take overclocked temperatures but sadly we could not get to this far in testing. In order to allow the paste to properly burn-in and set we usually run the card in a normal environment for around a week. Due to a busy schedule this burn-in period was extended to two weeks. Sadly during this time something went wrong with the Accelero Xtreme and 7970 combination.
The 7970 would crash with a heavy load applied to the card (heaven benchmark or even a demanding game), even with stock clocks. Upon removing the Accelero Xtreme and re-applying the stock cooler the card worked perfectly fine.
Throughout testing the core temperatures have been great. However the VRM’s (the power delivery sections) got a bit warm to the touch. I think that in all honesty the Accelero Xtreme does not provide enough airflow to the components below. Many people with this cooler have not had issues so I think it is the combination of the heatsink not providing enough airflow, and the fact that I use a test bench instead of a standard case. People with a case should assure that there is plenty of airflow, or have a fan blowing at the card to make sure there is enough air on the small components.
If Arctic could come out with a more beefy VRM and memory cooling solution I think they would have a real winner with the cooling capacity on the Accelero Xtreme 7970. But as-is you either need to have a fan blowing on the VRM area, or have a case with tons of airflow otherwise you run the risk of killing your expensive card.
Lower end cards should not really worry about this. They will most likely be fine, only the 7970 and 7950 owners should double check things.
