ATI 4870 + Accelero S1 users chime in please

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Tue May 19, 2009 10:52 pm

I just installed the Accelero S1 on my 4870. Instead of using the heatsinks that came with it I reused the stock 4870 base plate to cool the VRM and the memory like what is suggested here. I've got a Scythe medium speed slipstream on it at 7v.

GPU temps seem fine at about ~60C but the VRM is reaching ~100C using ATI Tools. This seems pretty high to me especially since I'm reusing the base plate. So for those with a similar set up what fan are you using and what VRM temps are you getting?

I'm also not so sure if I'd consider the S1 an upgrade over the stock heatsink from a quiet perspective. I think the stock ATI cooler at idle is definitely quieter than the Scythe 1200 RPM at 7v. During load the S1 setup is obviously quieter but personally matters less to me than idle noise.

Some sort of temperature controlled fan would be perfect to have lower idle noise and ramp up during load.

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Thu May 21, 2009 2:19 pm

I think I'm just going to get rid of this card. There doesn't seem to be a way to cool this thing down reliably in a quiet way

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Thu May 21, 2009 10:42 pm

Well my VRMs also go over 100C under load... but personally I'm not particularly bothered. The warranty is void anyway, and the card unsaleable, so what's the worst that can happen?

I have major issues with the 4870 that make me wish I never bought it, but the VRM temps ain't one of them.

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Fri May 22, 2009 8:12 am

nutball wrote:Well my VRMs also go over 100C under load... but personally I'm not particularly bothered. The warranty is void anyway, and the card unsaleable, so what's the worst that can happen?

I have major issues with the 4870 that make me wish I never bought it, but the VRM temps ain't one of them.

What kind of major issues with the 4870?

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Fri May 22, 2009 8:18 am

fyleow wrote:What kind of major issues with the 4870?

- chronic coil whine under load
- driver problems

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Fri May 22, 2009 2:53 pm

nutball wrote:
fyleow wrote:What kind of major issues with the 4870?
- chronic coil whine under load
- driver problems

Well I think pretty much all the high end graphics cards suffer from coil whine. The GTX 260 definitely does. I've heard some flavors (non reference) of the 4870 are a bit better like the Asus 4870.

Anyone try the 120mm Scythe Kama fan with the onboard header of the 4870? Could be an effective way to get quiet temperature controlled cooling.

Drunk · Post by **Drunk** » Sat May 23, 2009 11:54 am

My setup: 4870 + S1 rev. 2 + Zalman RHS70 and 2 from the S1's package for the VRM's + Kaze Maru 14 cm, 1200 rpm (800 on normal use) + Kaze Master fan controller
Despite it's height (RHS70), the fins are perfectly matching S1's fin spacing.
The combination above is Ok not only for 4870, but for 4850 as well-with RHS 50 (you must make some room for RHS50 at the end of S1, but it's fine).
The Kaze Maru fan is mounted onto the back of the board: it covers 2 (and 1/2) heatpipes and all VRM section.

I II III IV
Core 60 57 64 60
Mem IO 65 68 73 69
Disp IO 61 58 64 60
Shader 62 58 65 61
VRM 1 70 63 73 68
VRM 2 71 67 76 73
VRM 3 68 64 73 70

All temps are maximum reported under load - 3DMark 06
- Canyon Flight loop 15 min, closed chassis
I - stock cooler at 4200 rpm (65%)- how I used to play
II - S1 + kaze maru at 1140 rpm
III - S1 + kaze maru at 900 rpm
IV - III - added an S-Flex 12cm in the front of the chassis at 800 rpm

I wanted to post some pictures.
But the forum does not allow me yet (no URL's).

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Sun May 31, 2009 3:51 pm

I'm looking to get rid of my 4870 too. It's a very nice card generally - quiet stock cooler, excellent gaming performance - but it just uses too much power at idle.

The total lack of downclocking in 2D mode is very frustrating.

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Sun May 31, 2009 11:19 pm

Just a quick update. I reassessed my gaming needs and realized I don't need such a powerful card. I've replaced the 4870 with a passively cooled 9800 GT and I'm very happy. Much lower noise and power consumption.

MoJo the GTX 260 has lower power consumption for similar performance. I think it also downclocks properly in 2D mode but I'm not 100% sure. If you use dual monitors like me you're out of luck though and it's full blast all the time. The 4770 is an excellent choice if you don't need such high performance.

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:00 am

The GTX 260 is also about 3x the price of the low power ATI cards I was looking at... Power consumption does not seem to be that good either, similar to a 4850 in fact. Did I miss something?

twit · Post by **twit** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:06 am

If the idle power of the card is a concern (and it should be) there are at least two fairly convenient ways of underclocking it.
Either by using a pre-modded BIOS (or modding your own) or by using ATI Tray Tools. I'm using the latter, with an overclocked (815/1000) profile for 3D usage and an underclocked (500/200) for anything else. ATI Tray Tools automagically detects any 3D application and swaps between the modes. Clocking the memory that low causes a very short flicker when swapping to the 2D mode but other than that it's working flawlessly. Some people have reported issues with underclocked cards and HD video playback but no such issues for me, YMMW.
In 2D state the card consumes about 13-15W which is just a speck more than the HD3870 did.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=67928

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:19 am

Yeah, I had all sorts of problems with video and any app that uses the GPU (e.g. Folding@Home, WPA cracking). The autodetect feature didn't work very well either, no matter if I did it via ATI Tray Tools or via BIOS mod.

I think it really depends on the memory more than anything.

fyleow · Post by **fyleow** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:36 am

MoJo wrote:The GTX 260 is also about 3x the price of the low power ATI cards I was looking at... Power consumption does not seem to be that good either, similar to a 4850 in fact. Did I miss something?

I don't know what the situation is in the UK but in the US the prices are about the same.

The 4870 1gb is about ~$169.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125256

GTX 260 is about ~$164.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125267

The 4770 performance is very close to the 4850 and the full load power consumption is something like 60 watts. The 4850 is ~100, and the Nvidia equivalent GTS 250 is ~80.

Neither companies do a good job with 2D downclocking and neither seems to assign a high priority to addressing the issue.

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:44 am

Ah, sorry, looks like we had our wires crossed, I was referring to the price of the 4670. I don't know why I didn't mention it by name, I thought I did, but oh wellz...

Anyway, yes, the 4670 is more than enough for me, if only retail samples could match the SPCR measurements of 3w at idle. Unfortunately the review sample seems to have been hand picked and possibly BIOD modded.

xsilver · Post by **xsilver** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 5:38 am

kiind of a thread hijack - but just wondering if the accellero s1 is the best aftermarket cooler for a card like this?

the thermalright cards arent on the recommended list at all??

they have the hr03 as well as the newer t rad^2

I like how the thermalright can be mounted so the heatsink faces up.

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:40 am

I have a HR-03 and to be honest was not that impressed by it. One big issue is that it does not do much to cool the RAM chips, especially if you mount it with the fan on top in which case there is no direct air flow over them at all.

The Accelero is (much) cheaper, lighter and with either the fan kit or a 120mm fan it does at least blow some air over the RAM too.

Saying that, I'm hoping my next card will run passive anyway.

yensteel · Post by **yensteel** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:12 am

Just a question about the Accelero S1 + 4870 + 25mm height fan setup.

How many slots would that take up? I hope it will fit inside 3 slots comfortably, with a pci card right underneath it, while the fan still has good ventilation.

Edit:

Sorry, I was referring to the height of the fan. It's 120mmx120mm.

xsilver · Post by **xsilver** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:16 am

I was thinking of running TOTAL passive, I already have the accelero s1 and a 4850.

I can run idle passive but not load (crashes after 30mins - 1 hour)
Good thing is that sometimes I forget to turn the fan on after load but at least I have 30mins before it crashes.

Just wondering if the HR03 would do any better in this regard? Or any other cooler?

Would it be crazy to think also that I could run crossfire 4850 cards total passive?

yensteel: I have a standard 12cm fan on a accelero s1 and it uses JUST over 2 slots - dont know how thick your 25cm fan is.

MoJo · Post by **MoJo** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:17 pm

IME the HR-03 is not as good as the Accelero, especially in low airflow systems. If you can't run passive on an Accelero, a HR-03 won't help you.

yensteel · Post by **yensteel** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:40 pm

Oh, 25mm is the thickness of the 120mm x 120mm fan. I thought most people would understand easily.

I forgot mention that. Sorry.

Drunk · Post by **Drunk** » Tue Jun 02, 2009 11:51 pm

Well, on my setup, I have 4 slots occupied by the board - maybe I could plug something in the 4th slot, but it would touch the fan, jamming it.

yensteel · Post by **yensteel** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:10 am

So, if you want to keep a 4870 + accelero s1 + 120mmx120mm fan in a 3-slot config, you have to use something thinner than 25mm?

What would be appropriate then?

Drunk · Post by **Drunk** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:10 am

Two of these:
Scythe
"KAZE JYU SLIM" 100mm case fan
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html

yensteel · Post by **yensteel** » Wed Jun 03, 2009 4:32 am

Thanks for the help

yensteel · Post by **yensteel** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 10:22 am

I have a question about the typical 12cm + Accelero S1 setup. What rpm are most of you using for maximum load?

I don't really know what fan speeds you're using.

Drunk · Post by **Drunk** » Wed Jun 17, 2009 11:29 pm

Well, in my case, having a 12cm S-flex in the front at 600rpm (but blowing first at HDDs) it's ok with the Kaze Maru at 1000rpm. Because in full load (790MHz GPU and 1000 memory) at 800rpm I had some graphic errors and the memory I/O went at almost 90 degrees Celsius. But there were corrupted pixels (not polygons), so I suspected the memory was overheating because the air was not reaching the small radiators (the standard ones). Maybe with better (tall ones?) memory radiators it's possible to stay with the fan at 800 rpm.

ZilentOoze · Post by **ZilentOoze** » Fri Aug 14, 2009 2:45 am

If I read the your replies, I should be happy with my HD 4870 + S1 setup results. On idle the GPU temp is 43Â° C, VRM's however are 70Â°C hot. On load, the VRMs get up to 86Â°C, GPU hits 49Â°C. Also note that my GPU en Mem speed has been overclocked (850/1100Mhz). The only thing that I've done which made a significant GPU temp drop was removing Accelero's pre applied paste and used Arctic Silver 5 on it. The hard part remains the VRM. I'm also using the Club3D 1 Gb OC edition. The VRM heatsink is made from copper which should perform better then the default heatsinks provided by Accelero. Maybe this VRM heatsink might help you keep the VRM temps under control. http://www.techpowerup.com/index.php?97201. I might give it a try as soon as this gets available in my area.

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Sat Aug 15, 2009 8:46 pm

The real trick is to buy the accessory fans for the S1. They hardly make any noise but the difference is huge I set mine at 7V, hard-wired. I also have a slightly under-volted slot fan as well to suck heat out the back. Not perfectly silent, but no worse than, say, a typical IMac or similar system.

Considering what a beast of a card these things are, not too unreasonable, really. Though I am looking for a faster card that uses less power. Anyone know when the next major generation of cards is due out?