Thermalright HR-03 vs. Aerocool VM-102

[antoniost]

I've searching for quite some time for a review comparing these two passive solutions, but I have not found anything.

If anyone here has experience with these two coolers or has found a review comparing them, please respond. Thanks.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hello & welcome to SPCR,

You also might want to consider the Aero-Case passive VGA coolers:

viewtopic.php?t=31057&

[antoniost]

Hello & welcome to SPCR,

You also might want to consider the Aero-Case passive VGA coolers:

viewtopic.php?t=31057&

I read the SPCR review on the Condor, and it seems like it won't cool effectively enough for a high performance video card. http://www.silentpcreview.com/article650-page5.html

My card is a 7950 GT OC (overclocked at factory) so it will put out quite a bit of heat.

[josephclemente]

I have a Thermalright HR-03 and an Aerocool VM-101.

Unfortunately, I couldn't compare them. The HR-03 interferes with my motherboard's northbridge heatsink for the heatsink-over-videocard configuration. With the HR-03 configured to be below the videocard, it is no longer in my ideal airpath.

I already had an unused Aerocool VM-101 so I installed that instead on my EVGA 7950GT KO.

[antoniost]

The HR-03 interferes with my motherboard's northbridge heatsink for the heatsink-over-videocard configuration.

My northbridge's 'sink is low profile, so I'm anticipating no problems.

I have already ordered the HR-03: I'll post stock vs. HR-03 idle and load temps when I have it installed.

[yenemy]

I already had an unused Aerocool VM-101 so I installed that instead on my EVGA 7950GT KO.

Whoa, how does the VM-101 cool that beast... what kind of airflow accomodations have you made? I've been vaguely considering a video card upgrade to something like a 7900gs/gt, but my main concern was that the VM-101 wouldn't cool a higher power card very well.

[nutball]

I already had an unused Aerocool VM-101 so I installed that instead on my EVGA 7950GT KO.

Whoa, how does the VM-101 cool that beast... what kind of airflow accomodations have you made? I've been vaguely considering a video card upgrade to something like a 7900gs/gt, but my main concern was that the VM-101 wouldn't cool a higher power card very well.

The VM-101 copes quite happily with a 7900GT. You will need some airflow over it, but that could be supplied by a fan which serves other purposes, eg. in my case I have a 92mm Nexus sandwiched between a VM-101 and a Ninja; fan pulls air over the VM-101 then pushes it over the Ninja, then it's ducted directly out the back of the case. So one quiet, low-speed fan cools both the graphics card and CPU.

[josephclemente]

Whoa, how does the VM-101 cool that beast... what kind of airflow accomodations have you made? I've been vaguely considering a video card upgrade to something like a 7900gs/gt, but my main concern was that the VM-101 wouldn't cool a higher power card very well.

There isn't anything really special about my airflow setup. My Ninja CPU cooler is right above the VM-101. A 120mm fan is attached to the Ninja, blowing towards the rear case fan. The rear case fan has been moved closer to the Ninja thanks to a "duct" I made from a 120mm fan frame.

With things arranged this way, one thing made a big difference on GPU temperature: I removed a metal PCI bracket above the video card. To my surprise, load temperatures went down 10C! I was expecting a small difference, but nothing like that. Right now the GPU is idling at 39C (ambient somewhere around 24C). With rthdribl running, the GPU reached 56C.

One thing I thought about would be to create a custom bracket which lowers the fan on the Ninja in order to share more cooling between the CPU and GPU. But now I'm not sure if I should even bother after measuring my current temperatures...

[n00btard]

Thermalright HR-03 passive on my 7800GT does 46C load, 76C after Day of Defeat: Source for around 45 minutes according to temp monitor on NV Control Panel. Don't know about ambient temperature, but it's definitely lower than 20C! (like, -30C at night, and we're cheap on heating)

I've seen reviews running an X1900 passive with this thing with no problems at all.

Best $60 CAD I've ever spent

[antoniost]

OK, I installed the HR-03 on my BFG 7950 GT OC. And here are my very impressive results.

Stock cooler (two speed noisy whiny fan):

• IDLE
  
  Ambient: 23.5 C
  
  System: 36 C
  
  CPU: 39 C
  
  HD0: 37 C
  
  HD1: 36 C
  
  GPU: 57 C
  
  LOAD
  
  Ambient: 23.5 C
  
  System: 44 C
  
  CPU: 45.5 C
  
  HD0: 38 C
  
  HD1: 37 C
  
  GPU: 84 C

HR-03:

• IDLE
  
  Ambient: 22.5 C
  
  System: 33 C
  
  CPU: 37.5 C
  
  HD0: 36 C
  
  HD1: 34 C
  
  GPU: 40 C
  
  LOAD
  
  Ambient: 23.5 C
  
  System: 37 C
  
  CPU: 44.5 C
  
  HD0: 36 C
  
  HD1: 35 C
  
  GPU: 58 C

My passive load temp is nearly identical to the stock cooler at load! As you can see, my system, CPU, and hard drive temps have benefited from the installation of this cooler. My theory is that the downward pointing stock cooler was disruptive to the airflow from the front intake to the exhaust fan in the back of the case.

[st_o_p]

I've searching for quite some time for a review comparing these two passive solutions, but I have not found anything.

If anyone here has experience with these two coolers or has found a review comparing them, please respond. Thanks.

I tried the HR-03 and it was not able to cool my X1900XT (I'm sure it works much better if there's airflow, but that's not the case in my PC). The Aerocase Condor (which is what I use now) has much better performance as a passive cooler - it's also much bigger in size, I guess that helps

[antoniost]

I tried the HR-03 and it was not able to cool my X1900XT (I'm sure it works much better if there's airflow, but that's not the case in my PC). The Aerocase Condor (which is what I use now) has much better performance as a passive cooler - it's also much bigger in size, I guess that helps

Yeah, I briefly looked at the Condor, but the orientation of the heatsink fins (perpendicular to airflow) and only 3 cooling pipes (4 on the HR-03) led me to believe that it wouldn't cool as well. I guess you proved my assumption wrong, but I'm very happy with the HR-03. I would love to see a review comparing both in the same system.

I edited the BIOS on the 7950 GT, and I raised the voltage from 1.25 to 1.35 and overclocked the core and RAM from 565 MHz / 1430 MHz to 645 MHz / 1560 MHz, respectively. FYI, 7900 GTX clocks are at 650 MHz/ 1600 MHz, and my card is now at 98% of the 7900 GTX speeds. The max load temp is 63 C, still better than the stock cooler. Next, I'm planning on doing a voltage mod on the PCB to get 1.55 V, hopefully clock to 700 MHz!

[autoboy]

You should look more closely and not reject products based on "look." 3 heatpipes is just as good as 4 as long as you do not exceed the capacity of the heatpipe. My understanding is the Condor can cool a x1900xt. It would be able to handle your stock 7950 as long as it gets some airflow from case fans.

Trying to cool an overvolted and overclocked card with a passive cooler may be over reaching.

[antoniost]

Trying to cool an overvolted and overclocked card with a passive cooler may be over reaching.

From the temps I posted, it's definitely not over reaching. Going from 58 C @ 1.25 V (default) to 63 C (1.35 V), that's only a 5 C increase at load. I imagine if I get my board to 1.55 V, that it would max out at about 70-75 C, which is still cooler than the stock cooler (84 C) at load.

[scorp]

I use the HR-03 with an OCed 7900GT (no volt mods, 540 / 1550); the temps are ~44C at idle and 73C at load (obtained after 7h:30m with rthdribl on full-screen 1280x1204); the ambient temp was kept at a constant 20C



The Nexus in the upper chamber runs at ~800-900RPM; I was forced not to use HSes on the 2 memory chips underneath the heat-pipes because they prevented the HR-03 to make good contact with the core (yes, the low-profile Thermalright HSes are apparently too tall for me)

[burebista]

I was forced not to use HSes on the 2 memory chips underneath the heat-pipes because they prevented the HR-03 to make good contact with the core (yes, the low-profile Thermalright HSes are apparently too tall for me)

Yep. I have a friend with an 6800GS and with the same problem. Fortunately he sent a mail to Thermalright support with a picture of HS's and a copy of invoice and next day they sent a replacement of the new low-profile HS's (yep, it's a new model of the low profile HS). Now he's waiting for package...

[scorp]

I'll do the same thing, as soon as I find the invoice ... after 2-3 days the temps improved a bit; in an ambient of 22C, the GPU got to 69C after 2 hours of rthdribl (again 1280 full-screen);

[Ender17]

I have a Thermalright HR-03 and an Aerocool VM-101.

Unfortunately, I couldn't compare them. The HR-03 interferes with my motherboard's northbridge heatsink for the heatsink-over-videocard configuration. With the HR-03 configured to be below the videocard, it is no longer in my ideal airpath.

I already had an unused Aerocool VM-101 so I installed that instead on my EVGA 7950GT KO.

how close was it?
I have an Intel D975XBX2 and was hoping to use the "over videocard" configuration