Thermalright HT-03 GT vs Arctic Cooling Accelero S1

rootz0r · Post by **rootz0r** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:46 am

I'm not sure if this has been already covered, but which one of these coolers will work better passively? are the ram sinks provided on the HT-03 better then the S1?

rootz0r · Post by **rootz0r** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:50 am

rootz0r wrote:I'm not sure if this has been already covered, but which one of these coolers will work better passively? are the ram sinks provided on the HT-03 better then the S1?

forgot to mention this will be going on a 8800GT 512MB

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 12:19 pm

While i still havnt seen a side by side comparison of the two in the same review, ive gotten the "impression" that they would perform about the same, the HR-03 likely slightly ahead because it has 2 more heatpipes and moves the heat to the top of the VGA card.

Though then you have to ask yourself, is a few degree's improvement worth tripple the cost?

The S1 is clearly the best option if cost is a factor. You cant beat a $20 price tag for an aftermarket VGA cooler. If money is no object though, you'll likely get better results with the HR-03.

cb95014 · Post by **cb95014** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:45 pm

If you don't care about the space, I would definitely choose the S1. The performance is likely to be similar, and it is obviously cheaper.

However, I have had great success with the HR-03GT in the "reverse" configuration "semi-passively" cooled by the CPU fan. This was with one 8800 GTS 512MB & one 8800 GT. I am very pleased with the results (both cards overclock to the same speed & still run ~5 degrees cooler than stock), and obviously added no noise to the systems.

I needed the PCI & PCIe slots for add-in cards, so I could not use the S1 for either system.

kike_1974 · Post by **kike_1974** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:04 pm

cb95014 wrote:However, I have had great success with the HR-03GT in the "reverse" configuration "semi-passively" cooled by the CPU fan. This was with one 8800 GTS 512MB & one 8800 GT. I am very pleased with the results (both cards overclock to the same speed & still run ~5 degrees cooler than stock), and obviously added no noise to the systems.

What heatsink and fan did u use in your CPU? And what rpm was the fan running at?

rootz0r · Post by **rootz0r** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 4:51 pm

Thanks for the replies! I think I'm leaning towards the S1. How are the memory/IC/PWC sink? I heard they don't stick too well, is it worth investing other memory/IC heatsinks?

cb95014 · Post by **cb95014** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 1:52 am

What heatsink and fan did u use in your CPU? And what rpm was the fan running at?

One was a Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme and the other was a Thermalright Ultima-90. The fans are Scythe SFF21E's at about 900 rpm (controlled via a Zalman ZM-MFC1 or Sunbeam RHK-BA). This configuration probably would also work very well with a Ninja.

The important part is that the fan is mounted horizontally in a push configuration on the CPU heatsink, towards the top outlet in the P180/182 case. I tried mounting the fan on the HR-03GT, but while this reduced the GPU temp >10 degrees, it also increased the CPU temp >10 degrees. This fan orientation also put the blades only 1-2mm from the HR-03, creating extra noise. Mounting the fan on the CPU heatsink is noticeably quieter (below the noise floor in my study), and keeps the GPU's in the mid-50's and the OC Q6600 CPU's in the low-60's - which is about what I was targeting.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:31 pm

I've got the S1 on my 8800GT, and my findings are the exact same as the SPCR review. The memory heatsinks are poor, and don't stay on properly. I had some BFG memory heatsinks lying around, so I ended up using those instead. You can see my system below (I know the cabling is messy...).

I've got the front fans of the Antec 900 case blowing inwards, so there is some airflow over the S1, but regardless of that, my idle temperatures are 40C, and load temperatures have never gone above 54C. Not too bad in my books...

The S1 also has a better mounting system IMO. I had to mount the HR-03 differently than the instructions on my old 8600GT card in order to get it to fit with my northbridge heatsink, even when mounted below the card (you can see from the picture how it might cause problems).

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 12:38 pm

I think the best thing the HR-03 has going for it, is you can wrap it around the card to move the heatsink fins to the top of the card, thus allowing you to align it with your CPU tower heatsink, and use a single fan to activly cool both at the same time.

If your not planning to do this though, id lean heavily towards the S1 based on cost.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 2:56 pm

Aris wrote:I think the best thing the HR-03 has going for it, is you can wrap it around the card to move the heatsink fins to the top of the card, thus allowing you to align it with your CPU tower heatsink, and use a single fan to activly cool both at the same time.

The "top" configuration for the HR-03 is nice, but can cause problems. On some motherboards, you can get stuck with not enough space between the VGA cooler and the CPU heatsink, or the northbridge heatsink might cause problems (like it did in my system). Most motherboard manufacturers don't anticipate yet another heatsink above the PCIe-x16 slot.

rootz0r · Post by **rootz0r** » Wed Jan 09, 2008 4:50 pm

I think I'm going to go ahead and purchase the s1. Thanks for all your replies! =)

Nick,
I noticed in your picture that you don't have heatsink on the voltage regulators (or I'm just blind and don't see them). Is this working out for you ok? would you recommend getting heat sinks for them? I read on the artic cooling site that it is not needed, but would like to hear from some one who has this set up. Thanks!

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Thu Jan 10, 2008 12:44 am

Active cooling for those VRMs is only really required if you're looking to overclock the card (which I'm not). I haven't gone in and touched them per se, but there is some small amount of active cooling coming from the front fans in the case. The stock cooler made very poor contact with the memory and VRMs anyways...

zorrt · Post by **zorrt** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:09 am

Like Nick said, the stock cooler made very little with any of the vrms. I was able to tell when I removed the stock heatsink and the thermal pads covering the vrms was hardly even squashed at all.

How is your S1 going? I went and got the HR03 GT ($64, S1 was $37 + $11 for extra ramsinks but I would of had to driven further to save $16). Big as and feels a bit heavy for my liking but eh seems to be doing its job.

Stock was 54 idle, 83 running crysis benchmark with fan at 100%.

GT with a 90mm nexus at 100%, 44 idle, 54 running crysis benchmark. I'm sure I can get the temps lower a couple degrees lower with a higher rated fan but eh good enough aye.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:17 am

It seems as though the S1 wins over the HR-03 in terms of performance. My S1 is running without a fan attached, and I typically get the following results.

Idle: 39-40C
Load: 54C

I wouldn't call my heatsink completely passive, since there is some airflow from the front Yate Loons in my case, but there's no fan blowing directly on the card.

zorrt · Post by **zorrt** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:02 am

Yea, I don't think the hr03 fairs too well with such low airflow. I'll take off the fan now and see if it affect the temps too much.

I know with the XP90 on my CPU, with the nexus fan @100% it was bour 3 - 4 degrees higher than with the panaflo fan I currently have on it running at some low speed (has no RPM out but I set speedfan to spin it at 50%).

*edit* well that was a failed experiment. Temps kept going up and up so I plugged the fan back in when it went up to 73degrees.

Mounted a 120mm Nexus fan onto the hr03 with cable ties. Idle is now 40degrees, crysis benchmark is 48 degrees. Setup is 2 exhaust (1 38mm tricool and 1 25mm tricool both on low), and no upper chamber intake fan (I removed this to stick onto the videocard). System temps, I've no idea but the onboard sensor which is next to the southbridge says its 35degrees, room temp is like 25ish.

I used crysis to heatup the card as its more demanding than atitool or rthdribl, both those programs would just sit at 44degrees.

rootz0r · Post by **rootz0r** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:48 am

I haven't purchase my s1 yet, I got distracted with some other stuff and been putting it off. I was taking some measurements the other night, looks like this cooler is going to take out another row of my SATA slots =/. Bad placement in the P5K-E motherboard.

It should be ok though (unless I get another harddrive), because I only use the lower 2. Hopefully I'll be able to pick this up tomorrow and it fits okay in my case.

Nick Geraedts · Post by **Nick Geraedts** » Fri Jan 18, 2008 2:49 pm

You could always try using the 90-degree SATA connectors. There should be enought space between the heatsink and the motherboard to fit those in.

rootz0r · Post by **rootz0r** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 10:18 am

Finally got around to installing this cooler, temps are much better =)

before:
~50 on idle
~70-72 on load

after

~35 on idle
~50-52 on load

Thanks everyone for your suggestions!

Thermalright HT-03 GT vs Arctic Cooling Accelero S1

Thermalright HT-03 GT vs Arctic Cooling Accelero S1

Re: Thermalright HT-03 GT vs Arctic Cooling Accelero S1