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Bending Accelero heatpipes to get it to fit smaller case

Posted: Sat Mar 01, 2008 9:35 am
by Edwood
Anyone bend the Accelero heatpipes to get it to fit a lower profile case like HTPC cases?

Would like to see pics.

-Ed

Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 3:33 pm
by Satummoo
i'd like to know this too.

I think it would work b/c I just was able to fit a freezer 64 pro into my antec fusion by taking off some of the fins and bending the pipes :D Hopefully the same logic works for the vga version which looking at some pictures, they are the same

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:00 am
by AuraAllan
I had my hands on a S2 not too long ago and its very easily bend.

The fins should keep the pipes from bulging.

Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:58 am
by Edwood
Yeah, I was thinking of doing a more gradual bend overall, so that it would be more a wave / J curve, so that that there is no need to remove any fins.

-Ed

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:16 am
by AuraAllan
Found a S2 in one of my drawers.

I "carefully" bend it with nothing but my fingers/hands.
Very easy actually.

Final result.
Image
J curve.
Image
Fins get a bit out of shape.
Image
No bulgin.
Image
Test "fit".
Image

Image

Get bend :D

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:49 am
by Edwood
Very nice!

Does it fit?

-Ed

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:02 am
by AuraAllan
Edwood wrote:Very nice!

Does it fit?
Thanks.

I dont know if it will fit.

I didnt put it on the card. I dont use that card.

Just bend the S2 it for you to show you its possible. :)

Some minor tweaking/bending may be necessary but it looks like it will fit.

Doesnt it?

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:10 am
by Edwood
AuraAllan wrote:
Edwood wrote:Very nice!

Does it fit?
Thanks.

I dont know if it will fit.

I didnt put it on the card. I dont use that card.

Just bend the S2 it for you to show you its possible. :)

Some minor tweaking/bending may be necessary but it looks like it will fit.

Doesnt it?
Looks very clean for bending by hand, looks very easy. Thanks so much for showing. :)

-Ed

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:15 am
by AuraAllan
Edwood wrote:Looks very clean for bending by hand, looks very easy. Thanks so much for showing. :)
No problem.

I think im going to do the same with a S1 on a 8800GT or HD3870 soon to make it fit in one of my builds.

Its was very easily bend.

Posted: Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:35 am
by Jipa
Depending on the vick/metal foam used inside the tube, heatpipes should be pretty easy to bend. Nickle plated don't work that well though, but Accelero seems to have normal copper colored versions..

Here's some extreme heatpipe-bending for you :) Also a nice tool to help not bulge the pipes: http://metku.net/index.html?path=mods/p ... index_eng2

Posted: Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:21 am
by $qwuzzy
Now someone just has to try it for their fusion...

'Cause I'm gonna be starting a build very soon, and that would be awesome!

So who's gonna take one for the team?
(I would, but can't afford it...)

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 9:19 am
by plympton
$qwuzzy wrote:Now someone just has to try it for their fusion...

'Cause I'm gonna be starting a build very soon, and that would be awesome!

So who's gonna take one for the team?
(I would, but can't afford it...)
Has anyone successfully put an Accelero into a Fusion / NSK2400? I'm thinking that it would wrap over a half-height htpc card pretty easily - but you'd lose the adjacent PCI slot, and probably the next PCI-E 1x slot or run into the CPU cooler.

Anyway, I'd like to get my 50oC idle 3450 down a bit, but can't lose my PCI tuner just yet...

-Dan

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:31 am
by obvious
Also wondering about this. If it's still too high then what would the best alternative be?

Posted: Wed Apr 30, 2008 1:12 pm
by Jangel
I suppose, if you bent it close enough, it would be the added width of a half a fin and the heatpipe. I don't have the measurements, but that might be 1-2 cm?

You could always just bend it the other way. Would block another slot, but at least it would fit.

Anyone else have experience with another aftermarket passive GPU cooler that might work?

Posted: Thu May 29, 2008 12:34 pm
by MarkP
I've a slimline case, and a half height video card that need cooling. The stock fan is way too loud, and it only has a 2pin connector

(8600 GT low profile)

I was thinking of getting one of these and trying to bend it like a pretzel to squish it in.

Is there any reason that I shouldn't just chop it down to size?

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 4:03 am
by SebRad
Hi, AFAIK heatpipes are filled with a working fluid, often water under low pressure.
If you cut open, or otherwise unseal a heatpipe (eg crack by bending) then the working fluid will likely escape and cease to work and the heatpipe will be nearly useless.
Seb

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 2:19 pm
by Licaon

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 12:57 pm
by jontseng
plympton wrote: Has anyone successfully put an Accelero into a Fusion / NSK2400? I'm thinking that it would wrap over a half-height htpc card pretty easily - but you'd lose the adjacent PCI slot, and probably the next PCI-E 1x slot or run into the CPU cooler.

Anyway, I'd like to get my 50oC idle 3450 down a bit, but can't lose my PCI tuner just yet...

-Dan
FYI I've managed to get shoehorn an S1 Rev 2 onto an 8800 GT into a Fusion case.

Basically you need to bend the heatpipes right round 180 degrees on the front of the card. It only just fits; completely fills the two slots above the card and is bang up against the side wall of the mobo chamber.

As the 8800GT is a pretty high card it is impossible to bend it round the other side (i.e. over the top of the card towards the CPU).

I have taken all the plastic fittings/cowlings off of the S1. Not strictly necessary but saves a little bit of space

What I'm worried about of course is there will be minimal air flow at that end of the case (although I nb the case cover has some air intakes over the card). I won't be finishing the system off until next weekend so will find out then how it works (might have to set up some sort of fan/duct rig, although there is only about 2cm between the end of the card/cooler and the end of the changer).

What I have done in the mean time is try the modded card out in my P182. Obviously a situation with more airflow (top and rear 120mm tricools, both set on low). One this machine the GPU boots at 41c and gets to 52-53c running Crysis (Assault level) which I thought was surprisingly low. Didn't try it for a long period of time though - temps seemed pretty stable in the low 50s running 3dmark 2006.

So hopeful so far. Find out more next weekend when I finish the system off (am also chucking in an e8400 with a minja passive). I have a suspicion the case might get too hot, but we shall see.

Obviously any suggestions on managing the heat dump most welcome...

J

PS the 8800 GT is a Zotac card OC from 600 to 660 mhz. wasn't sure about getting the OC card but it was about thirty pounds cheaper than any other 8800 out there.

PPS considered a 4850 but as I see it the 8800 offers roughly equivalent performance but runs MUCH cooler.

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 6:36 am
by thejamppa
jontseng wrote:
PPS considered a 4850 but as I see it the 8800 offers roughly equivalent performance but runs MUCH cooler.
If HD 4850 is equal in 9800 GTX beating it in some games, losing some giving roughly same performance. So 8800 GT may offer competiting perofrmance in CRT's and Sub 22" TFT range on smaller resolution.

I may also remind with stock cooler 8800 GT with auto-fan has peaked over 91 Degree's C so it doesn't really run cooler than HD 4850...

Posted: Sun Jul 06, 2008 2:16 pm
by jontseng
thejamppa wrote:
jontseng wrote:
PPS considered a 4850 but as I see it the 8800 offers roughly equivalent performance but runs MUCH cooler.
If HD 4850 is equal in 9800 GTX beating it in some games, losing some giving roughly same performance. So 8800 GT may offer competiting perofrmance in CRT's and Sub 22" TFT range on smaller resolution.

I may also remind with stock cooler 8800 GT with auto-fan has peaked over 91 Degree's C so it doesn't really run cooler than HD 4850...
plus the 8800GT was thirty pounds cheaper <grin>

Age old strategy of buying the (cut price) previous product the minute the next gen product comes out...

Posted: Fri Jul 18, 2008 11:18 am
by Stumbles
Hey jontseng, let us know how your HTPC rig goes with the pretzeled s1.

I'm thinking of putting a HD4850 into an antec fusion case, and I was hoping to cool it with an s1.

Any extra advice you could give me would be great.

Thanks!

Posted: Fri Jul 25, 2008 3:49 am
by jontseng
Still waiting for the sodding OCZ SSD to come into stock so I can finish off the HTPC. It's all built otherwise...

I shouldn't imagine there'll be any problems doing the same arrangement with an HD4850 (I assume the card isn't too long for the fusion)

I am slightly nervous about the airflow as the S1 shoehorns into the far side of the case, with the back of the card blocking it off from any fans. I suspect a 4850 will have a similar issue, if not worse

If there are temperature probs my plan is to block off all the inlets into the mobo compartment (primary grill on the underside of the case, grill above the mobo ports and small slot at the top leading into the drive bays. Hopefully it will mean all the air will be sucked in through the backing plates or the air holes antec have (helpfully) put in directly above the gfx card.

There isn't enough clearance between the end of the s1 to fit an input fan/duct unfortunately.

Hope that's useful. I'll post an update once its done.

J

photos

Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:26 am
by dimmo
Hi,
I'd been reading quite a bit on these forums before I built my htpc. I still managed to bork up my gfx card / cooler combo.
I bought an Galaxy 9600GT and an S2, not even wondering whether it would fit.
It didn't. Then I found this thread, so I thought I might as well try bending it over. The bending worked ok. The heat pipes flattened a bit, but didn't split or squash completely.
The card and cooler *just* fit inside the case. My mobo has the X16 slot in position #2, so there's not much space on the front side of the gfx card for the S2 to go.
Then, i find out that the screw holes don't line up with the 9600! The Arctic cooling site states that the S2 is compatible with a 9600GT. So, either their site is wrong, or the Galaxy 9600 holes aren't right.

Image
Image
Image

Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:48 am
by neumein
WOW! You bent that thing like a contortionist pretzel! :shock: What kind of temps you pull with that beauty?

Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 6:05 am
by jontseng
Yup, that's basically the same as I've done with the S1, apart from its a little bit longer.

Just push.. down... quite... hard

Still waiting for my sodding SSD to restock...

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 12:40 pm
by jontseng
hmmm. Well the good news is that the ssd arrived and I finished off the system over the weekend.

The bad news is that have managed to fry the 8800gt.

Installed video card with pretzelled s1 and set about installing vista with case open, acting on the assumption that basic os shouldn't really be stressing out the video card too much.

Well the passive cooler gets a bit toasty (not too hot to touch but quite warm). Then abt half an hour in machine crashes. Does not post, unless you take out the card. Basically card appears to be fried (tried it in another machine and same problem).

Surprised how quickly it went pop given it was running fine temps in a ok airflow p182 and wasn't being pit under load. I guess combo of lack of airflow and tight space in the fusion did it in. Also assumed these cards would shut down when got too hot. Oops...

Have stuck some baffles in which give light airflow over the card slot now but not sure will be enough to make a difference.

Have reverted back to built I'm grafx (it's a g35 board) to install vista and am plotting next move. I suspect even a airflow over tv care an 8800gt might struggle pasige in tv confined space.

Try a 9600 or a 3870 it the pretzelled cooler? Or if that doesn't work revert to actov cooling?

Am open to suggestions... Is 9600 much cooler than an 8800gt (wkd rather not fry a second card - I asse swapping the cooler on the first one voided my warranty). What quiet active solutions are there for midrnage card that will fit in a fusion case?

We shall see

J

Posted: Mon Aug 11, 2008 1:18 pm
by Modo
jontseng wrote:I guess combo of lack of airflow and tight space in the fusion did it in.
No fan-induced airflow, and no convection (where would cool air come from?) to save the day means very high temps pretty fast, and buh-bye. I guess the 8800GT really needs some airflow at all times. Kind of surprising.

A fanless Gigabyte 8600GTS, which has roughly the same thermals as a 9600GT, runs without any problems in this case (NSK 2480, to be precise). It keeps a large temperature safety margin even during the summer. Based on that, I thought that an 8800GT (or a HD 4850 even) should be ok as well, so your story is pretty surprising. Here's hoping that it was only the lack of airflow that did the card in.
jontseng wrote:I suspect even a airflow over tv care an 8800gt might struggle pasige in tv confined space.
In the Fusion, there is an opening for airflow right over the graphics card. It forces air to enter the case directly into the heatsink, which works amazingly well. Also, you can open one slot cover near the heatsink to give it even more air (if the graphics card design doesn't have an opening already).

Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2008 7:45 am
by Max Dread
So does this pretzellizing void the warranty?!?!?

Seriously though, I was well up for getting one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814134040

until I realised it would not fit in my case. Bend it and it might just go in there....

Any ideas on how bending it will effect performance? I would only need to do a 90 degree bend, as per the first set of pics above. But what would be the best way to bend it for performance - towards the card or away from it?

Cheers for the great advice and the food for thought.

ax.

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2008 4:36 pm
by Max Dread
BUMP!!!

I'm also considering a HD3850 or HD3870 with an Accelero S1 - but again I would have to bend it. Can you buy either of these cards with this heatsink or is the only option a DIY after-fit?

Cheers

Max

Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2008 4:23 am
by Max Dread
Sorry - one last bump on this as it's getting buried.

I'm seriously considering the Accelero pretzelizer solution but would really like to know if it is likely to hamper performance before I go ahead....

Cheers

Max