SPCR

Hello. I'm putting together a build, and I'm being victimized by my lack of detailed advanced planning. Here are the relevant components:

• - Gigabyte GA-P55M-UD2
  - Xigmatek HDT-S1283
  - Radeon HD 5770
  - Arctic Cooling Accelero L2 VGA cooler
  - Creative X-Fi Platinum card

Here's the first issue:

After placing the heatsinks on the video card, I realized I couldn't insert it into the PCI-e slot because the CPU heatsink/Xigmatek was in the way. I had to remove three of the four heatsinks on the "back" of the card in order to make it fit. I've never used anything aside from stock cooling; is it such a bad thing that my build layout is preventing me from installing heatsinks on the opposite side of three of the chips?

The second issue is tied to the first. The slots on the P55M mobo are, from top to bottom, the faster PCI-e slot, two PCI slots, and the slower PCI-e slot. When I install the 5770 in the top slot, the Accelero L2 completely blocks both PCI slots. I had planned to install my sound card in a PCI slot.

I removed the fan on the Accelero, and the 5770 and sound card just fit:

So the compromise here is a fanless Accelero with missing heatinks, nestled right beside a PCI card on the bottom, and the CPU heatsink on the top.

Would it be silly to stick with this layout, and use the fanless Accelero to cool the 5770 passively? I wasn't planning on OCing the video card; I just wanted it to be as quiet as possible. My gut tells me the fanless Accelero, could be comparable to the stock fan, with less noise. But I also believe in unicorns...

The alternative is to re-install the stock Radeon cooler, but I'm not even sure if it will fit (I suspect it would). Too many options that require compromise. I'm not pleased. Any suggestions?

Ah, sucks when you've purchased everything and only afterward realize things won't fit very well. Tough predicament.

The L2 kit is aimed at being universal and able to cool faster-running chips: seeing as this Powercolor 5770 with stock L2 Pro cooler doesn't have any ramsinks I can only assume you'll be fine with partial or no heatsinks on your memory chips. Plus there's a bit of airflow across the back of the card with that case fan and you CPU cooler so close.

However, while I do not yet own a 57XX card to test such a setup, the L2 Pro's heatsink top-down design begs for a little air to flow across the fins. Starving it of any air with no fan and sticking it so close to that soundcard will just trap and accumulate heat there unless you have a front case fan blowing medium/high on your cards. I myself would not run such a setup without *some* air motion. With a fan providing airflow to the cards, I would try running the card for 2D work only to start with and check your GPU temps. Then while keeping an eye on the temperature readings start some GPU intensive app (cuda, game, benchmarks) for a minute or so and see how it goes. That's what I *would* try if I were bent on keeping the soundcard, but it's all theoretical. Maybe someone here has tried this before?

Or the safest route would be to put the L2 fan back on and find another sound solution, possibly USB-based?

nothingworks wrote:Any suggestions?

1) Trim the RAMsinks for the back of the GPU just enough so they can fit with the CPU cooler. Having the heatsinks touch should not be a problem, but I would want some kind of cooling on the RAM.

2) I would *not* run the 5770 fanless with the L2. I definitely could not run one fanless with a Turbo-module (short S1), and I think that cooler has more surface area than the L2.
See: viewtopic.php?t=56355&highlight=
and: viewtopic.php?t=56442&highlight=

3) Try using the turbo-module fan (or getting a good 92mm fan) and put it at the end of the 5770, blowing towards the L2 and X-Fi. Even a small amount of air movement will make a huge difference. You can probably figure out some way to mount this from the case chassis.

4) Another alternative is to replace the L2 with an S1 (see the above threads for the mods, which are simple). Zip-tie the L2's fan from the top of the S1 so that it blows mostly on the S1 but also on the X-Fi. This would cost an extra $20+ and involve a little Dremel work, but I am pretty sure would be effective. The S1 has a huge surface area, and can handle much hotter cards with no problem. It *definitely* will work if you use a 120mm fan like a 800 RPM S-Flex.

Thanks. I really appreciate the feedback.

Let's say (for now) I'm stubbornly keeping the sound card. I'd like to eliminate stock cooling options before considering something that requires another purchase or modding. You both mentioned getting even some air flow on the cards. My pics in this thread are too close, but I posted a case pic in another thread:



As you can see, I put a 120mm fan on the front of the case. The hard drive sits in the bay on the second tier, so fan-to-card airflow is unobstructed. Would you feel confident enough to finish the build with this (i.e., sound card in, no Accelero fan) and check out temps?

The main issue with the Mini P180 case is the two front-side fan grill are obstructed: to get maximum airflow, you'd have to open the front doot of the case, then open the plastic grill/door for the fan:

Despite this limitation of the case, even if both front fan doors were closed, I wouldn't see this being any different than modding a smaller fan to sit inside the case.

Anyway, Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Sure. Give it a try. I don't think you can hurt anything, at least not until you make a FurMark run, which will abort if your GPU exceeds 80C anyway. You're not painting yourself into a corner, as any of the other mods would be easy to implement after you run some experiments.

You may want to try this with a simple "duct" (aka, small sheet of cardboard or stiff anti-static plastic) which helps direct the airflow to the *bottom* of the GPU. Otherwise the air from the front fan may never get to the GPU heatsink. BTW, I am assuming that you have opened the rear panel slot between the GPU and X-Fi.

Consider removing the fan grille entirely. That's what I do with all of my P18x cases. IMO, with the door, the grill is redundant, and now it is obvious when the filter needs to be cleaned.

Good luck, and have fun!

You had to opt for the Accelero S1 in this configuration: the L2 WILL NOT be enough for that video card if run passively, but the S1 might be enough with the front fan, and you won't have to worry about the space occupied by it. I have the exact same setup with my 4850, which puts out considerably more heat than your card, and it runs fine even if OC'd.

cb95014 wrote:2) I would *not* run the 5770 fanless with the L2. I definitely could not run one fanless with a Turbo-module (short S1), and I think that cooler has more surface area than the L2.

Turbo-module is the thin fans that you can clip on to an s1

Twin-Turbo is the shorter version of the s1

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For what its worth, I run a 4830 with a Twin-Turbo passively (I popped off the shroud and fans) without too much difficulty. Don't the 57xx cards use less power than a 4830?

Ch0z3n wrote:Turbo-module is the thin fans that you can clip on to an s1

Twin-Turbo is the shorter version of the s1

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For what its worth, I run a 4830 with a Twin-Turbo passively (I popped off the shroud and fans) without too much difficulty. Don't the 57xx cards use less power than a 4830?

OK, I stand corrected.

Twin-Turbo, without the fan, aka passively.

For me, the Twin-Turbo worked OK but only *with* the turbo module, and only until we ran a heavy load for an extended period (see details and pics in the thread). So in my experience the Twin-Turbo will NOT work with a passive 5770 under heavy load, unless you've got a *lot* of airflow.

I still think a modded S1 is the best choice for a quiet 5770, but would cost an extra $20. Hopefully he can get the L2 to work and save the cash.