Aftermarket cooling for 7950/7970 Cards - Where are the options?

[vesperwillow]

I find myself in need of some aftermarket coolers. I like the Accelero Hybrid 7970, but the price is loopey. The Accelero Extreme 3 7970 is priced right, but they're out of stock everywhere. Deepcool Dracula has dropped off the planet.

Am I missing something, why have all the reference 7970/7950 cooling options disappeared? What do we do ?

[HellDiverUK]

What do we do ?

Get with the times and buy an ASIC. 

[vesperwillow]

What do we do ?

Get with the times and buy an ASIC. 

This isn't for mining bitcoin. i figured I'd ask here, however, since many folks have GPU experience.

[frojoe]

Watercool?

[vesperwillow]

That's what the Accelero Hybrid 7970 does, but it's twice as much as the Extreme 3 7970. The latter is what I want but nobody has them in stock.

The Deepcool Dracula is a nice option too, but again, can't be found anywhere. 3 international sellers on ebay have them for a 200% markup.

[HellDiverUK]

What do we do ?

Get with the times and buy an ASIC. 

This isn't for mining bitcoin. i figured I'd ask here, however, since many folks have GPU experience.

Ah, sorry.  Umm...I guess now that most manufacturers have got their act together with cooling, there's not so much need for aftermarket ones.

I suppose eBay would be a decent place to start - you might get used ones.

[vesperwillow]

What do we do ?

Get with the times and buy an ASIC. 

This isn't for mining bitcoin. i figured I'd ask here, however, since many folks have GPU experience.

Ah, sorry.  Umm...I guess now that most manufacturers have got their act together with cooling, there's not so much need for aftermarket ones.

I suppose eBay would be a decent place to start - you might get used ones.

The aftermarket units are still 2x quieter and better at cooling, hence one of the reasons I'm looking for these particular units.

Not to mention, MSI is probably going to grow tired of me constantly sending back pallets of video cards under warranty because the fans are dying haha.

[madcratebuilder]

I have some Sapphire vapor-x gpus, they run 68C with 50% fan, 24/7.  VRM's run about 10C higher.  There are so many different variations in the 7950/7990 cards that it's hard to find any cooling options right now.  I have looked for water blocks for mine and can't find one that fits Sapphire.

[vesperwillow]

Yeah it's funny, I started looking the past few days, and quantities for certain cooling options were good across several sites.. Amazon, Newegg, ebay, other computer sites. Then, quantities starting dropping quick. Also, it looks like some companies aren't making coolers for the reference/79xx designs any more, which isn't helping.

After some reviews and talking to some folks who are into hard core GPU abuse, I went with a bunch of Prolimatech MK26 universal coolers. Had to scrounge across the net to find enough using several vendors. So if any of you folks see 'sold out' on that particular model, you can thank me lol.

I had also considered simply getting a bunch of closed-loop liquid coolers (Corsair H55 for example), and then a 20x20x.5mm copper shim, as many have done that with great success. Price-wise it came out the same as using the Prolimatech units, though in talking to the GPU abusers, the Prolimatech edged out closed-loop liquid cooling by being quieter. Temps were equal to 2 degrees cooler, depending on factors.

Plus, the Prolimatech is bolt-on whereas the custom liquid cooling would require more effort on my part.

Hope this helps anyone also looking. Any questions let me know.

[YipYip]

Yeah it's funny, I started looking the past few days, and quantities for certain cooling options were good across several sites.. Amazon, Newegg, ebay, other computer sites. Then, quantities starting dropping quick. Also, it looks like some companies aren't making coolers for the reference/79xx designs any more, which isn't helping.

After some reviews and talking to some folks who are into hard core GPU abuse, I went with a bunch of Prolimatech MK26 universal coolers. Had to scrounge across the net to find enough using several vendors. So if any of you folks see 'sold out' on that particular model, you can thank me lol.

I had also considered simply getting a bunch of closed-loop liquid coolers (Corsair H55 for example), and then a 20x20x.5mm copper shim, as many have done that with great success. Price-wise it came out the same as using the Prolimatech units, though in talking to the GPU abusers, the Prolimatech edged out closed-loop liquid cooling by being quieter. Temps were equal to 2 degrees cooler, depending on factors.

Plus, the Prolimatech is bolt-on whereas the custom liquid cooling would require more effort on my part.

Hope this helps anyone also looking. Any questions let me know.

Gelid ICy VIsion works for 79xx & the new 280/290x cards

[vesperwillow]

I considered it until I saw it in comparison with some others at independent review sites. The Prolimatech blew it away.

[winner999]

I find myself in need of some aftermarket coolers. I like the Accelero Hybrid 7970, but the price is loopey. The Accelero Extreme 3 7970 is priced right, but they're out of stock everywhere. Deepcool Dracula has dropped off the planet.

Am I missing something, why have all the reference 7970/7950 cooling options disappeared? What do we do ?

Take a look at Corsair H60, it can be mounted on 7950/7970 if you have some basic "modding" skills

[B.T.Coin]

I'm in the same boat as you are.
My MSI 7950 fans are also grinding to a halt and I need another solution.
I'm also very surprised that all accelero extreme 7970's have disappeared into nowhere.

I'm currently looking at this option:
http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-vga-supreme-hf-hd7970-cu-adapter.html
I think that this will allow us to mount almost any other aftermarket cooler to the 7950 but I still have to order one to try.

[verloren]

GPU Cool or Kepler Dynamics Sigma Cool.

GPU Cool can be used with any AIO water cooler on market

SigmaCool is limited to Antec 620/920, Zalman AIO CPU coolers, NZXT X40/X60 or the previous generation of Corsair AIOs.

Still cheaper than a custom water system.

I'm currently looking at this option:
http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-vga-supreme-hf-hd7970-cu-adapter.html
I think that this will allow us to mount almost any other aftermarket cooler to the 7950 but I still have to order one to try.

Mounting holes on a VGA card are different than the ones for a CPU.

[slikes]

I find myself in need of some aftermarket coolers. I like the Accelero Hybrid 7970, but the price is loopey. The Accelero Extreme 3 7970 is priced right, but they're out of stock everywhere. Deepcool Dracula has dropped off the planet.

Am I missing something, why have all the reference 7970/7950 cooling options disappeared? What do we do ?

Take a look at Corsair H60, it can be mounted on 7950/7970 if you have some basic "modding" skills

I tried that with my 7950s. Even with heatsinks, the vrms reached 120C. It didn't really work out for me. If you want to try it, it's pretty popular on overclock.net.
http://www.overclock.net/t/1203636/official-amd-ati-gpu-mod-club-aka-the-red-mod

[B.T.Coin]

I'm currently looking at this option:
http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-vga-supreme-hf-hd7970-cu-adapter.html
I think that this will allow us to mount almost any other aftermarket cooler to the 7950 but I still have to order one to try.

Mounting holes on a VGA card are different than the ones for a CPU.

Yes, I know. I meant almost any other GPU cooler on the market.
On the 7950 / 7970 the GPU die is placed at a 45-degree angle on the PCB and surrounded by a metal box that is higher than the GPU die, which makes it impossible to use any other GPU coolers, unless you use the adapter I pointed to.

[clicksmoney]

Since I'm unsure of the purpose of GPU use I consider you might be doing something rather very heavy duty. *wink*

Here's a Mineral Oil article from earlier in the year:-
http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/06/password-crackers-go-green-by-immersing-their-gpus-in-mineral-oil/

[verloren]

I'm currently looking at this option:
http://www.ekwb.com/shop/ek-vga-supreme-hf-hd7970-cu-adapter.html
I think that this will allow us to mount almost any other aftermarket cooler to the 7950 but I still have to order one to try.

Mounting holes on a VGA card are different than the ones for a CPU.

Yes, I know. I meant almost any other GPU cooler on the market.
On the 7950 / 7970 the GPU die is placed at a 45-degree angle on the PCB and surrounded by a metal box that is higher than the GPU die, which makes it impossible to use any other GPU coolers, unless you use the adapter I pointed to.

I think most aftermarket heatsinks for GPUs (Gelid, Accelero etc) have built in ways around it.

What I meant in my prev. message was a difficulty in slapping on a CPU cooler due to mounting brackets. The contact between the cooler and the GPU wouldn't be a problem with that shim.

People have zip-tied AIO water coolers to a GPU before.

[tom99]

I think you better off with Accelero Xtreme 7970 and it's work better http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dracula-7970-accelero-xtreme-7970-review,3288.html

I already installed one on MSI HD 7970 TwinFrozr III OC Boost Edition and I got 4 cards but I still need to change one burned fan.

[B.T.Coin]

I think you better off with Accelero Xtreme 7970 and it's work better http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dracula-7970-accelero-xtreme-7970-review,3288.html

I already installed one on MSI HD 7970 TwinFrozr III OC Boost Edition and I got 4 cards but I still need to change one burned fan.

Yes, I know. This is the one I want too but they are not for sale anymore and nobody has any stock left