Cheap Chinese VGA Coolers - FTW !

[bitlane]

<EDIT>
Before anyone goes on reading and asks WHY ?....

PROs and CONs summary: (based on what I have experienced so far)

PROs
-----
- Cheap, overall (cost).
- Cheap Fan replacements/upgrades using readily available case fans down the road.....
- Memory Heatsinks included.
- Good Cooling capabilities (from what I have tested thus far).
- Fan speed has effect on cooling, as I have tried active, passive and alt fan speeds (ie. better cooling using better fans than the cheapies included, although included fans are still very good).

CONs
-----
- Overall BIG coolers (if space is at a premium)
- 3pin fans included (wth 4pin molex extension), fan control on 3pin motherboard header or add-on controller only.

In summation, if I could acquire cheap PWM 4pin fans in corresponding sizes that I could cut the original connectors from the dead video cards fans to retrofit onto and plug the new fans directly onto the video cards themselves for speed management, this setup would be awesome.
Example...
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/90-80mm-x25mm-PWM-LGA775-Round-CPU-Fan-/150598747013?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2310628385#ht_2614wt_1396

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Original post.....

I ran into a few failing coolers and needed quick and easy replacements, so I decided to give a few of these a try.
Being a bit apprehensive due to the LOW prices, I was pleasantly surprised at the performance to say the least.

I have tried a couple models on HD5770's, HD5830 Extremes and HD6950's.

These coolers are excellent replacements for cards that DO NOT REQUIRE MEMORY COOLING (most miners with lowered memory freq) or cards that HAVE AN ONBOARD VRM COOLER (6950).

The only downside I have found - THEY ARE BIG...
These are excellent for MINING in an open rig where room is plenty, NOT FOR GAMING.

*All included Fans = 4pin Molex + 3pin motherboard header-style combo, soft mounts.
(3pin/3wire native, so RPM control/monitoring is possible)

Results and Recommendations:

K91 (90mm fan included, no heatpipes) - under $10 USD inc shipping.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PC-Computer-Video-Graphic-Card-cooler-VGA-K91-GT430-/250821916400?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3a6626b6f0#ht_7156wt_1396
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HD5770 - 58c 24/7 mining in 20c+ ambient, 1.2V, 960Mhz. RECOMMENDED & CURRENTLY IN USE (even using Molex power, no fan control)
HD5830 - 80c+ Mining in 20c+ ambient - NOT RECOMMENDED.


K90 (90mm fan included, 2 heatpipes) - approx $15 USD inc shipping.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PC-Computer-Video-Graphic-Card-cooler-VGA-K90-HD5770-/260786200758?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb811a0b6#ht_7244wt_1396
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HD5830 - 61.5c 24/7 mining in 20c+ ambient, 1.163V, 975 Mhz. RECOMMENDED & CURRENTLY IN USE (even using Molex power, no fan control)
HD6950 - 85c+ Mining in 20c+ ambient - NOT RECOMMENDED.


K120 (4 heatpipes, no 120mm fan included) - approx $30 USD inc shipping.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/PC-Computer-Video-Graphic-Card-cooler-VGA-K120-GTX460-/260968488899?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc2ef1fc3#ht_9132wt_1396
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HD6950 - On order and will report soon, BUT CONFIDENT once implemented ...comparing to shitty OEM XFX Single Fan 6950 Coolers (and results above).


Other models not tried (no need to, can assume performance based on the above).
- 80mm 2 Heatpipe w/Fan. $15 (k80)
- 80mm 4 Heatpipe w/Fan. $22 (k80D)
- 100mm 2 Heatpipe w/Fan. $15 (k101D)
- 100mm 4 Heatpipe w/Fan. $25 (k101F)



Take with a grain of salt as usual, YMMV.
Hope this helps some people in the same position.

Ebay Seller's Listings - http://www.ebay.ca/sch/she-in/m.html?_nkw=vga+cooler

[1714896437]

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[1714896437]

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[1714896437]

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[malevolent]

I have tried a couple models on HD5770's, HD5830 Extremes and HD6950's.

What max. temperature did you get on each cooler and fan on each of those GPUs? What's your ambient temp. and which paste did you use?

[bitlane]

I have tried a couple models on HD5770's, HD5830 Extremes and HD6950's.

What max. temperature did you get on each cooler and fan on each of those GPUs? What's your ambient temp. and which paste did you use?

Ambient and minimal test results in the OP. Cheap/Included Silicon-based paste used.

[portron]

installed pics please... also I assume these are big enough to go past the standard two slot design?

This looks interesting to:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250821911628



and this

[ngzhang]

OC3 is a famous PC cooling solution provider in China.
all my CPU coolers are this brand.
personally, they are very good. the HDT technology really can achieve a high performance.

[MrTeal]

$54 for that black one from eBay seems a little steep. It looks very similar to my Arctic Cooling Accelero Twin Turbo II but with less extra little heatsinks, and I walked into my local computer store and walked out with the Accelero for under $56 including 10% sales tax.

[DBordello]

I have been looking for replacement coolers for my 5870s.  Any suggestions?  Big and loud is okay

[MrTeal]

I just strapped a 3000RPM 120mm case fan to the small crappy cooler on my single fan XFX 6950 (flashed to 1536 shaders) @ 950MHz and it's happily mining 400MH/s at 63C inside a case. Loud as all hell though.

[Isokivi]

I have been looking for replacement coolers for my 5870s.  Any suggestions?  Big and loud is okay

I have 2 5870's running Arctic coolings accelero-xtremes http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/376/accelero-xtreme-plus-ii.html?c=2182 . They are capable of keeping the "overclocked to the edge" cards cool at fan speeds of 50-55%, I do however run them at 90%. Mine were attached to the used cards I bought, there really expensive ... but after running them for 2 months I can really see why and they are very quiet. The cores on my cards are overclocked to 1030 & 980Mhz, producing 474 and 458Mhs. Should you have the chanse to find these coolers 2nd hand or in discount there a "no brainer". Especially look for ones labled fan not working, the replacement fans are 5$ for the entire 3-fan set.

[bravetheheat]

I have a K100, one of the huge black ones on the top with multiple heatpipes, and I get 58C on my 5770 with 1000 Mhz Core, 300 Mhz Mem, and 1.2v in 24C ambient. Temps would probably be better if I put another fan in or redo the thermal paste   But damn is the thing big (it's a lot longer than my 5770 PCB)

EDIT: I get 54C with 24C Ambient and MX-4 as paste. Pretty sure I can get better if I had alcohol and sandpaper to clean the heatsinks and the gpu. BTW, for smaller GPUs, it has to hang upside down. The heatpipes are upside down, but I don't know whether or not that changes anything.

[macromode]

Has anyone else successfully mated the K90 to a 5830? I have a few Sapphire 5830s whose fans have died and would love to know if others have found the K90 to be a suitable replacement. Finding replacement OEM fans for the Sapphire 5830s I have is next to impossible.

[bitlane]

Has anyone else successfully mated the K90 to a 5830? I have a few Sapphire 5830s whose fans have died and would love to know if others have found the K90 to be a suitable replacement. Finding replacement OEM fans for the Sapphire 5830s I have is next to impossible.

These things are awesome, as I stated ages ago...



5x 5830 Sapphire Extremes running K90 2-heatpipe Coolers. Under 60c running overclocked in a warm room.....and nearly dead silent.

I am also running a K120 on an oddball 6950 XFX card (factory cooler couldn't cool the card, shitty XFX chips...) that I have left and it stays under 60C also, same mining conditions....

[jme621]

yeah nvm, i cant read when im this tired lol.

[bulanula]

Has anyone else successfully mated the K90 to a 5830? I have a few Sapphire 5830s whose fans have died and would love to know if others have found the K90 to be a suitable replacement. Finding replacement OEM fans for the Sapphire 5830s I have is next to impossible.

These things are awesome, as I stated ages ago...



5x 5830 Sapphire Extremes running K90 2-heatpipe Coolers. Under 60c running overclocked in a warm room.....and nearly dead silent.

I am also running a K120 on an oddball 6950 XFX card (factory cooler couldn't cool the card, shitty XFX chips...) that I have left and it stays under 60C also, same mining conditions....

Let me get this right : them cheap coolers are only for the core ?

Seems they work good. Do the fans support PWM or just simple 3 pin fans ?

What is cooling the memory / VRMs ?

Reference cards or not ?

Underclocked memory ?

[ice_chill]

The coolers are terrible, I tried the midrange one, in the picture it falsely looks like the fins are copper, in real life it is a very cheap recycled metal that has almost no heat conductivity, painted with something to make it look like copper.

[MrTeal]

The coolers are terrible, I tried the midrange one, in the picture it falsely looks like the fins are copper, in real life it is a very cheap recycled metal that has almost no heat conductivity, painted with something to make it look like copper.

Would you be willing to try a destructive test on your cooler if it's really so poor? Leave the cooler on in open air, and mine on the card. Then nick or cut off the tip of one of the heat pipes with a pair of side cutters. If the heat pipes are actually proper heat pipes and not just for show you should see your temps go up when you do that. I've always wondered whether the cheap eBay ones have real heat pipe and are not just for show like the Dialotek RPM-1050.

[ice_chill]

The coolers are terrible, I tried the midrange one, in the picture it falsely looks like the fins are copper, in real life it is a very cheap recycled metal that has almost no heat conductivity, painted with something to make it look like copper.

Would you be willing to try a destructive test on your cooler if it's really so poor? Leave the cooler on in open air, and mine on the card. Then nick or cut off the tip of one of the heat pipes with a pair of side cutters. If the heat pipes are actually proper heat pipes and not just for show you should see your temps go up when you do that. I've always wondered whether the cheap eBay ones have real heat pipe and are not just for show like the Dialotek RPM-1050.

I would do that but I threw it away some time ago. From my observation when I had it, the bottom plate is good quality real metal, the heatpipes are also real copper (don't know about their internal).
But the fins are very important, the heatpipe only carries the heat away while the fins absorb the heat and provide the cooling, and the fins on this thing look like they are just for show.

[Coinoisseur]

The fins are probably aluminum, which should be ok IF they didn't use actual paint on them and anodized instead. That's the main reason I haven't tried any of these coolers out, for that price copper fins are unfeasible and there is no way to know how they treated the actual fins to have the copper color.

[bitlane]

Let me get this right : them cheap coolers are only for the core ?

Seems they work good. Do the fans support PWM or just simple 3 pin fans ?

What is cooling the memory / VRMs ?

Reference cards or not ?

Underclocked memory ?

Sapphire 5830 Extreme, no memory cooling from factory, so none used (but heatsinks for RAM were included with this kit). The VRM uses the factory attached heatsink that I left on after pulling off the original fan assembly. Memory is all underclocked on the cards as well.
Fans are 3pin or 4pin molex, no PWN support.....just basic case fans @ 90mm.

The heatpipes also are 'for real' as I broke one and the card was noticeable HOTTER reporting in CGMiner by over 10c at idle......so they DO work.

I have had great luck with these dual-heatpipe coolers @ 90mm as well as the 120mm size on my 6950 that idled at 70 with the OEM XFX heatsink, but now maintains under 60C at full load mining and overclocked.

YMMV....but I am using 6 of them and LOVe them. Overclocked, mining, SILENT and COOL running cards.

[bulanula]

Let me get this right : them cheap coolers are only for the core ?

Seems they work good. Do the fans support PWM or just simple 3 pin fans ?

What is cooling the memory / VRMs ?

Reference cards or not ?

Underclocked memory ?

Sapphire 5830 Extreme, no memory cooling from factory, so none used (but heatsinks for RAM were included with this kit). The VRM uses the factory attached heatsink that I left on after pulling off the original fan assembly. Memory is all underclocked on the cards as well.
Fans are 3pin or 4pin molex, no PWN support.....just basic case fans @ 90mm.

The heatpipes also are 'for real' as I broke one and the card was noticeable HOTTER reporting in CGMiner by over 10c at idle......so they DO work.

I have had great luck with these dual-heatpipe coolers @ 90mm as well as the 120mm size on my 6950 that idled at 70 with the OEM XFX heatsink, but now maintains under 60C at full load mining and overclocked.

YMMV....but I am using 6 of them and LOVe them. Overclocked, mining, SILENT and COOL running cards.

I suppose these won't be suitable for reference ( so no factory VRM cooler and have to buy that separately ) 5870 ( too hot for these to handle I suppose ) ?