Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

They make noise, too.

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gsilver
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Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

Post by gsilver » Wed Jun 11, 2014 7:58 am

I've used the Artic Accelero Xtreme products in previous builds, but they replaced the 3-slot Accelero III with a 4-slot version, and the 3-slot version is no longer available. I have no room for the backplate on my motherboard, and cannot find the old version (at least at reasonable prices), so I need an alternative.

What would you recommend? Length is not an issue, since my case is designed to accommodate long cards, but the widest my system can handle is 3-slots.

quest_for_silence
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Re: Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

Post by quest_for_silence » Wed Jun 11, 2014 8:54 am

Prolimatech Mk26

gsilver
Posts: 21
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Re: Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

Post by gsilver » Wed Jun 11, 2014 9:53 am

After adding fans, the Prolimatech Mk26 will be a 4-slot card, also. There's no backplate, so I could fit it on my motherboard, but I'm using the bottom PCI-Express slot for an expansion card, already.

Any other alternatives?

Abula
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Re: Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

Post by Abula » Wed Jun 11, 2014 10:37 am

Would help to post all your specs, specially Case, GPU, cpu cooler, and what do you have on the 4th pcie slot?

Artic Accelero III (i used to run it before IV), its a 3 slot yes... but it has a mounting plate on the back that exceeds the back of the PCIe slot. I used to run it on TJ08-E with an HR-02 and it touched, even when bight a 3 slot cooler, with smaller CPU coolers like Mugen 4 or Megahelms you might be fine, although hard to confirm for sure as i dont own either, nor a micro atx with accelero III, but its my personal guess based on my past experiences. I also used to own a Galaxy GTX580 that had the Accelero III from factory, but it was design very well with backplate and didnt need the huge mounting plate the Accelero III Xtreme has, this was the main reason i opted for a similar solution on gtx750, but was a surprise the mounting plate on the back.

Now on options, there arent that many, look into GELID Icy Vision Dual Fan VGA Cooler, Accelero Twin Turbo II (not the new version with the heatsink on the back) and Raijintek Morpheus (maybe with slim fans could fit...).

One important thing to note is that in most of the new gen cards, something in PWM design changed, the Accelero III had troubel controlling the fans on the GTX780, but it was fixed on the Accelero IV, but you might run into those issues depending on the GPU you will be using. For this alone, i would suggest you consider simply selling your current GPU and just get a quieter one with factory aftermarket cooler that its quiet, like MSI Twin Frozr IV or the new Asus that i forgot the new name of the their coolers.

gsilver
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Joined: Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:12 pm

Re: Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

Post by gsilver » Wed Jun 11, 2014 12:50 pm

The card is a Gigabyte Windforce GTX 770. The volume levels are quite reasonable for a stock cooler, but not as quiet as the Radeon 280x + Arctic Accelero that it's replacing. I know the cards are about the same speed, but I'm interested in some Nvidia-only features like Shield game streaming and G-Sync capable monitors. I also got the card very cheaply.

My specs:
Silverstone FT-03 case
Asus Ramage Gene IV
Heligon HE02 CPU Heatsink (this cooler is huge)
Xonar STX soundcard

Looking in the case, there isn't much room between the CPU heatsink and the GPU, and there is also very little distance between the ram slot and the card.

Edit:
Corrected card model

Ren0ir
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Re: Best aftermarket cooler that will fit into an mATX case?

Post by Ren0ir » Wed Jun 11, 2014 6:42 pm

Depending on how much you'd be comfortable tinkering with - which I guess must be a fair amount since you have experience with aftermarket coolers already - the cooler on the Gigabyte could be decent enough, but may just need a fan-change. Removing the fan shroud and adding you own fan, maybe a 140mm, could be enough if you're not too picky about temperatures. Heck, if you're not repurposing that 280x and the Accelero, using those fans could even be an option - depending on the control method available of course. Sure, it may not be pretty, but if it works, it works. ;-)

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