Trad2 GTX setup that I did months ago is a silent champ.
Which cooler for a modded 6950?
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Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
Doveman are you coming up on 3 months of indecision on this cooler conundrum?
Trad2 GTX setup that I did months ago is a silent champ.
Trad2 GTX setup that I did months ago is a silent champ.
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
That's not that long for me. Took me about 3 years to buy the graphics card. If I'd taken a bit longer, I might have got a stock card and this would be a lot easierswaaye wrote:Doveman are you coming up on 3 months of indecision on this cooler conundrum?
Yeah, but that's not really available anymore, which is why I'm concentrating on the Accelero Xtreme Plus IITrad2 GTX setup that I did months ago is a silent champ.
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
AXPII does look like a beast. I'm sure it would do the job.
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
No doubt, but before I waste money on it I'd like to be fairly sure it will fit my card, which is why I posted those pictures in the hope that someone cleverer than me could compare them. Obviously I won't be able to return it after I've opened the packaging only to find it doesn't fitswaaye wrote:AXPII does look like a beast. I'm sure it would do the job.
I also want to know what I'm going to do with the VRM heatsink before I buy it. If I need to buy a separate one I want to have it ready as I only want to fit the AXPII once and don't want to be taking it off again to change the VRM heatsink. If the current heatsink's sufficient, it might be best just to leave that in place, but I just don't know at the moment.
This is all holding me up terribly, as I can't buy my new PSU until I've fitted the AXPII as I won't be able to tell if the PSU is quiet or not because of the noise of the current GPU cooler
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
Look, I'm not going away
I've found these additional pictures comparing a stock and non-stock 6950. Clearly the GPU is further to the right on the non-stock model.
Looking at the picture of the Powercolor 6950 it seems it too has the GPU socket futher to the right than the stock cards. So I need to know if this will prevent the AXPII fitting? It's interesting the MSI seem to have used the exact same layout as Powercolor, as if there are several manufacturers selling boards like this it might be worth Accelero making sure their coolers are compatible (or making a different version for these boards if necessary).
As well as the VRM heatsink question, I also need to know whether to use the paste supplied with the AXPII for the RAM heatsinks, as with previous versions apparently it dried up and it was recommended to order it separately from Accelero just before you needed it, so I wonder if this is still the case or if they're using a different adhesive with the AXPII?
I've found these additional pictures comparing a stock and non-stock 6950. Clearly the GPU is further to the right on the non-stock model.
Looking at the picture of the Powercolor 6950 it seems it too has the GPU socket futher to the right than the stock cards. So I need to know if this will prevent the AXPII fitting? It's interesting the MSI seem to have used the exact same layout as Powercolor, as if there are several manufacturers selling boards like this it might be worth Accelero making sure their coolers are compatible (or making a different version for these boards if necessary).
As well as the VRM heatsink question, I also need to know whether to use the paste supplied with the AXPII for the RAM heatsinks, as with previous versions apparently it dried up and it was recommended to order it separately from Accelero just before you needed it, so I wonder if this is still the case or if they're using a different adhesive with the AXPII?
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
OK, I'm satisfied that the AXPII will fit on my card, although it will hang off the end more than a reference card due to the GPU being further to the right. That won't be a problem though as I'm building a custom case for this PC.
For the VRMs, if the stock heatsink is a copper one as suggested by the picture in my previous post, it might be best to just leave that in place. Alternatively, the Gelid enhancement kit might be an option, although the picture of the MSI 6950 seems to show only 4 VRMs with small components in between, which is quite different to the reference card which seems to have 8 VRMs, so I'm not sure the Gelid would be compatible.
Otherwise, I might get some Enzotech MOS-C1 copper heatsinks as shown here (again I think I'd only need four of them). I'm concerned about the heatsinked VRM in the upper-left shown in that picture, as it doesn't appear to be present in that location on the Powercolor/MSI non-reference cards, so I want to know whether it's just been removed, or moved elsewhere as I don't want to start using the card without a heatsink on this component and burn it up
Sekisui thermal tape seems to be recommended for attaching these heatsinks and I guess I'll use that on the RAM heatsinks as well. I'll probably just use the AXPII RAM heatsinks, as I'm less worried about the temperature of the RAM than the VRMs, although I might look for some of those Thermaltake copper RAM heatsinks.
For the VRMs, if the stock heatsink is a copper one as suggested by the picture in my previous post, it might be best to just leave that in place. Alternatively, the Gelid enhancement kit might be an option, although the picture of the MSI 6950 seems to show only 4 VRMs with small components in between, which is quite different to the reference card which seems to have 8 VRMs, so I'm not sure the Gelid would be compatible.
Otherwise, I might get some Enzotech MOS-C1 copper heatsinks as shown here (again I think I'd only need four of them). I'm concerned about the heatsinked VRM in the upper-left shown in that picture, as it doesn't appear to be present in that location on the Powercolor/MSI non-reference cards, so I want to know whether it's just been removed, or moved elsewhere as I don't want to start using the card without a heatsink on this component and burn it up
Sekisui thermal tape seems to be recommended for attaching these heatsinks and I guess I'll use that on the RAM heatsinks as well. I'll probably just use the AXPII RAM heatsinks, as I'm less worried about the temperature of the RAM than the VRMs, although I might look for some of those Thermaltake copper RAM heatsinks.
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
Hmm, I've been looking at pictures of the cards again and now I'm not sure that the fan header on my 6950 will be compatible with the Xtreme fan connector.
From this picture it looks like my 6950 has a three-pin connector, with one pin missing, whilst both the reference 6950 and non-reference MSI shown here, look like they have a four-pin header, as does the 5870 shown here
As the AXPII doesn't seem to be available yet, I'm leaning towards getting the Xtreme 5870 for around £34 and leaving the existing VRM heatsink in place, so I'd just need to buy some RAM heatsinks, but I need to be sure the fan connector is compatible first.
From this picture it looks like my 6950 has a three-pin connector, with one pin missing, whilst both the reference 6950 and non-reference MSI shown here, look like they have a four-pin header, as does the 5870 shown here
As the AXPII doesn't seem to be available yet, I'm leaning towards getting the Xtreme 5870 for around £34 and leaving the existing VRM heatsink in place, so I'd just need to buy some RAM heatsinks, but I need to be sure the fan connector is compatible first.
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
Regarding the missing VRM in the upper-left corner, I found this article about the MSI 6950 Twin Frozr II which shows a component (which the article refers to as a voltage regulator) on the back by one of the mounting holes, which is the same as my Powercolor 6950, and I wondered if this could be where it's been relocated to, or if this component is something else and also found there on reference 6950s?
Re: Which cooler for a modded 6950?
It seems the Powercolor 6950 PCB is more or less the same as the reference 6870 one and as the AXPII is compatible with the latter I was hoping it would be OK, but it seems one of the few things that Powercolor decided to change is the fan header.
Reference 6950s (and 6870s) use a 4-pin fan header, whilst Powercolor have used a 3-pin one (on both their 6870s and 6950s) so the AXPII connector won't fit
I don't know if there's any way to adapt it, or if the AXPII needs signals from all four pins. I realise the AXPII comes with a Molex adapter to power the fans at a constant 7v or 12v, but I'd much rather have them controlled by the card.
This is a reference 6950 and this is a reference 6970, whilst this is the Powercolor 6950 and this is the Powercolor 6970.
As you can also see from those pictures, the reference 6950 and 6970 both have the regulator in the upper-left corner that is absent on the Powercolor 6950. The component on the back of the Powercolor 6950 by the mounting hole is present on the 6870 (not quite as close to the hole though), so that obviously doesn't need a heatsink. I still don't know if there's an extra component somewhere that needs a heatsink though. As you would expect, there's some extra components on the Powercolor 6950 that aren't on the 6870 so maybe one of those should be heatsinked, although thinking about it, if anything isn't heatsinked already I guess it won't need to be with the AXPII.
Reference 6950s (and 6870s) use a 4-pin fan header, whilst Powercolor have used a 3-pin one (on both their 6870s and 6950s) so the AXPII connector won't fit
I don't know if there's any way to adapt it, or if the AXPII needs signals from all four pins. I realise the AXPII comes with a Molex adapter to power the fans at a constant 7v or 12v, but I'd much rather have them controlled by the card.This is a reference 6950 and this is a reference 6970, whilst this is the Powercolor 6950 and this is the Powercolor 6970.
As you can also see from those pictures, the reference 6950 and 6970 both have the regulator in the upper-left corner that is absent on the Powercolor 6950. The component on the back of the Powercolor 6950 by the mounting hole is present on the 6870 (not quite as close to the hole though), so that obviously doesn't need a heatsink. I still don't know if there's an extra component somewhere that needs a heatsink though. As you would expect, there's some extra components on the Powercolor 6950 that aren't on the 6870 so maybe one of those should be heatsinked, although thinking about it, if anything isn't heatsinked already I guess it won't need to be with the AXPII.
