Nice review. I didn't like the heatsink adhesive either but I did get it to work by cleaning the ram chips ahead of time and then using pressure.

I've used these S-1 coolers on 2 different cards: x1800xt, and hd3870. Worked very well in both situations, first one I did a 1200rpm case intake fan @12V, which was adequate. Next setup I used an 800rpm slipstream mounted directly, and that seems to be more cooling with less noise.

The best performance seems to be achieved using this passive-design heatsink with a low-speed fan mounted, lol.

This was also used to overclock an HD3870 to over 1GHz GPU core with a simple 130mm fan @1200rpm and an S-1... the best air-cooling results to date, and still not too noisy.

Seems like AC has a gold mine in their hands here. Too bad SPCR didnt use 8800GT too, as S1 and 8800GT is the thing people rave about. But I guess that ATI card is much better as stress tester.

I replaced the stock cooler on my Powercolor x1950Pro and got significantly lower GPU temps and moderately lower ambient case temps (if I read the Speedfan tea leaves correctly) passively.

I'm not sure how I got the lower case temps, except that perhaps the massive aluminum radiator retained some heat, as opposed to the stock cooler exhausting it all back into the case air.
The thing is a marvel for it's price. If it won't fit in your case, think about a bigger case.

Agree with the review; having had mine for a while now. Just a tiny bit of airflow and you have a really quiet very good performer for almost no money! Superb.

Nice review,

I think two of these would do my XFX 7950GT 610M 512MB XXX cards well, works in SLI mode and they're also inexpensive compared to other products out there.

Nice review, thanks.

Since it fits the G92 based 8800 series, will it also fit the older G90 based cards like the Ultra? I know it's not recommened to use with those boards but I think it could be a very good cooler with two 120mm fans fitted. Since I have one I'd like to experiment and see what temps I get before forking out for a water cooling system.

The old style Accelero S1 doesn't fit on the older 8800GTS/GTX/Ultra cards.

It looks like the new Accelero S1 rev 2 doesn't either. It has an extra set of mounting holes that appears to make it compatible with more low end cards (ATI 2600 and ATI 2400 series?) rather than the older Nvidia 8800 models.

You can see the changes on the Arctic Cooling product page:

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=147

Damn... Because I think it would work well. Would be an absolute bargain for the price too. Please Accelero, make an 8800 Ultra compatible version (preferably with RAM cooling too)!

LOL...it sounds like you're asking the accelero module to make itself compatible instead of hoping Arctic Cooling will.

It's too late for the gtx, lets hope nvidia makes its dual g92 gpu and g100 gpu compatible w/ the accelero!

Same here, cleaned the ram, slapped them on my 8800GT, pressed a bit and they stuck. After a day i checked and they weren't sticking all that well, but after a bit of stressing they seem to have gained in stickyness. They're on pretty solid now.

Nice review, it covers the S1 exactly as how i would (and have) describe(d) it.

I think you should take a look at the new Thermaright coolers too, then have a passive to passive comparison.

Brendan

they overcharge for them. I couldnt consider it a real deal with this one on the market.

its going on in a week when i have time. I am getting turbo module as well. curious to see how smooth they sound undervolted.

If you look in the Compatibility tab of the S1, it says it does fit the GTS and the GT. They don't say it fits the GTX/Ultra though. Also was a news-item on the site this month. (See the news-scrollbar on the left.)

Nvidia would have saved a lot of confusion if they had used a different name for these newer cards.

The original G80 8800GTS cards (320mb and 640mb versions) have the same hole spacing as the 8800GTX and Ultra. The mounting holes on those cards are different to the newer ones and you can't fit a Accelero S1.

The limited edition 8800GTS 640mb (112 stream processors) card also uses the spacing of the original 8800 series cards. You can't fit a Accelero S1 to that either.

The new G92 8800GTS 512mb and 8800GT 256mb/512mb/1gb cards have the same mounting holes as the Nvidia Geforce 7 cards. You can fit an Accelero S1 to those.

I have just ditched my x1950xtx for a 3870 and have also ordered a S1 so I can crank up the core speed on the card. The stock cooler is far too noisy and is too small to keep temperatures down when at >850Mhz.

I have flashed the card's BIOS to one that sets the stock clocks to 830Mhz/1200Mhz and opens up a greater range of clockspeeds in CCC. With the S1, I hope to get over 900Mhz on the core with temps under 50 degrees at load. Now I just need to decide whether the turbo module or another Yate Loon 120mm fan will be the best cooling solution to add to the S1...

Do you have a link to that BIOS?

Nice review.

Mike, in your expert opinion Do you think the up-coming Fusion Max will be able to contain the Accelero S1 with the lid on top?

That would indeed be interesting. My experience of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme is that it's not that brilliant. Because you can't have automatic fan speed control easily (the header on the graphics card is not the same as case fan headers) it either performs slightly worse than stock cooling under load or a but better but louder. IMHO the 8800s really need proper RAM cooling too, and the Ultra-120 doesn't blow as much air over the RAM as the Accelero does. Finally, the Ultra-120 doesn't take a 120mm fan as well as the Accelero does, and certainly not two.

Don't you mean the Thermalright HR-03 VGA cooler?

Thermalright HR-03 Plus

.

Where do you get this info? Last I've heard, the Thermalright HR03 IS A HS, NOT a fan. Also, you CAN put 120mm fans on it...I don't think you can fit two on the S1 either...

Brendan

Actually I own one, so I have first hand experience.

This picture shows two 92mm fans on the S1:



I have checked with my own S1 (for another card) and two 120s will fit.

Don't get me wrong - for graphics cards with cooler RAM or people who don't kind noise, the Ultra-120 is quite good. If you want to get a high overclock then it doesn't cool RAM even as well as the stock HSF, and for silence temperatures are unacceptable with low airflow/low speed fans. In that respect the stock HSF is better, because temps are find at idle and even under load the noise isn't bad (and who cares anyway because you can't hear it over the explosions).

Congratulation SPCR.
Your article is first class and hits my heart at it's most sensible spot.

Perfect low noise setup + very interesting GPU cooler test.

Why do you say it doesn't cool ram? and stop calling it Ultra 120, it's the HR03.

How does the S1 compare to the HR-03 or HR-03 GT? Which one is better?

That's what I'm asking for them to compare.

Oh yes, sorry, I keep getting them mixed up. I have both

I say it doesn't cool RAM enough because it doesn't cool RAM enough. It's just about adequate at stock speed with a fan, but certainly no good passive for for overclocking.

The S1 with two fans is at lest blowing air directly on to the RAM heatsinks. The HR03 is more restrictive too.

Very good review
I wait for the test THERMALRIGHT HR-03 PLUS

Not only hr-03 plus, but also hr-03 standard and hr-03 gt

HR+ and HRGT are the same, with different mounting. So either of those tested would suffice. The standard HR has less pipelines if i recall correctly so it should function a bit less effective in theory.

In any case, a comparison / review of any of the HR03's would make me a happy man, as I am considering buying one for my new Lian Li A05 build.