HD6950 Aftermarket Cooler Compatability

[alexander]

Hi all,

I currently have an HD6870 with a Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2 fitted.

I have undervolted the fans and they are hardly spinning but still keeping my card cool enough (36 degrees idle and 70 at load)

I am thinking about upgrading to a 6950 and was wondering if the Gelid would fit, I have read hundreds of posts but none give a definitive answer, one of them seems to but I'm not willing to trust it outright.

Is the board layout between the 68** series, identical to the 69** series? I know they are not listed on the Gelid website but I'm not sure if this is due to the cooler or the heatsinks!

The VRM heatsink did not fit on my 6870 and so I just used the smaller, multiple heatsinks instead of the large single piece. I have had no problems.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Also, does changing the cooler with XFX in the UK void my warranty? Are there stickers to see if the cooler has been changed?

[floats]

Hi all,

I currently have an HD6870 with a Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2 fitted.

I have undervolted the fans and they are hardly spinning but still keeping my card cool enough (36 degrees idle and 70 at load)

I am thinking about upgrading to a 6950 and was wondering if the Gelid would fit, I have read hundreds of posts but none give a definitive answer, one of them seems to but I'm not willing to trust it outright.

Is the board layout between the 68** series, identical to the 69** series? I know they are not listed on the Gelid website but I'm not sure if this is due to the cooler or the heatsinks!

The VRM heatsink did not fit on my 6870 and so I just used the smaller, multiple heatsinks instead of the large single piece. I have had no problems.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Also, does changing the cooler with XFX in the UK void my warranty? Are there stickers to see if the cooler has been changed?

I read on the overclock.net forum that it has the same issue as you mentioned with the 68xx series:

http://www.overclock.net/ati-cooling/93 ... st12380820

Originally Posted by Gelid Team
The cooler will fit, but the VRM heatsink included will not fit, so you will
have to either modifiy it or buy a third party VRM heatsink

I'll be installing an Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Plus on my HIS Radeon 6950. Arctic cooling sells the VR004 VRM/memory kit, which apparently works with both the 68xx series and the 69xx series.

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/1 ... tml?c=2182

Compatible Models
ATI Radeon
6970,6950,6870,5870, 5830, 4890, 4870, 4850, 4830, 3870, 3850

Set VR001

[Fire-Flare]

I know that Arctic Cooling's Accelero Xtreme Plus fits on the 69xx series. And it outperforms the Icy Vision at the same noise levels.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article1103-page5.html

[Haych]

This is the warranty info for Radeon HD cards on the XFX site. This is for the Europe region.

"XFX warrants that the Product shall conform to and perform in accordance with published technical specifications and the accompanying written materials, and shall be free of defects in materials and workmanship. XFX does not sell its Product directly to the consumer therefore the warranty for XFX Products remains the responsibility of your reseller where you purchased the Product.

This warranty offered by XFX to its Resellers is limited to the repair and/or replacement, at XFXs discretion, of defective or nonconforming Product, and XFX shall not be responsible for the failure of the Product to perform specified functions, or any other non- conformance caused by or attributable to: (a) any misapplication, modification or misuse of the Product; (b) failure of Customer to adhere to any of XFXs specifications or instructions; (c) neglect of, abuse of, or accident to, the Product; or (d) any associated or complementary equipment or software not furnished by XFX.

Should you experience any difficulty obtaining a fair and proper warranty service from any of our Resellers please do not hesitate to contact us via the Support Ticketing System where we will do our best to help you.

LIMITATION OF LIABILITY
EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED HEREIN, XFX MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, WITH RESPECT TO ANY EQUIPMENT, PARTS OR SERVICES PROVIDED PURSUANT TO THIS AGREEMENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. NEITHER XFX OR ITS DEALER SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY OTHER DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER IN AN ACTION IN CONTRACT OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE AND STRICT LIABILITY), SUCH AS, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, LOSS OF ANTICIPATED PROFITS OR BENEFITS RESULTING FROM, OR ARISING OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF FURNISHING OF EQUIPMENT, PARTS OR SERVICES HEREUNDER OR THE PERFORMANCE, USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SAME, EVEN IF XFX OR ITS DEALER HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. IN NO EVENT WILL XFX OR ITS DEALERS TOTAL LIABILITY EXCEED THE PRICE PAID FOR THE PRODUCT."

The gist of it seems to imply that they aren't as friendly to use of aftermarket coolers as they once were, but it's possible I just got lost in the wording and misinterpreted.

XFX 6800 and most likely 6900 series cards have warranty stickers placed over a couple of the HSF screws. Warranty is voided if they're removed, at least over here in the UK. It would seem that the North American warranty allows for aftermarket coolers according to this http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=103 ... stcount=19

Certainly what I've read on the web seems to suggest XFX are a great choice if you live in the US or Canada. Maybe not so much if you live anywhere else.

[Fire-Flare]

Looking at a 6970 without a cooler shows that your IV should fit.

The gray box to the left of the GPU might be a problem, but gently bending the tip of the heatpipe will fix that.

[alexander]

Thank you all for the extremely helpful replies.

I've gone ahead and ordered an XFX HD6950 2GB, should come on Friday, I shall let you know how I get on but hopefully there will be no problems!

[Supacon]

I'm very interested in this as well. I don't understand what the Gelid rep meant by having to modify the VRM heatsink, so I'd like to see a photo that illustrates this. Alternatively, I wonder what other readily available products could suffice to cool the VRMs.

The Accelero Xtreme Pro would be more ideal, but it is a much more expensive product that isn't as readily available from my normal supplier (who is NCIX.com in Canada).

[Kaleid]

alexander...how did it go?

[alexander]

Just to let everyone know.

Fitted the Gelid Icy Vision Rev 2 to an XFX HD6950 2GB graphics card and it fits perfectly!

I have no idea why it isn't supported on their website as it fits better than the HD6870.

The VRM heatsink which I could not use on the 6870 fits perfectly on the 6950, so absolutely no modifications are needed.

Hope this helps some people