Accelero S1 rev. 2

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Does anyone else have it? Here's a brief description. I ordered my piece some time ago and it arrived on Thursday. My Radeon HD 4850 went down from 104-105C to 62-63C (not great airflow there, especially since replacing the box cooler which is based on the orb structure (basically cools the back side of the graphics card while blowing air around, as well as the RAM sticks and the Northbridge) with a tower one. However, I'm talking about passive temps here, without a fan. I haven't played particularly exhausting games yet, but it seems the passive cooler has a surprisingly good time returning to its normal idle temps - especially considering said poor airflow (the case is open but there's no fan in that area - the only fans are CPU and PSU above). Impressive for a 54 PLN (16 euro / $22) cooler. Tests I've seen show it works pretty much as well as the twice more expensive coolers, even those that look more impressive (more weight, more copper, less aluminium etc). Obviously, temp vs time, such as how long it takes to heat up or cool down, aren't shown in simple tests, but I'm happy with mine.

Caution: If you buy it, make sure you don't buy Accelero S2 or Accelero S1 (the original version). S1 rev. 2 is the best of all of them, even if the others don't suck (S2 is actually cheaper than S1 rev. 2). S1 rev. 2 is sometimes designated as simply S1, so make sure you don't skip it before you check it. And no, they didn't pay me to post. It's just one of the best purchases I've made of late.

 

Interesting. The thing looks huge - is huge (PDF) - it might interfere with other cards and might not fit into a normal sized midi tower. Iirc the 4870 (which I want to buy and would put the Accelero on) is two slot. What will it be like? Three slot size? And I'll probably need some extra cooling I presume, because of the higher temperatures of the 4870?

 

Holy F***ing HUGE!!!

I'm not a fan of passive cooling (no pun intended ), so if I'm not using the stock cooler, I'm strapping a waterblock to it. Of the rigs I've built, no one has ever asked for passive cooling for anything.

 

Guys, Home Theatre sounds to me like a weak PC used for playing films and MP3's. I want a gaming machine. But I have a problem with my hearing and my headaches, especially when I'm tired after work. I just can't handle loud fans or any vibrations. Even repetitive music kills me. I'd gladly spend some buck on passive if I can get away without a fan, but in fact I'm well intending to put a fan on it - just a 12 cm one that doesn't need to rotate so fast and has a more majestic woosh anyway. Or even two such fans, actually. Yes, this thing is that big. Two 12 cm fans would fit on it. And yes, it may be too wide for some cases. Mine isn't very narrow, but it still limits my ability to install a fan on the side of the case corresponding to where the graphics card is. I'm going to need to be tricky and come up with something. I think I'm going to hang the 12 cm fan(s) on cords, have them blow upward onto the card and perhaps I'll even direct a stream of cold air into the case and just above those fans so that they could push it upward. Sweeping the bottom of the case with hot air from the heatsink doesn't make much sense (hot air gets back up anyway).

 

It had good reviews.

The Scythe Orochi is the one that is most silent that I know of. It is a processor cooler, not GPU

 

Hehe, the Orochi? It weighs in at some 2+ pounds. It's huge. My case would fit it It's so efficient that it is basically passive for a normal system - but your box will be full. It might be problematic with air circulation though.

 

Lovely, but you aren't taking your PC to a LAN party with that thing attached to your mobo... You could probably run it passive, but at any rate, a cooler is as silent as the fan. Some fans that are sold with heatsinks are good or even great, but not all. Generally, you probably want to replace the stock fan with a speciality fan that's made to be silent while still blowing with some force. Surprisingly, however, some "noname" fans can be quite good at this.

 

I think I found my dream CPU cooler: The Nocuta NH-U12P (or the NH-U12F which is said to be even more quiet - with U.L.N.A.: 8 dB(A)). Both are about 53€. It is smaller and lighter than the Orochi, and thus doesn't obstruct airflow in my case, and doesn't as much stress the MoBo, at least that's my thinking. And since my comp is all new I, for obvious reasons, don't mind that I'd have to take out my MoBo to install it.

Spoiler

Weight (with fan): 770 g
Rotational Speed (+/- 10%): 1300 RPM
Rotational Speed with U.L.N.A. (+/- 10%): 900 RPM
Airflow: 92,3 m³/h
Airflow with U.L.N.A.: 63,4 m³/h
Acoustical Noise: 19,8 dB(A)
Acoustical Noise with U.L.N.A.: 12,6 dB(A)
... and it includes thermal paste.

Close second is the Xigmatec HDT-S1284 Achilles (~35€), noisier, but certainly 'good enough'. I have yet to make my final calculation and prices are ever shifting.

 

Looks good, but take a look at others, particularly Scythe (quality) and Arctic Cooling (cost/effect efficiency) ones. Forget about the "noisier" ones. Get a quiet one or get a heatsink without a fan and a separate quiet fan to go with it. If you are ready to spend substantial cash on it, I would suggest Scythe Ninja Anniversary Copper Edition.

For the record, I have this. Sorry for lack of a better source, but it's not a very new product. I could run my E7200 passive if I wanted, but at inaudible fan speeds I'm getting really good temps, so the fans are going to stay.

 

I bought the Xigmatec HDT-S1284 for my rig and wasn't too impressed. The pins kept falling out because the heatsink was so heavy and it only had like 5 degrees on my stock cooler for my E8400 with arctic cooling 5. Ended up going for the Zalman CNP S9700, which has around 10 degrees on the xigmatek one on the lowest fan speed, which is around 1250RPM.

 

Hah, my CPU price went down and I am as a result of that not tending towards saving money but to reinvesting the money saved to the Nocuta (which appears to be a superior product), which will also absolve me of the need to buy thermal paste separately (it's in the package). Which means I still pay 15 € more

Which leaves me in a little dilemma. My components are quiet. My PSU generates about 16 bB with its 140mm fan. The Nocuta about 12 - 20dB. My case has some dampening panels. So far so good, and so promising.

The fans that come with the case are said to be noisy. So I want to buy quiet case fans. That means I'll need at least three 120mm fans, or four, pushing up the price again when I don't want to forfeit the benefits of my quiet CPU cooler and PSU. What I have in mind are SilenX fans, which are a little cheaper but about as quiet than the Nocuta's. The latter however, come with a six year guarantee... In any case that'll cost me between some extra 45 € to 60 €, and some 35 € more when I throw in a fan controller.

And then there's my graphics card. The Sapphire ATI 4870 is said to be as noisy as 41 bB to 51 dB - which definitely makes the Accelero S1 rev. 2 more interesting. Does anybody know whether it is necessary to add an extra 12cm fan to the Accelero when it is used with a 4870? If so, what would be the required air throughput? Again, some 33 € more ... ... as far as money is concerned, with computers sky is the limit (theoretically, with me it's more about real-world budgetary concerns). In face of the price tag I might postpone all that, except for the CPU cooler, and go for a silence upgrade in a few months.

Having mentioned fan controllers, I saw this extra cool fan controller, the Aerocool Modern V (that reminded me somehow of Star Trek). I never used a fan controller, which leaves me wondering whether I do have any use for a fan control when I have a fixed fan speed. Any experiences with that? Could someone please explain?

 

I've got the Zalman CNP S9700 as well. It has a fan speed control that I have sitting on the top of my case. Most of the time I have it set at +5% of its minimum speed, which keeps it silent...but if I play a game, or do something else that's CPU intensive, a quick turn of the dial, and it turns in to a jet engine of a cooler!

Besides boasting some great cooling specs, its height puts it in line (and facing the correct direction) with my 120mm rear fan, so any heat blown off the heatsink gets sucked right out of the case.

 

I have a Thermaltake Ruby Orb on a e 6600. Regulated by the p35 motherboard it spins slow. While gaming it speeds up. I have two fancontrollers.
The controllers lets me spin the 5 casefans at a low speed. Temp meters indicate the heat in the case, so when it rises during gaming, I can add power to the 3 intake fans, two outtake fans, or all five.