Recommendations on a good passive cooling system for 2 Radeon 3870s?

[stenackj]

Anyone have any recommendations on a good passive cooling system for a Mac Pro with two ATI Radeon 3870s? I was thinking about the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Rev. 2 (V2) Passive VGA Cooler. Do these things really work and how well compared to the really really reeeeaaally loud fans that are currently on my cards?

Thanks

 

[ungraphic]

I too would like to know. I'm growing tired of the noise thats produced by the 3870. Looking at the Accelero S1 rev2 coolers, I dont think I'd be able to have both of my 3870s with them (im running crossfire in windows) as the passive cooler looks to be quite large.

 

[slicecom]

I have a single 3870 with a Accelero S1 rev2 cooler on it and I love it. It runs cooler than with the stock heatsink with its loud fan. It's quite large though, not sure it would work with 2 in crossfire.

 

[gugucom]

I have a 3870 Mac&Pc with a retrofit Akasa Vortexx Neo cooling system. It is a proper 2 slot cooler with a huge base plate and two heat pipes. It also blows in the right direction (out of the case). It is inaudible even with high loads like cinebench tests. It costs 19$ and I am 100% happy with it. The fan does not even go up when the system starts up. Fitting was a piece of cake. The only problem was the adaptation of the fan connector on the card. The Akasa has a three wire and the card a two wire. I just cut off the connector and fitted the one from the old fan. Simply disregard the third wire and only connect the black and red wires. Two of those should fit the Mac Pro.

 

[nanofrog]

I too would like to know. I'm growing tired of the noise thats produced by the 3870. Looking at the Accelero S1 rev2 coolers, I dont think I'd be able to have both of my 3870s with them (im running crossfire in windows) as the passive cooler looks to be quite large.

The Accelero is the only one I'm aware of.

Take a look at the specs (measurements), and the height restriction drawing. Then compare it to some measurements, and go from there. Sorry I can't offer more, but it's the only way I know of.

Hope this helps.

 

[ungraphic]

Thanks for the info guys!

How is installation of the Accelero S1? Is it difficult/complicated with the thermal paste and all? I'm a little scared of dismantling the fan from my 3870, but looking at some youtube videos it looks fairly easy. I just dont want to end up installing it and then having the processor on the video card fry on me.

 

[nanofrog]

Thanks for the info guys!

How is installation of the Accelero S1? Is it difficult/complicated with the thermal paste and all? I'm a little scared of dismantling the fan from my 3870, but looking at some youtube videos it looks fairly easy. I just dont want to end up installing it and then having the processor on the video card fry on me.

Nah. If you can handle a screwdriver you should be OK.

 

[JPamplin]

Thanks for the info guys!

How is installation of the Accelero S1? Is it difficult/complicated with the thermal paste and all? I'm a little scared of dismantling the fan from my 3870, but looking at some youtube videos it looks fairly easy. I just dont want to end up installing it and then having the processor on the video card fry on me.

Check my sig and click the link for the 3870 - it's a pictorial install guide. Should give you a good idea.

JP

 

[Eidorian]

The Accelero S1 Rev. 2 is as easy as using a screwdriver to install. The pre-applied thermal paste is good as well. Just remove the old cooler and clean off the paste on it already.

I can't recommend this passive cooler enough. It's even better than my stock cooler for my 4830 with fan.