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The Accelero X2 really works! Quiet your X1900XT

P

pprior

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Aug 1, 2007
1,448
9
Just wanted to post to let everyone know my experience with this product. I've had my Mac Pro since early this year, and while it's been a great machine I've not been happy with the noise level of the ATI X1900 XT card. Recently my card was replaced and the new version was even louder than my old one.

Thus I broke down and broke my vow not to modify my Mac Pro. I'm quite happy I did.

Installing the product only took about 10 minutes, was very easy. The only trick was using a couple of the old screws with the washers for the part that attaches to the red bracket.

I fired up my Mac Pro and where before I could hear the whine of the ATI card constantly (and it really became annoying with upgrade to leopard) - now I can't hear it at all. It's a very noticeable difference.

Well worth the money. I had a hard time finding one, but ordered from "general nanosystems". I had never dealt with them before, but the product came promptly and as ordered and I would order from them again.

Again just sharing in case anyone else is looking to quiet a noisy mac pro. I sure hope the next video card in the next mac pro is both quieter and does not run as hot.
 
There's a big problem with it. It dumps all the heat from the x1900XT (100W or so) inside the case. In fact all the hot air blows directly at the logic board. Not a good idea. There are a bunch of threads on the Accelero from about a year ago.
 
dusanv said:
There's a big problem with it. It dumps all the heat from the x1900XT (100W or so) inside the case. In fact all the hot air blows directly at the logic board. Not a good idea. There are a bunch of threads on the Accelero from about a year ago.
Click to expand...

Yah it's a very poor design. It should have a similar setup to some of the nVidia built in coolers where the exhaust exits the case completely.

I mean blowing on the motherboard/Logic board is the WORST thing to do. Your pretty much creating another problem by solving another. Neither of which is benefiting your computer one bit.

Sorry, it may cool the video card but it blows extra heat onto the logicboard/mb which as the above quote says is NOT good and could and will damage the logic board.
 
How is this any different than the X800XT series or Nvidia 6800 Ultra that was available for the G5 series? Its no big deal. At most it will raise the temps internally 2-3C and the internal fans might ramp a few more seconds every hour to deal with the extra heat.
 
I've had a X2 in my Mac Pro for over a year now, never had any temperature problems with it. I probably only stress the card for a few hours a week though.
 
Another positive plug for the X2. I had it running for over a year on an overclocked X1900 XT, with no issues with heat even after hours of gaming. It's definitely better than the stock cooler since it doesn't fill up with dust. Lots of stock X1900 XTs have been overheating and dying due to the dust buildup.

The temperature rise on the inside of the case is minimal. The Mac Pro's blower fans are by far large enough to send that excess heat right back out of the case. Don't worry about it.

The X2 might cause problems in some poorly ventilated PC cases, but it's not an issue in the Mac Pro.
 
dusanv said:
There's a big problem with it. It dumps all the heat from the x1900XT (100W or so) inside the case. In fact all the hot air blows directly at the logic board. Not a good idea. There are a bunch of threads on the Accelero from about a year ago.
Click to expand...

I'm running SMCFan control and haven't seen any rise in case temperatures. I've turned up my case fans a bit so they're exhausting more heat that way. It's still MUCH MUCH quieter and I don't see any harm or excessive heat.

Just my experience, but I highly recommend it from a quieting the Mac Pro standpoint. I'm obsessive about computer noise, and this has made me fall in love with my mac pro all over again whereas before I put up with the whining noise but was irritated by it.
 
Cromulent said:
I've been thinking about getting this for my ATI card http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-035-TR it looks like a good option when coupled with a 92mm fan. Not really all that interested in silent operation but the stock cooler on the ATI card is rubbish. The cooler above is meant to keep it below 50 degrees under load which is pretty impressive.
Click to expand...

Well personally I wouldn't be messing around with it unless you're having problems. The stock cooler is pretty poor design, but if you keept the fins blown out a couple times a year it should be ok if the noise doesn't bother you.
 
tvbi said:
The Thermaltake TMG AT1 is better.
Click to expand...

I 100% agree.

The point I was trying to make earlier and failed to do so is even though you may or may not notice temp differences by it blowing the hot air back onto the logic board/case is that that SAME hot air is recycled back over the heat sink fins and thus not cooling ANY part inside the case properly.

I have been modding cases ever since my first windows computer back in 1994 and ambient temp makes a big difference.

Your raising the ambient temp by re-blowing the air back into the case. Exhausting the air outside the case forces the internal fans to use fresh air which is cooler than air (obviously) coming off heat sink fins.

So whether you may not notice the difference but if you blow the air directly outside you WILL notice a difference if you exhaust the hot air outside rather than recycle it back inside. Cool air over fins > warm air over fins ALWAYS. The worse design for any cooling system is one that blows warm air back into the case. There's always going to be warm air in there but why introduce more?

Let's say the OP's cooling system is cooling the card at 42 degrees and the threshold is 48 degrees. By re-introducing the warm air back over the fins the temp will slowing increase since the air is already warm. If using fresher non-recycled air the temp will in fact go down a little bit rather than keeping it AT 42 and possibly run the risk of it going closer to the threshold.

It's a chance I personally wouldn't take on an expensive vid card. Why work it harder when you can do some good with it and work it smarter.
 
Well that last link does look like a better product than what I installed, but the reason why is that QUIET is worth a bit hotter system temps. Again, I'm running the air intake and outflow fans a bit higher and am seeing NO increase in system temps even though the Accelero puts the hot air back in the case.

I guess in my mind it's theory vs. reality and in reality I'm very happy with the decrease in noise. If that last link provides both then it clearly would be better, but I have no experience with it and didn't see any reference to it before I bought the one I have now.
 
TMG AT1 is pretty quiet too. The only annoyance with it is that you have to hook up the fan to the power supply and not to the video card like the stock cooler. But otherwise, it looks awesome.
 
pprior said:
Well personally I wouldn't be messing around with it unless you're having problems. The stock cooler is pretty poor design, but if you keept the fins blown out a couple times a year it should be ok if the noise doesn't bother you.
Click to expand...

It is more for when I am playing games in Windows really. The graphics card seems to be the weak link in the system in terms of temperature.
 
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