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jdrom17
09-24-08, 06:51 PM
Arctic Cooling TwinTurbo: Review

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03457.jpg

Currently I'm using the latest BIOS I could find which happens to be from Sapphire. It has a much more aggressive fan profile than the original HD4850 BIOS and thus my temperatures using the reference cooler are lower than most but with that quite a bit of noise.

With the stock reference cooler, my idle temperatures were around 60C and it was pretty much inaudible over my other case fans. When gaming, this climbed to about 75C and it was extremely audible. At times I thought there was somebody vacuuming upstairs...

Installation
Firstly you need to remove the reference cooler which is pretty simple, just unscrew all the screws on the backside of the card and twist the heatsink off. Next, clean up all the thermal paste on the GPU core. To clean the memory and MOSFETs, use an eraser and some isopropyl alcohol.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03458.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03460.jpg

Next attach the included memory and MOSFET heatsinks. This is where I had some issues. The first row of MOSFET sinks wouldn't fit side by side due to a capacitor or something sticking up. So thus I had to use my tin snips and cut off a bit on each side of the sink. Also one of the RAM sinks apparently hits the heatpipe so I bent it in advanced but once I got the TwinTurbo installed, I don't think I really had to but it would of been very close.

I don't honestly know how long the MOSFET sinks are going to stick as they seem to have very little hold since its such a large piece of aluminum to adhere to 2 small MOSFETs. I have a feeling I'll have to do something about it eventually and I think I'd replace them with Enzotech MOS-C1s.

Mounting the actual heatsink was fairly easy, pull off the adhesive backing, place the plastic spaces over the correct mounting holes, put it on the GPU and screw it in. The stock mounting setup worked perfectly without any adjustments.

Plug the fan in and your done.

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03465.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03462.jpg

Word of advice: This takes 2 slots easily and I'd be inclined to say 3 so that you can have some airflow. If I didn't have a bottom mounted PSU, I think Crossfire would be feasible with my motherboard at least but it would be tight. (Mind the dust :p)

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03468.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k71/jdrom17/my%20computer/hd4850/DSC03469.jpg

As for the final temperature results, it idles at about 45C and is inaudible over my other fans from what I can tell. I'd say a 15C drop is damn good and also gaining silence. Load temps seem to be about 60C and still silent.

My next plan of action is to tweak the fan profile accordingly, maybe even just run it at 100% if it's silent still.
BAM!
09-24-08, 07:03 PM
what twin turbo are you talking about.
jdrom17
09-24-08, 07:59 PM
Updated first post (stupid 30 characters)
Comixion
09-24-08, 08:09 PM
Nice.:thumb:

It's always appealing to get to stare directly at a GPU core, be it Nvidia or ATI.


Now, wipe the dust off your soundcard:p
BAM!
09-24-08, 08:25 PM
i am thinking about getting the thermalright HR-03gt for my 8800gt, since i am a bit cramped on space, the turbo definitely won't fit in my case.

congrads on the 15 drgree temp drop. and there's nothing worse than noisy video card.
jdrom17
09-24-08, 09:36 PM
Now, wipe the dust off your soundcard:p
Creative doesn't deserve to be dusted off :p

My whole case needs a good cleaning but I've been rather lazy since school started up again. Plus I can barely move my PC...
Lavaandy
09-24-08, 09:55 PM
Looks good now get overclocking!
jdrom17
09-24-08, 09:59 PM
Well 60% fan speed = silent for me since I cannot hear it over the rest of my fans. Up to 80% is a very slight difference, 90% is a more noticeable and well 100% I can definitely hear though it's a softer sound not a vacuum cleaner sound ;)

Running 100% brings my idle temperatures down to 40C.
jdrom17
09-24-08, 11:01 PM
Looks good now get overclocking!
Well I can run a loop of 3DMark06 at 700/1150 but it seems like my core needs more voltage even though CCC tests fine up to 770MHz core, it just crashes in 3DMark.
BAM!
09-24-08, 11:24 PM
i have yet to find a test that fully quarantees stability for GUP like you would get with Prime95. sometimes 3dmark tells you it's stable but you get instability in some games, other times you get stable in some test but in some other benchmark it fails. this is exactly the reason i now just buy pre overclocked cards like the gigabyte 8800gt, they clocked this baby up to 700 mhz up from the original 600mhz. i have yet encounted any instabilty. i can also raise up the clock speed all the way up to 770 myself, but in some rare instances it crashes in some games. but most of the time i just leave it at it's factory clocked 700mhz.
Zefram
09-24-08, 11:31 PM
Well I can run a loop of 3DMark06 at 700/1150 but it seems like my core needs more voltage even though CCC tests fine up to 770MHz core, it just crashes in 3DMark.

How do you force CCC to overclock beyond what the CCC overclocking panel allow?

I could only overclock my card to 790Mhz Core / 2200Mhz (4400Mhz) RAM and the load core temps didn't even reached 50 degrees.

I hate to use other overclocking utility since they will disable PowerPlay....... i'm a power saving person :yeah?:

Since my card uses Volterra VT1165 Sensor, apart from temperature sensor it also provide infos on the current amperage draws on the card. A very disturbing thing i observe is the overclocking on the RAM, at the default 1800mhz (3600mhz) the card only pulls 26.42A, but when the RAM is overclocked the card pull off more than 33 A.
Thus i'm more inclined and interested more in overclocking the core rather than the RAM (it already had ridiculous bandwidth anyway)
Did your card had these monitoring sensor? Can you observe any amperage difference when you overclock the GDDR RAM?

BTW lovely PSU. :scared:
Comixion
09-25-08, 12:53 AM
ummm...Zef your sig has officially traumatized me.
jdrom17
09-25-08, 08:45 AM
How do you force CCC to overclock beyond what the CCC overclocking panel allow?

I could only overclock my card to 790Mhz Core / 2200Mhz (4400Mhz) RAM and the load core temps didn't even reached 50 degrees.

I hate to use other overclocking utility since they will disable PowerPlay....... i'm a power saving person :yeah?:

Since my card uses Volterra VT1165 Sensor, apart from temperature sensor it also provide infos on the current amperage draws on the card. A very disturbing thing i observe is the overclocking on the RAM, at the default 1800mhz (3600mhz) the card only pulls 26.42A, but when the RAM is overclocked the card pull off more than 33 A.
Thus i'm more inclined and interested more in overclocking the core rather than the RAM (it already had ridiculous bandwidth anyway)
Did your card had these monitoring sensor? Can you observe any amperage difference when you overclock the GDDR RAM?

BTW lovely PSU. :scared:
I don't have any sensors for amperage draw so I can't really say much.

As per the CCC limit, look into using RBE to modifiy your BIOS, or find a HD4870 BIOS that already has the limits raised. I believe the ASUS TOP does and a Diamond one too.
jdrom17
09-26-08, 08:18 PM
Well now I'm down to 57C under load, so I guess the thermal paste has set in.
dark41
10-10-08, 03:25 AM
I'm more interested in seeing how it fares after a few months use. Every thin fan, bearings or not, that I've used starts to make a terrible racket within 6 months. They just don't seem to hold up. Hope yours works well, and you keep us updated every 3 mos or so. :)
jdrom17
10-10-08, 08:52 AM
I'm more interested in seeing how it fares after a few months use. Every thin fan, bearings or not, that I've used starts to make a terrible racket within 6 months. They just don't seem to hold up. Hope yours works well, and you keep us updated every 3 mos or so. :)
I'll try but I'll probably forget...
Zefram
10-10-08, 11:00 AM
I'm more interested in seeing how it fares after a few months use. Every thin fan, bearings or not, that I've used starts to make a terrible racket within 6 months. They just don't seem to hold up. Hope yours works well, and you keep us updated every 3 mos or so. :)

I oiled up my fan when it start making annoying sounds.

Some of my fan is 4 years old now, still working great :D

Here's instruction how to Oiled the Fan Bearings (http://www.dansdata.com/fanmaint.htm)

Owh, and although in that article he doesn't recommend WD-40 cause it evaporates, i'd use it anyway lol.
phill9800
10-11-08, 06:14 AM
How can you add more voltage to the card guys?? Mine seems to crap out at 720/1140 in 05 and 06 (not yet tried Vantage) but works in the others....

Any ideas??

Oh my idle temps are about 33c and I havent seen it go over 50c under load, I'm still using the stock cooler as well...
Zefram
10-11-08, 02:27 PM
Oh my idle temps are about 33c and I havent seen it go over 50c under load, I'm still using the stock cooler as well...

You must've one darn cold room, most of the temps reported with HD4850's stock HSF stated that in load it would reaches 70+ degrees.

P/S : Whoops, you apply the fan speed adjustment fix? That would explains the low temperature :fighty:
phill9800
10-11-08, 02:39 PM
With running Windows XP I set the fan speed to a fixed rate of 80% which is a bit noisy, but it keeps the card running slightly cooler :)
But in Vista, Riva Tuner isnt really supporting the card to well, so I'm just not bothering with Vista :p I dont like it anyways :)

I'm looking to water cool the card and hopefully volt mod it sometime :) I wonder if ATI Tool supports it? I managed to put more voltage through the X1900 XT I used to have.... Might give it a go.... ;)