Water Cooling For Your GeForce 9800 GTX

Category: VGA Cooling
Posted: April 15, 2008 09:10PM
Author: Chris Benjamin

So you picked up that killer new GeForce 9800 GTX, and you're already looking for better cooling so you can push it to its OC'd limit?  Check out this water block (SPY SHOTS!) from German cooling innovator Aqua Computer, manufactured specifically for the GeForce 9800 GTX.  The aquagraFX 9800 GTX water block - which just went up for sale yesterday - is 600 grams of 99.9% pure copper, cools the GPU, RAM, and the voltage regulators, using a specially designed thermal paste that takes the place of bulky, underperforming thermal pads - virtually eliminating the need for additional heat sinks.  Hopefully, this water block will make its way across to the U.S. side of the Atlantic...

CoolIT Release NVIDIA VGA MTEC Coldplate

Category: Cooling, Manufacturers, VGA Cooling
Posted: March 13, 2008 03:08PM
Author: Ben Grantham

CoolIT -

CoolIT systems produce water cooling systems with a bit of a twist, with that twist being that the water is chilled using the company's MTEC Technology. We reviewed the CoolIT Eliminator early last year and were impressed with the performance. CoolIT has moved on since then and has broadened its product line-up considerably. The latest creation is the MTEC Coldplate for NVIDIA 8800 series graphics cards, which should boost cooling performance when compared with regular water cooling blocks. That should be handy for those looking to push their cards that little bit further, maybe in the aim of benchmark records? The NVIDIA MTEC Coldplate is available now from CoollIT for $109.99

New HD3870 Toxic Edition from Sapphire

Category: Video Cards, General News, VGA Cooling
Posted: February 22, 2008 08:39AM
Author: kingdingeling

Sapphire - After releasing the HD3870 Atomic Edition (you can find OCC's review of it here), Sapphire is once again providing an alternative cooling solution for their enthusiast line-up. The all-new Toxic Edition features the Vapor-X cooler, a single slot solution that cools through the Vapour Chamber Technology (VCT). As you might have noticed, the Sapphire Atomic and Toxic Edition cards are probably the only single-slot HD3870's around, indicating that the VCT technology cools very efficiently. The single slot cooler could even allow for CrossFire configurations on boards that don't have much space in between the PCI-Express slots, such as Shuttles XPCs. The Toxic Edition has it's core pre-overclocked at 800MHz and the 512MB GDDR4 memory has a clock of 1152MHz (2304 MHz effectively).

Arctic Cooling Introduce Accelero Xtreme

Category: Cooling, Gaming, Manufacturers, VGA Cooling
Posted: February 19, 2008 10:11AM
Author: Ben Grantham

Arctic Cooling -

Releasing a product with an 'Xtreme' qualifier has been popular with a number of manufacturers, and why we can't use the regular spelling I don't know (maybe that wouldn't be 'Extreme' enough?). It seems Arctic Cooling is the latest to jump onto this product naming band wagon, with the release of its Accelero Xtreme graphics card coolers. The Accelero Xtreme comes in two variants, the '2900' model being designed for use with ATI HD2900 series cards, and the '8800' model being for use with the 8800Ultra, GTX and GTS/GT (G80). The first question I find myself asking is why release a new high end cooler for cards that are essentially a generation old already? I guess Arcitic Cooling must think the demand is there, so what does the new Accelero Xtreme have to offer?

Both models of the Xtreme bear a resemblance to earlier models in the series (S1 and S2), although taking on a longer and slightly thinner profile than the S1. AC manage to pack in an impressive 5 heatpipes, 107 cooling fins and 3 80mm PWM fans, so cooling potential definitely isn't lacking here, and with a claimed heat dissipation of up to 240W it should be able to handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. Of course, as with most of AC's products, those fans are likely to be almost silent. The Accelero Xtreme 2900 comes with an MSRPof $49.90 and the 8800 version comes in at $47.90. It will be a tough job living up to the very popular S1, but it does look like it offers consumers an 'Xtreme' solution (no matter how much that name may grate with some).

Hardware Roundup: Monday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, CPU's, Software, Digital Photography/Video, CPU Cooling, VGA Cooling
Posted: February 11, 2008 06:41AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Our week gets started with a lot of ground to cover.  Intel-based systems are dominating the roundup today so if that's your platform of choice we have a lot to offer.  LostCircuits leads off with an in-depth look at Intel's SkullTrail Extreme Platform.  By now you are most likely aware that Skulltrail is a dual-processor platform with Crossfire and SLI support.  You may have also noticed it will require a serious wallet to implement.  However, there are alternatives based on other Intel chipsets such as the P35 and X38 as well as the upcoming X48.  Today we have a chance to examine motherboards based on two of those platforms.  ThinkComputers reviews the ASUS Maximus Formula Intel X38 Motherboard.  If you've been wondering about the X48 and what it offers over the previous generation you can check out the MSI X48 Platinum Motherboard at RBMods.  To round out the news, Tech ARP has an article on Intel G45 & G43 Chipset Details.  Not all the news is around Intel's chipsets though.  NVIDIA has a new chipset supporting PCI-E 2.0 and the Intel 45nm CPUs, so if you're currently looking for SLI support you need to check out the EVGA 780i SLI Motherboard at motherboards.org.  A quiet, but effective, way to cool your processor is the goal of the CoolIT PURE Silent Liquid CPU Cooler reviewed at Techgage.  Thermalright is well-known among enthusiasts for it extreme air-cooling products.  When you combine that name with a name like Inferno Fire eXtinguisher you end up with the Thermalright IFX-14 CPU Cooler and this one is truly a monster with room for up to three 140mm fans.   Madshrimps gives us the chance to see what this behemoth can do.  For those looking for a more traditional air cooling solution you can check out the TweakTown review of the Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler.  Your CPU is not the only item in your machine needing cooling.  Virtual-Hideout takes a look at the Thermaltake DuOrb VGA Cooler to see how well it performs.  Today's roundup also features more opportunities to check out the latest video cards from AMD/ATI as Fudzilla has their article HD3870 and HD3850 mix tested in Crossfire and Bjorn3D evaluates the PowerColor HD 3650 512M GDDR3 Xtreme PCS.  Just how well do those cards perform?  Every review has some sort of reference to a set of results from one or more benchmarks.  [H]ardocp challenges that approach in its Benchmarking the Benchmarks article.  We've had the opportunity to look at several software packages from Uniblue here at OCC and today Tweak News has another in that lineup with the UniBlue Process Scanner Software.  Last, but not least, there is the OnAir Solution GT Mobile HDTV Tuner at Overclockers Online.

Hardware Roundup: Wednesday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, CPU's, Music / Video Players, Speakers/Headphones, CPU Cooling, VGA Cooling
Posted: February 6, 2008 06:25AM
Author: Dale Shuck

The mid-week edition of the roundup brings more information on Intel's Skulltrail platform.  As we saw in the reviews earlier, the Skulltrail platform has a lot to offer including the first support for SLI cards on an Intel platform.  Legit Reviews dives further into the details with their Intel SkullTrail Preview - Dual Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Processors.  More details can be found in the Intel SkullTrail Platform from motherboards.org where they state the QX9775 processor is simply a LGA771 version of the QX9770 processor (reviewed HERE by OCC).  Neoseeker posted the Phenom 9600 Black Edition Review & TLB Fix Investigation and reveals the microcode fix for the TLB erratum has some pretty astounding effects on performance.  While we're discussing CPUs take a look at the Zalman CNPS8700 LED Low Noise Heatsink from FrostyTech for a capable low-noise cooling solution.  HotHardware is back with more workstation-class GPUs with their FireGL V5600 vs. QuadroFX 1700 vs. FireGL V3600.  In the gaming GPU department, there is the ASUS EN8800GTS TOP at Bjorn3D.  We also have the  BFGTech 8800 GTS 512MB OC2 WC Edition at [H]ardocp.  Not only is the card factory overclocked, it also includes a pre-installed Danger Den water block.  If water cooling is not in your budget then check out the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800 Video Card Cooler reviewed by Madshrimps.  Enthusiasts looking for an Intel-based board with PCI-E 2.0 and support for the 1600 MHz FSB need to check out the Asus Maximus Extreme Intel X38 Express Motherboard at PCSTATS.  Touch screens seem to be the rage a la the iPod Touch and the iPhone and the Super Talent VIDEGO28 Touch Screen Digital Media Player at ExtremeMHz is another entry with that feature.  Rounding out our selection today, ThinkComputers looks at the Zalman ZM-RS6F USB Surround Sound Headphones.

Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition

Category: Motherboards, CPU's, Cases, Operating Systems, Mobile, Input Devices, Storage / Hard Drives, General News, CPU Cooling, VGA Cooling
Posted: February 1, 2008 07:20AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Our Friday roundup seems to have picked up a bit after yesterday's lull with a good mix of items.  Tech ARP starts off with a bit of news telling us Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Out Next Week, at least for OEMs.  PC Perspective has some additional news in their podcast as they look at AMD Q4 results, NVIDIA ESA, VIA Isaiah x86 CPU, AMD 3870 X2 and more.  The AMD Spider platform is designed for its line of Phenom processors.  Today we get a chance to examine the MSI K9A2 Platinum AMD 790FX Motherboard from HotHardware.  For Intel fans we have two more boards from MSI based on the P35 chipset.  First in the queue is a TweakTown review of the MSI P35 Diamond Motherboard.  This board supports DDR3 memory and offers onboard X-Fi sound.  Buying a new board based on the P35 chipset means choosing between DDR2 and DDR3 memory formats.  The are trade offs involved with going with either format.  Viper Lair reviews the MSI P35 Platinum Combo board that offers you the option of using either memory type.  What could be easier?  Then there's the choice of which processor to buy.  TechSpot has a look at Intel Core 2 Duo 45nm Wolfdale vs. 65nm Conroe to see what the new 45nm technology has to offer.  Back over at TweakTown we get a look at the ASUS Triton 75 CPU Cooler that uses a passive design but also allows you to attach a 120mm fan.  Also in the cooling arena, Techgage pits two aftermarket VGA coolers against each other in their GeForce 8800 GTS/GTX Cooler Comparison.  Next off you get to compare two other products with the Razer Pro|Click Mac Gaming Mouse at Virtual-Hideout and the Steelseries Ikari Optical Gaming Mouse at Tweaknews.  Computer builders are always looking for the perfect place to house their rigs.  With so many choices it's always a tough decision and motherboards.org has a look at the Ultra Products M998 Case.  Your iPhone deserves a case of its own as well. The Otterbox for iPhone Defender Series at ThinkComputers is a good way to protect your investment.  Bjorn3D has a review of the Thermaltake Muse X-Duo Raid external storage unit.  Finally PCSTATS has another installment in their ongoing series with the Beginners Guides: Setting up an FTP Server in WindowsXP.

Hardware Roundup: Tuesday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, Cases, Operating Systems, Gaming, Music / Video Players, Storage / Hard Drives, VGA Cooling
Posted: January 29, 2008 05:51AM
Author: Dale Shuck

The flurry of reviews of the ATI HD 3870 X2 from yesterday has subsided somewhat but we have a couple more installments.  First up is an entry that arrived after our last roundup was posted from Legit Reviews and their look at the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 Video Card.  So what is the best setup - two HD 3870s in Crossfire mode or a single HD 3870 X2?  TweakTown takes a look at HD 3870 in Crossfire vs. HD 3870 X2 to help you decide.  Next up we have two cases from the same manufacturer.  LAN Addict opens up the Sunbeamtech Freezing Storm ATX Case for us to examine.  The other offering is the Sunbeam Tuniq 3 Case from 3dGameMan.  High-end graphics cards require extreme cooling, especially for those of us who overclock their cards.  That often means turning to an after-market cooler.  NVNews reviews the Inno3D GeForce 8800 GT i-ChiLL that comes from the factory equipped with an Artic Cooling Accelero X1 cooler.  Neoseeker has a look at the MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX Motherboard, an AM2+ board based on the AMD 790FX Northbridge/SB600 Southbridge chipset.  For Intel fans, Techgage brings us the Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L, offering us a chance to examine a budget board based on the P31 chipset.  The Galaxy Tvisto Pro Digital Media Enclosure is a big name for a little product.  ThinkComputers finds this device comes up short where it counts.  PCSTATS has Beginners Guide: 99 Windows Vista Performance Tips and Tweaks.  We also have another guide, this time for gamers with Oblivion: Shivering Isles Walkthrough at OCModShop.

Liquid Cooling System for HD 3870 X2 Announced

Category: VGA Cooling
Posted: January 28, 2008 05:59PM
Author: Dale Shuck

CoolIT Systems -

In case you missed it, the new ATI HD 3870 X2 cards are out.  Many sites including OCC had reviews up today on the new dual GPU card.  That's right, two graphics processing units on a single card that offers Crossfire capabilities while only occupying two slots.  In conjunction with this release,  CoolIT Systems has announced the next member in their Reference Series with the release of a liquid cooling system for the HD 3870 X2.  Working closely with AMD engineering and utilizing AMD's micro-channel technology, the CoolIT cooling option is a closed-loop cooling system that effectively cools both GPUs and memory while reducing the the card's profile to a single slot.  With the new cooling set up, CoolIT was able to push the core clock from the reference speed of 825 MHz to over 900MHz.  Memory clock speeds were pushed from 900MHz to 1GHz with no resulting thermal issues.  The result was a 3D Mark06 score of over 23,500.  No details on pricing or availability were released. 

Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Motherboards, CPU's, Cases, Cooling, Gaming, Music / Video Players, Input Devices, Monitors, Gadgets, VGA Cooling
Posted: January 24, 2008 06:16AM
Author: Dale Shuck

Many hardware manufacturers are beginning to tout their products as supporting the ESA standard and are even prominently display the ESA logo.  Just what is ESA?  PC Perspective explains it all in their NVIDIA ESA: Enthusiast System Architecture article.  AMD/ATI has been getting some of the limelight with their HD 3850/3870 video cards.  TweakTown shares the MSI Radeon HD 3870 X2 OC Graphics Card with us and you need to pay attention to the "X2" in the name because this is the new dual GPU version!  Sharing the spotlight is the fact that AMD also just released two other cards as well and Legit Reviews looks at the ATI Radeon HD 3450 and Radeon HD 3650 Video Cards.  For NVIDIA fans there is always the Inno3D 8800 GT iChill at Overclocker Cafe which sports a factory overclock and an Arctic Cooling Accelero X1 cooler.  There's another new video technology making its way onto the market these days and you can head over to Techgage to read about DisplayLink - Multi-Display Setups with USB.  Crysis is a game known for bringing many a system to  its knees.  What does it take to play this game at the highest resolutions?  HotHarware has the Crysis v1.1 NVIDIA 3-Way SLI Performance Update.  What good is a new video card without a large monitor to show off all that eye candy?  That's where the Samsung SyncMaster 275T TFT LCD comes in and LAN Addict gives us a chance to check it out.  Madshrimps just posted their Foxconn P35AP-S Motherboard Revisited: New BIOS.  FrostyTech looks at the Xigmatek MAC-S3501 DDR/DDR2 Memory Heatspreaders and questions just how necessary is an active memory cooling solution.  The Lian Li PC-P80 Case garners some pretty strong superlatives in the video review from 3dGameMan.  Low power CPUs are more often found in mobile devices, not in enthusiasts' machines so find out what [H]ardocp has to say about VIA's New Centaur Designed Isaiah CPU Architecture.  TechReport has a quick look at SanDisk's Sansa Clip MP3 player for those of you looking for a small music player whose name doesn't begin with an 'i'.  When gaming, if your hands sweat like a kid on his first date then the Logitech ChillStream Actively Cooled Gamepad at Tweak News might be the answer for you.  Don't forget to check out the Geeks 7" Digital Picture Frame over at Monster-Hardware before you go.

Hardware Roundup: Monday Edition

Category: Video Cards, Memory, Mobile, Gaming, Music / Video Players, Digital Photography/Video, Storage / Hard Drives, CPU Cooling, VGA Cooling, Trade Shows/Conventions
Posted: January 14, 2008 05:12AM
Author: Dale Shuck

We have a lot of ground to cover in today's roundup so let's jump right in.  First up is the ASUS EN8800GTS 512MB Graphics Card at Tech ARP.  Several cooling products made their way into today's offerings.  OCModSHop has a look at the Danger Den MC-TDX 775 CPU Waterblock and evaluates its compares its performance to the previous TDX block.  Virtual-Hideout looks at the ASUS Triton 75 CPU Cooler which features a fan-less cooling design that also allows you to choose your own 120mm fan similar to some of Thermalright's products.  The Zerotherm Hurricane HC92 CU 8800 VGA Cooler is designed for cooling the latest generation of video cards and Tweaknews evaluates this beast to see if the bulky design of this cooler is worth it.  Our friends at Bonafide Reviews have a look at the second generation Zune 2 80GB MP3 Player.  The battle for DDR3 memory supremacy continues to heat up (literally) and Overclockers Online reviews the Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 (TWIN3X2048-1800C7DFIN) kit with its included Corsair Dominator AirFlow fan setup.  For the gamers we have Crysis 1.1 Patch Performance with Multi-GPU Testing from TechSpot.  Tired of all that cable clutter under your desk?  Take a look at the ULTRA Stackable at Bjorn3D (also check out the OCC review here).  Finally, ThinkComputers brings us more CES 2008 coverage with articles on Antec, Microsoft, Viewsonic and Thermaltake.

ASUS EN8800GTS 512MB Graphics Card @ Tech ARP
CES 2008: Antec @ ThinkComputers
Danger Den MC-TDX 775 CPU Waterblock @ OCModShop
CES 2008: Microsoft @ ThinkComputers
CES 2008: ViewSonic @ ThinkComputers
Zune 2 80GB MP3 Player @ Bonafide Reviews
Corsair Dominator PC3-14400 (TWIN3X2048-1800C7DFIN) @ Overclockers Online
Crysis 1.1 Patch Performance with Multi-GPU Testing @ TechSpot
ASUS Triton 75 CPU Cooler @ Virtual-Hideout
ULTRA Stackable @ Bjorn3D
CES 2008: Thermaltake @ ThinkComputers
Zerotherm Hurricane HC92 CU 8800 VGA Cooler @ Tweaknews

CoolIT Systems Announces New Reference Series Liquid Cooling for ATI RadeoN HD 3870

Category: VGA Cooling
Posted: January 9, 2008 09:28AM
Author: Dale Shuck

CoolIT Systems -

CoolIT Systems announceD the next installment in the Reference Series line of liquid cooling systems designed specifically to effectively cool a AMD HD 3870 Crossfire configuration.  Previously, CoolIT developed a Reference Series system designed to provide liquid cooling for the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT. Geoff Lyon, CEO of CoolIT Systems comments "By working closely with AMD, we've been able to further advance the Reference Series Dual Drive Bay Crossfire Cooler to effectively and quietly dissipate heat from the ATI Radeon™ HD 3870."  He added, "We recently benchmarked these cards and were able to hit over 23,000 in 3D Mark 06, which is extraordinary performance."  The universally compatible compact form factor fits in a dual 5¼" drive bay and installs in any chassis quickly and easily.  Additionally, the liquid cooling card assembly reduces the Radeon HD 3870 graphics cards to a single PCI Slot size enabling the use of up to 4 cards if the mother board supports it.  Pricing and availability were not announced.

Thermalright launches the HR-03 GT video card cooler

Category: Video Cards, General News, VGA Cooling
Posted: December 26, 2007 03:26PM
Author: kingdingeling

Thermalright -

Thermalright announced the launch of the HR-03 GT, a video card heatsink featuring compatibility with the newer NVIDIA G92 GPUs and ATIs RV670 GPUs. The cooler is a new revision of the already successfull HR-03. It will support the 6800, 7800, 7900, 8600GTS, 8800GT and 8800GTS (G92) series for NVIDIA, and the X1800, X1900, X1950, HD3850 and HD3870 series from ATI. In the package, you will get the HR-03 GT, but also some heatsinks for the RAM and the PWN-ICs. There are also two ways of mounting the cooler, on where it's standing off of the card, and the other where the cooler is sort of "hugging" the card, where the heatpipes go around the cards PCB once. A 92mm or smaller fan can be mounted to enhance the cooling performance, but the HR-03 GT can also be run passively for silence enthusiasts.