discussion Looking for alternative air-cooling solution to reference R9 290 shroud

[mbamg]

I've been reading a lot about the various solutions out there, but they all seem to be incomplete or unavailable.

With Arctic Cooling's Accelero Xtreme IV, no heatsinks are provided for the VRAMs and VRMs, which mean I'd have to purchase them separately.

With Arctic Cooling's Accelero Xtreme III, plenty of reviews say that the cheap aluminum heatsinks provided can be insufficient under heavy load, and there will be at least one VRAM left partially uncovered due to the cooler design.

For both the Xtreme III and IV the provided fans are also said to be insufficient under heavy load.

With the Prolimatech MK-26, I would have to buy heatsinks and additional fans myself, and also forgo the advantage of controlling my fan speeds from a GPU application.

So far the Alpenfoehn Peter/II looks like the most complete solution to me, but I can't find anyone who carries it in Canada. Shipping from anywhere else would be pricey. I'd prefer to keep the total cost $150 CAD at the most.

The reason why I haven't gone for water-cooling is a) cost (and I'll still have to buy VRAM + VRM heatsinks) and b) possibility of leakage (this is my only graphics card and I don't want to spend all this money then have to replace the whole computer).

I'm not familiar with shop tools so no grinding or filing for me.

Does anyone have suggestions on buying a complete air-cooling solution or putting together one from various products?

 

[MARSTG]

how about selling it and buying a used non reference cooler version?

 

[mbamg]

how about selling it and buying a used non reference cooler version?

I've been looking into that, but it doesn't seem like many people are selling used R9 290s, reference or non-reference.

 

[MARSTG]

try it anyway. Why do you stick with a 290 anyway?

 

[mbamg]

try it anyway. Why do you stick with a 290 anyway?

The weak Canadian dollar means that upgrading would cost me at least $550 CAD. For the time being making the card run cooler would be enough to last me at least for another year or two.

 

[FreeKnight]

If it's using the reference PCB, I'd check ebay for a shroud/heatsink only from one of the manufacturers that design other coolers. I'm not as up to date on the AMD side, but I know with nvidia's cards a lot of the EVGA ACX will fit a reference card.

If you check what cards use a reference PCB, you might be able to get a Vapor-X or other cooler that uses the reference design. EKWB's cooling configurator site will say if a card has a reference design or not when you pull it up on their menus. Even though you're not looking at a water block it'll be a handy tool to see what coolers will fit.

 

[mbamg]

If it's using the reference PCB, I'd check ebay for a shroud/heatsink only from one of the manufacturers that design other coolers. I'm not as up to date on the AMD side, but I know with nvidia's cards a lot of the EVGA ACX will fit a reference card.

If you check what cards use a reference PCB, you might be able to get a Vapor-X or other cooler that uses the reference design. EKWB's cooling configurator site will say if a card has a reference design or not when you pull it up on their menus. Even though you're not looking at a water block it'll be a handy tool to see what coolers will fit.

Nice tool! I've found three cards with reference designs: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 PCS+, VTX3D Radeon R9 290 X-Edition V2, and XFX Radeon R9 290 Black Double Dissipation Edition.

 

[FreeKnight]

Nice tool! I've found three cards with reference designs: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 PCS+, VTX3D Radeon R9 290 X-Edition V2, and XFX Radeon R9 290 Black Double Dissipation Edition.

You'll probably have to settle for whatever you can find via forums bst or ebay, but there's always the odd 'cooler only' that gets listed for sale from people that either pull the blocks for WC or from killing the board and then trying to recoup some $ from selling parts.

XFX's coolers are probably the most solid of the three listed. If you haven't checked the Sapphire cards, see if the Vapor-X models for that card are reference design. They're really solid coolers.

You do have one other option. I know you mentioned you weren't looking at water cooling, but you do have the option of going with a NZXT kraken G10 GPU mount and one of their closed loop X series coolers. Because it's closed loop it's really easy to mount and you've got a very low likely hood of springing a leak unless you're particularly rough on the parts.
Using the NZXT Kraken G10 to Watercool a Radeon R9 290 | PC Perspective

Price wise it might not be your best bet unless you score a Boxing day sale on the parts or a used one.

Just another option to consider.

 

[KaptCrunch]

if you are handy with tools, read a caliper you can slip a petlier between current heatsink an add copper strips that are same thickness as peltier to ram

and insulate gpu with foam for condention

and a power supply to feed it

 

[mbamg]

I appreciate all your help guys, but after consulting with some friends and poring over some flyers yesterday I decided that it was not worth the time and effort buying and installing a cooler, and that I was better off buying a new card with better cooling and selling the old one.

This morning I managed to snag a MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC for $370 - $20 MIR. Now that I've learned that my new purchase has subpar cooling (and possibly more noise) compared to its counterparts, should I return it and wait for something else? I haven't even removed the shrinkwrap because I was getting second thoughts.

You'll probably have to settle for whatever you can find via forums bst or ebay, but there's always the odd 'cooler only' that gets listed for sale from people that either pull the blocks for WC or from killing the board and then trying to recoup some $ from selling parts.

XFX's coolers are probably the most solid of the three listed. If you haven't checked the Sapphire cards, see if the Vapor-X models for that card are reference design. They're really solid coolers.

You do have one other option. I know you mentioned you weren't looking at water cooling, but you do have the option of going with a NZXT kraken G10 GPU mount and one of their closed loop X series coolers. Because it's closed loop it's really easy to mount and you've got a very low likely hood of springing a leak unless you're particularly rough on the parts.
Using the NZXT Kraken G10 to Watercool a Radeon R9 290 | PC Perspective

Price wise it might not be your best bet unless you score a Boxing day sale on the parts or a used one.

Just another option to consider.

I actually checked all the 290 cards on that site and those three were the only ones with non-reference coolers that were reference PCBs. I found two postings on ebay for the XFX coolers. One is an auction with two sets of coolers and screws, but no thermal pads. The other is a buy-it-now with cooler, screws, and thermal pads included, but costs $50 US and does not include shipping cost.

After buying a H60 for $60 on a whim while getting the 970, I'm actually thinking of returning it as it wouldn't really be sufficient for any more than lightly overclocking my CPU. Would it be sufficient for my 290? I'd still have to purchase costly VRAM/VRM heatsinks for this though.

if you are handy with tools, read a caliper you can slip a petlier between current heatsink an add copper strips that are same thickness as peltier to ram

and insulate gpu with foam for condention

and a power supply to feed it

That sounds... dangerous. I have some idea of what a peltier junction does, but I really have no vision on how I would put this together.