Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Passive VGA Cooler For GeForce 7950/ Radeon X1950

by Arctic Cooling

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 8.5 x 1.3 inches ; 9.4 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• ASIN: B0014HSPEQ
• Item model number: AC-S1-R2
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
  • #68 in Electronics > Computers & Add-Ons > Computer Components > Fans & Cooling > Heatsinks
  • #69 in Industrial & Scientific > Electronic Components > Thermal Management Products > Computer Heatsinks
• Date first available at Amazon.com: April 8, 2009

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive and quiet!, April 25, 2009

By 

T. Hassler - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 Passive VGA Cooler For GeForce 7950/ Radeon X1950 (Electronics)

I bought this for my XFX 8800GS (yes it works on the 8800GS even though it doesn't say this). My stock fan/heatsink which was insanely loud had an idle temp of 48°C with a full load temp of 78°C. After putting this thing on, I get 45°C idle and °58C under load! A drop of 20 degrees Celsius without a fan! To be fair there is an 80mm fan mounted perpendicular near the top of the fins on the side of my case, but even with it off, it never got above 63°C and the stock temperatures above benefited from this same fan. So the comparison is 1:1.

Pros:
1. Silent
2. Performs FANTASTICALLY
3. Cheap
4. Straightforward install if you take your time and are careful
5. Good tolerances and tight fit
6. You can add their branded 80mm fans or get a near-silent 120mm fan and zip tie it to the rig if you have the room and are doing overclocking.

Cons:
1. One of the RAM heatsinks didn't stick very well. Had to use another. Luckily I needed only 6. If I had the full 8, I'd be in trouble. The instructions state to use an eraser after a tissue. In retrospect a Q-tip with alcohol might have been better. But I swear all RAM chips were equally clean. I think the thermal adhesive wasn't that great.
2. The thin layer of thermal paste included on the heatsink wasn't protected in any way. It should have had a plastic sleeve like stock fans with retail CPU packages. I smeared some without even realizing.
3. The plastic covers on the baseplate and the top and bottom of the radiator are rather cheap. I experienced no problems, but it strikes me as odd that these weren't simply aluminum or copper to complement the rig and serve a functional purpose instead of the purely cosmetic.
4. It's pretty big. Seriously, given the performance, I'd be surprised if they couldn't build a model 4cm shorter to fit smaller cases and it would work nearly as well.

I am giving this a very happy 4. It definitely worked as advertised, which is a surprise to be honest. I think it should ship with a couple of extra heatsinks or replacement thermal adhesive. Did I mention that it was SILENT and performs much better than the stock heatsink and fan (which was rather heavy)? 20 Deg. Better. It's supposed to work in SLI setups as well, but check the company website for that - because it's not exactly small!.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not entirely compatible with ATI HD 4850, September 14, 2008

By 

Daniel "Strife" - See all my reviews

This product performs much better than the stock solution that came with my ATI HD 4850, however there are some compatibility issues with this particular combination:

The included voltage regulator module (VRM) heatsinks are **incompatible** with the ATI HD 4850 so I recommend you to get the Arctic Cooling Turbo Module (search keywords: Arctic Cooling VGATurbo) or attach a 120mm fan with zip ties to avoid overheating. Moreover, there's no enough clearance between one of the heatpipes and one of the RAM heatsinks, you either have to bend one heatsink fin, or leave the RAM module partially or totally exposed.

Installation proved to be difficult because of the above mentioned modification and also because the RAM heatsinks do not stick well to the modules. Also, the plastic clamp mechanism requires precise alignment which even when installed correctly, kept popping out of place risking the integrity of the (optional) Turbo Module fans.

Despite all these issues, I'm satisfied with its performance, paired with the Turbo Module my card has reached idle temperatures of 36C (same system temperature with case door open).

Pros:
* Drastically reduces card temperatures
* Silent even with the optional "Turbo Module"
* Visually looks great

Cons:
* Difficult installation with ATI HD 4850
* Huge! (might not fit in certain computer cases)
* No VRM heatsinks for ATI HD 4800 series (hopefully will be fixed in future revisions)
* RAM heatsinks adhesive is weak
* Crossfire connection might require modification since the heat spreaders are in the way

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It worked for me, December 3, 2007

By 

Rodrigo Gonzalez Vite - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Well I had have not enough space inside my computer to place this awesome device , so I decided to deform it with a hammer (oh yes you read it right)I had to be extremely gentle with the bending actions, leaving the circumference of the heatpipes intact (not colapsed) and I fully angled the upper third of the device 90 degrees, so I can place the cover of my PC case.
I was aware that I was running the risk of frying my nVidia 7900 GT video card but thanks god the Accero S1 actually works, keeping the GPU as cold as with the original cooler with that anoying noisy fan.

The reason that I gave it a 4 star is because the instruction manual is only for one ATI video card, and the rest of the compatible cards are not mentioned. But It works and it is 0 dB.