X-bit labs

Two New Coolers for Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX or Minus 20 Degrees for the Reference

Category: Coolers

by Sergey Lepilov

[ 03/04/2008 | 04:44 PM ]

Today we are going to check out the efficiency and functionality of two new cooling solutions for Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX based graphics cards from Arctic Cooling and ZEROtherm. Read more in our review!

Table of contents:

• ZEROtherm Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800
  
• Package and Accessories
  
• Design and Fucntionality
  
• Installation Tips
  
• Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800
  
• Package and Accessories
  
• Design and Functionality
  
• Installation Tips
  
• Technical Specifications
  
• Testbed and Methods
  
• Cooling Efficiency and Acoustic Performance
  
• Cooling Efficiency
  
• Acoustic Performance
  
• Conclusion
  

Since there is still no competitive single-chip solution in the upper price segment of the market, the reign of Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra graphics solutions goes on. And it has been on for so long already that Nvidia Company didn’t think of anything better than discontinuing their production and replacing them with new GeForce 8800 GTX 512MB with lower production costs. The new solution turned out a success, but is still slower than GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra in high resolutions and quality graphics modes that is why the owners of the most expensive graphics cards out there have nothing to worry about just yet.

However, what they do need to worry about, is the thermal readings of their GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra based graphics cards. Of course, things are not as bad here as with AMD Radeon HD 2900 XT/XTX, but we can’t deny that there are some problems with high graphics processor and graphics card temperatures here. As soon as corresponding water-cooling units appeared among the solutions from well-known liquid-cooling systems makers, the liquid-cooling systems fans managed to solve this problem once and for all. However, those users who didn’t have a liquid-cooling system available, didn’t have that much of a choice for their graphics accelerators in the air-cooling segment. In fact, there was hardly any choice at all, except the recently announced Thermalright HR-03 Plus. Although GeForce 8800 GTX/Ultra based graphics cards should leave the market pretty soon, our today’s article will try to introduce to you a few more choices for graphics solutions of this type. We would like you to meet two new powerful VGA air-coolers from APACK and Arctic Cooling.

ZEROtherm Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800

The Korean APACK Company and their ZEROtherm brand are hardly known in the European market, however in the US their solutions are taking the leading positions. There were times when we didn’t know anything about Scythe coolers, but today their name is associated with such successful solutions as Infinity and Anniversary Ninja Copper. Our today’ article is going to introduce to you for the first time on Xbit Labs APACK ZEROtherm solutions. We have received the entire line-up of their cooling products for tests, and we are going to open a series of reviews devoted to them with a universal graphics card cooling solution - ZEROtherm Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800.

Package and Accessories

Compact package with a convenient plastic carry handle is designed in shiny silver color and looks very beautiful:

There is a cut out window in the front of the box showing the cooler front with nine icons on the left of it depicting the key features of this cooling system. One of them promises that Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800 will deliver “killer performance”. In the upper left corner of the box front there is a band stating that this cooler is optimized specifically for Nvidia GeForce 8800 graphics card series.

The reverse side of the box is completely filled with info:

Here you can find the detailed technical specifications, the list of compatible graphics accelerators, the graph showing the level of generated noise depending on the fan rotation speed and even a diagram comparing Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800 cooling efficiency against that of reference coolers from GeForce 8600 GTS, Radeon X1900XTX and GeForce 8800. To cut the long story short, you don’t really need a review any more if you have read the back of the cooler box :)

Inside the carton box there is a transparent plastic casing with tightly closed cover with the cooler in one section and accessories in the other:

Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800 comes bundled with the following items:

• Aluminum heatsink for the NVIO micro-chip of Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX based graphics cards;
• Four aluminum heatsinks for the GeForce 8800 power elements;
• 12 aluminum heatsinks for the graphics memory chips;
• ZEROtherm ZT100 thermal grease;
• Fan rotation speed controller;
• Cooler and heatsink installation guide in several different languages;
• A set of bushes, screws and adhesive pads for the fan rotation speed controller.