yjmfan

Hey all, thanks in advance for the help - it's my first post here!

After nearly 2 hours of forum browsing, I'm really starting to get frustrated. I recently ordered the following stuff and it will arrive tomorrow:

Motherboard: EVGA 122-CK-NF68-A1
Processor: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600
Video cards: 2x MSI NX8800GT-T2D512E OC (660 MHz GPU/ 1900 MHz RAM)

I know I won't be happy with the stock coolers, given everyone's reports of 80-90+ degrees at load. I've been trying to find the air cooling solution that will have everything I need, and I'm drawing a blank.

I've considered the Zalman VF1000, the DuOrb, and the Accelero S1. These are my requirements:

The coolers MUST work in a SLI configuration.
I should get everything I need in the package, including extra heatsinks.

That's basically it, but it's been hard to find information regarding those 2 things. First of all, do I need to cool the voltage regulators on the 8800GT? I've seen conflicting reports, some say it isn't necessary on the G92's. Even Arctic Cooling's website says they run fine without them. If I do need to at least put a heatsink on them, where does that leave me? Looks like the VF1000 and Accelero each come with 8 RAM heatsinks but nothing for the voltage regulators. The DuOrb seems to come with heatsinks for both the RAM and regulators, but I'm not 100% sure. The ZM-RHS88 addon for the VF1000 isn't compatible with the 8800GT as far as I can tell.

I need a solution that won't block my SLI bridge, and it's been tough to figure out which heatsinks will do this. The Accelero S1 looks ridiculously tall and I'd have to buy the separate flexible cable (if I can find it). Will the DuOrb and VF1000 leave enough room for my bridge?

Finally, when it comes to passive/active cooling, would it be worth it to order, for example, the "turbo module" (read: 2 fans) with the Accelero? Of course I want to keep noise down wherever possible, but at the end of the day cooling performance is more important.

There are just too many choices and (possible) restrictions. What do you recommend for cooling 2 8800GT's in SLI?

Thanks again.

cyborg939

Welcome to the Forums! I have read some things about all these GFX heatsinks. You can run the Accelero S1 with SLI on both cards, but you will need a flexible SLI bridge (according to the Arctic Cooling website). The VRM sinks and ramsinks are not that great on the S1, though. You will need to thoroughly clean them, and possible apply extra adhesive, but it is a struggle. The DuOrb is a nice heatsink, and Robilar has it running in SLI with 2x 8800GTs. The VF1000 is also another good one. Search around online for reviews of each one and find one that fits your budget and needs.

SugarySnack

I have the S1. In terms of temperature I believe it keeps them lower than the orb. Also the flexible SLi cable can be bought off of EBAY (through arctic cooling's ebay store) for $5 + $5 shipping here

http://cgi.ebay.com/Long-Flexible-SL...QQcmdZViewItem

If you want convenience over doing a little bit of work to get a little bit better temps go with the Orb. If you can take spending a bit of time getting the S1 to work IMO it would be worth it. You can also put a 120mm fan or 2 on the S1 (using zip ties to attach to the heatpipes in the heatsink) or get the turbo module as you said, although that takes up another slot at least. But passively the S1 impressed me. took about 22 degrees off of my idle.

For the voltage regulator, I do not have a ram sink on it. Even then if you are worried about it, get some RAM sinks off of newegg, or something. The RAM sinks that come with it most likely will not stick. I had to use some AS5 in the middle and a dab of superglue in 2 of the corners of each ram chip. but it works for me. keeps it nice and cool (32 idle with my ambient. have seen it go to 29 idle at another persons house for a LAN. Load doesn't go above 40 at all)

Hope I helped.

__________________

4450mhz OC

mth91

I'm actually thinking about getting the duorb. I already have an accelero s1, but since i've got another 8800GT coming in, i'll need another cooler. I could do a review if someone wants me to. I'll do it with an 80cfm fan though, because I realize that most people don't have a 130cfm fan lying around. So i'd compare the accelero with 80cfm to the duorb.

__________________

abe_joker

TT DuOrb II are just great for the 8800GT....i have great temps with it...i just dont know how to control the fan...:S

__________________

"The Past is a Ghost that haunts You from the moment It exists, until the moment You don't."

Join Eve-Online!!! Best MMO ever

ErBall

vf1000's and the s1's will interfere with the sli connector.

So far the only ones that seem to work, and work well is the duo orb like everyone said.

actic cooling also has the silencer nv5 (a much older model), which works too.

__________________

dM@n

You could get the eVGA Akimbo cooler: http://www.evga.com/products/moreinf...202-F2-EV03-A1

__________________

ErBall

Nice, i didn't know about thoes. I may pick them up to see how they fare. They look absolutely awesome.

__________________