installing Alpenföhn Peter aka Deepcool Dracula on HD6970 using stock backplate

Hi OCN,

this is about the Alpenföhn Peter (EU) aka Deepcool Dracula (US & Asia)



first of all i´ll start to explain why i opened this thread.
i read several times, especially when i recommended this cooler in the past that people are very concerned about the PCB could bend or even break by using this massive and heavy after stock cooler.



i called EKL which is the maincompany of Alpenföhn and asked nicely if they could send me another mounting screw set cause i explained them my issue about the pcb bend. well they did, very good support!

but you can also just buy/order another mounting kit with screws for a few bucks.

back to topic, i have to admit that the pcb, once the cooler is installed and the card connected to the pcie slot, will bend a bit. not much, just a bit as you can see here: (it gets a bit off at the end)



but it will never break unless you dont shake your whole rig.

this thread is also only for the reference card and i have no idea if this works with other models or with nvidia cards.

okay lets check the backplate that comes with the alpenföhn peter:



as you can see it would be too big and interfere with the stock backplate as you can see here:



as result i decided to use the stock mounting and installed the peter:



you dont have to worry, its as good as the alpenföhn mounting, and will hold your cooler in position without any problems.
this will allow us to put the stock back plate on it like you can see here:



you dont even have to remove the screws in case that you have the cooler already installed like i did. the backplate just fits over the screws.
there is only one problem, the big V vrm cooler that isnt glued, its screwed like you can see here: (shot the pic when i installed the backplate already, sorry)



so take off the screws from the V cooler and put the big black stock backplate on your card, then use the screws again and fix it finger tight like you can see it in the picture above.

now take your screws and nuts and fix it fingertight like you can see here:




when you are done it should look like this:



now it wont ever bend and its rather impossible to break the pcb.

bombproof

(dont even dare to tell me about the dust )





not sure if anyone here thinks its an useful info or not but i hope it helps deciding to buy this after market cooler.

the cooler is definitely worth to install, dropped load temps by almost 50% from ~80°C to ~45°C under heavy load and keeps it under 25°C in idle. (obviously depends on your ambient temp and the fans you are using)

it supports up to 4 x 140mm fans or 4 x 120mm fans.

this thing is a beast and with the right fans noiseless, even under heavy load.
i keep my fans running at ~900rpm all the time (prolimatech red vortex 140)

here is the link to the cooler if you are interested:
Alpenföhn Peter

the english site is not up-to-date, you should click on the german flag for detailed & updated data.

sorry if you found bad grammar errors or spelling mistakes, i did my best. english is not my native language.

also sorry about the bad quality, phone cam

here is the direct link to the imgur album i created to view the pics in better quality: (bigger)

http://imgur.com/a/lwNHQ/embed

thanks to everyone who reads that and by the way

Nibble the World!
Edited by justanewguy - 3/8/12 at 2:37pm

reduced by almost 50%
wrote that in the mainpost. its an awesome cooler

yep, really a top notch dual tower cooler.
also its the only real dual tower after market graphics cooler and beats the 92mm coolers like the ones from AC by a few degrees by noise and performance.

i also figured out that this can be done to all ati reference cards, dont matter which model you are using

so if you are sick running a stove in your rig, get one of these and keep your rig cool