Hello all!
I bought a Sapphire 7950 950MHz version and I must say it is an awesome card and a great deal faster than my previous GTX 460. The core temps are decent on both idle (~40 C @50% fan speed) and 100% load (~75 Bitcoin mining @ 70% fan speed).
However, I've noticed that the VRM temps are quite high, even at stock clocks and volts. GPU-Z reports VRM Temp 1 at 87 C when at max load and VRM Temp 2 at 65. If I overclock from 950MHz @1012mV to 1100MHz @1037mV, the temps go up to ~81 core and ~105 on VRM 1 if not higher. I also don't want to raise the fan speeds any higher than 70% because they start to get loud quickly after that (and already a bit loud for me at 70%). The fans also seem to be off a bit because they are louder and make a weird, slight buzzing(or rattling?), sound between 72-80% fan speed and then go away higher than that, but then the fans themselves get quite loud at those speeds.
With the VRMs quite hot, and the fans a bit noisy for optimal core cooling, I was looking into Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 7970
From what I understand, the installation is horrendous, but the end results are fantastic.
My questions I have before I decide to make my purchase are:
Sorry for a bit of a long post, and thank you to anyone who helps me out on this decision!
I bought a Sapphire 7950 950MHz version and I must say it is an awesome card and a great deal faster than my previous GTX 460. The core temps are decent on both idle (~40 C @50% fan speed) and 100% load (~75 Bitcoin mining @ 70% fan speed).
However, I've noticed that the VRM temps are quite high, even at stock clocks and volts. GPU-Z reports VRM Temp 1 at 87 C when at max load and VRM Temp 2 at 65. If I overclock from 950MHz @1012mV to 1100MHz @1037mV, the temps go up to ~81 core and ~105 on VRM 1 if not higher. I also don't want to raise the fan speeds any higher than 70% because they start to get loud quickly after that (and already a bit loud for me at 70%). The fans also seem to be off a bit because they are louder and make a weird, slight buzzing(or rattling?), sound between 72-80% fan speed and then go away higher than that, but then the fans themselves get quite loud at those speeds.
With the VRMs quite hot, and the fans a bit noisy for optimal core cooling, I was looking into Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 7970
From what I understand, the installation is horrendous, but the end results are fantastic.
My questions I have before I decide to make my purchase are:
- Do you think it is worth the $70-80 purchase? If not, why not?
- Are all the components that come with it sufficient or could I see even greater results purchasing different heatsinks for the memory and/or VRMs.
- How is the thermal glue? Should I use something else? If so, what do you recommend?
- Would you say there are any special instructions for the installation with the card I have? Or should I follow the instructions for a reference 7970?
Sorry for a bit of a long post, and thank you to anyone who helps me out on this decision!
