Cold Cathode Card Cooler XT Review - Card Cooler Performance
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I tested with a digital PC thermometer embedded in the video card heatsink for the GPU temperatures. The system, processor, and hard drive temps are all determined by SpeedFan and motherboard’s sensors. To test the system under a heavy graphics load, I ran the FarCry 1.33 research demo at 1280x1024. The demo ran 10 times consecutively to heat everything up, and the temperatures were taken at the end. The system was then allowed to cool for 20 minutes before the next tests. Here are the heat producing components of the test system I’m using:
Athlon XP 2600+ with Silent HSF
Gainward Geforce 2 Pro 64 MB AGP 4x with Stock HSF
Seagate 120GB ST31200 ATA133
Bear in mind that I had to install the Card Cooler XT in a slightly older system because it needed to go into a screw-based case. Still, the results here concern heat (and not frames per second), so they are very relevant to cooling this generation’s video cards and systems as well.
The first tests involved using the Card Cooler XT Cold Cathode with the system panels closed up. I unplugged all the case fans (so only the CPU fan and PSU fans are running), and this case has no extra chimney or side-panel vents. It may suffer from poor air circulation, but this was a good worst case scenario.
With the case closed, it seems that the video card stayed much cooler. With the air steadily moving over the GPU, the video card stays more than 22 degrees cooler. This is amazing, and way more video cooling than my case fans or a slot fan ever provided.
The system temp monitor has a minor (but noticeable) temperature reduction, and the hard drive hardly changes. The processor actually gets hotter with the Card Cooler, and I believe this is because they are both pushing air into each other. The CPU fan cannot pull air over the heatsink and push it away from the motherboard as well while the Card Cooler is blowing air into its exhaust. Still, one or two degrees will definitely not push the processor out of its recommended operating temps, and this video card stays at least 22 degrees cooler.
The next set of tests was designed to determine how much better the air circulation is without the left side panel. Again, all case fans are unplugged.
With that side panel off, almost all of the temperatures get even better. Under load, my video card that started out at 71.1 C above is now 30 C cooler by removing the side panel and adding the Card Cooler: 40.3 C! Apparently this also helped the CPU cooler push out the warm air from the heatsink better. However, removing the panel ruined air circulation for the hard drive when the Card Cooler was not installed.
Overall, I’m very impressed by the Card Cooler XT as it performs both with the side panel on and off. It brings down the video card temperatures greatly, which allows your GPU to overclock better, run cooler and more stable, and of course live longer since it won’t fail due to heat. It would be meaningless to see how well it improved GF2 overclocks, but the temperatures should indicate how much cooler it can potentially make that 6600GT toaster sitting in your PC.
What’s best is that this cooling solution does not void you video card warranty. Using aftermarket heatsinks will void your manufacturer’s warranty, and most likely not perform any better or look any better than the Card Cooler. But if you like aftermarket heatsinks, they can be combines with the Card Cooler XT for even better performance.
Next: Conclusion >>
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