Upgrades... cooling?

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Cunjo

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I'm currently running a GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GPU at 640MHz (900MHz VRAM), and cooling it with a thermaltake DuOrb GPU cooler, which has worked out well for me so far.

I'm considering now upgrading to a Radeon HD 4870 1G. From experience, the stock coolers end up sucking even at normal clocks, running the cards very hot and often noisy... I'm wondering what aftermarket cooler would fit the 4870, and what people here recommend for good (air) cooling.

The DuOrb doesn't list the 4870 as compatible, but I'm seeing some people have used it at least on the 4850, which isn't listed either... would it fit the 4870? If so, is it still adequate cooling for the bigger card?

Mind you, I'm only looking to reduce my idle and load temps to prevent overheating, artifacting or instability... If I do overclock it, it will be modestly, and only as an afterthought if the new temps are significantly lowered the way they were with my last card, so I don't need "super" cooling, just "adequate"
 
The heatsink on that one certainly looks beefier than the Sapphire, though I have my doubts regarding buying from powercolor... I haven't heard many good things about them. Is it a decent buy?
 
thats the one im gonna get if i ever get my stuff sold, ive never heard anyting bad about them, and they have a 2 year warrenty
 
No SLI, and probably never any crossfire either... though if I buy the ASUS Maximums II mobo later on, and it supports it......
 
I say jump on it... HD 4870 is completely different than a 8800GTS 320mb..

Those were pretty old and were big on the fabrication process and ran a bit hot.... both nVidia and AMD don't use power hogging overly hot running GPU's (well maybe except the GX2 or X2 cards) so it'll be fine with the stock cooler

a GTX 260 Core 216 is also worth mentioning
 
hmmm, now that you mention it....

hey, look what I found!
GeForce GTX 260 reloaded vs. the Radeon HD 4870 1GB - The Tech Report - Page 1

Best comparitive benchmark of modern cards I've seen yet... and right on the money concerning what I was looking for... and more of what I expected from the X2.
I guess I was surprised to see the (lack of) difference the 1G memory made over even the 512 until it peaked out... which essentially means that with the 260-C216 being just shy of 900MB, by the time the memory difference puts the 4870-1G ahead, you're only a month out from needing a 2GB card anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion, because I might take it.
 
well i would go with a gtx 260 core 216. for the physx

By the time physx becomes both necessary and widely supported... actually, I don't think that day will ever come. Aegia has a nice product, but there's just no market for it... and besides which, deligating a portion of your GPU to managing that is a waste -- better off buying a PhysX card.
 
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