Arctic Cooling manufactures a series of VGA coolers, divided into two series, Accelero and Silencer. Coolers from Silencer series pull hot air generated by the video card to outside the computer case. While coolers from Accelero series don’t do this, they are targeted to hi-end VGAs: Accelero X1 is targeted to video cards based on GeForce 6800 and 7800 series from nVidia, while Accelero X2 is targeted to video cards based on Radeon X1800 and X1900 series from ATI. We have already taken a look on NV Silencer 6, so now it is time for us to take a look on Accelero X1.

You can see the full list of VGA coolers from Arctic Cooling on their website. As you can see there, they have several different models, each one targeted to specific video cards. There are several reasons you cannot use a VGA cooler targeted to one video card on another. First, the holes located on the video card used to fasten the cooler to it may differ in position. The second reason is that each graphics chip has different thermal requirements – i.e. the minimum size and material of the cooler base and fins vary according to the graphics chip. Third, the VGA cooler may be bigger than the space available on the video card (for example, the area surrounding the graphics chip may have other components like electrolytic capacitors that prevent the installation of bigger coolers).

It is very important to notice that even though on its package is written that Accelero X1 is only compatible with GeForce 6800 and 7800 series, it is also fits GeForce 7900 GTX. However, it is incompatible with GeForce 7900 GT.

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Figure 1: Accelero X1 in its package.

On Figure 2 you can see everything that comes with the product.

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Figure 2: Items that come with Accelero X1.

As you can see on Figure 2, Accelero X1 features a heatsink for the memory chips located on the back of the video card (the L-shaped metallic part). For video card with memory chips located on the front side (component side), the main heatsink will touch and refrigerate the memory chips, as we will show you later.

Accelero X1 has a big 60 mm fan rotating at 2,000 rpm. If your video card features fan speed control, this will be its maximum speed (video cards with this features can control the fan speed depending on the temperature of the graphics chip; it is easy to recognize if your video card has this feature as the fan connector will have four wires instead of only two). This fan blows air on the heatsink, which has a copper base attached to three copper heat-pipes, using aluminum fins. As you can see on Figure 4, it comes with thermal grease already installed.

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Figure 3: Accelero X1 VGA cooler.

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Figure 4: Its base is made of copper and comes with pre-installed gray thermal grease.

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Figure 5: Three copper heat-pipes can be found between the copper base and the aluminum fins.

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Figure 6: A closer look on the fan duct.