ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III review (w/ Asus GTX680 DirectCU II TOP)

1. Introduction2. The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III3. Installing the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III4. Performance results5. Closing Thoughts6. View All Pages

We tested the Asus GTX680 DirectCU II TOP firstly with the supplied triple slot cooler then installed the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III to rerun the tests.

The room environment was maintained at 22c throughout all of the tests.

Firstly we checked temperatures after booting the system and letting it idle at the desktop for 15 minutes.

The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III manages to improve on the Direct CU II cooler by 3c.

Next, we test with Furmark, using the intensive stress test for a solid 15 minutes, then taking a snapshot of the results.

For ‘real world' gaming results, we let the card idle for 15 minutes then play Max Payne 3 for an hour, recording the maximum temperature during the playing session.

These improvements are bigger than I thought they would be. Under synthetic Furmark load, the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III runs 16c cooler than the Direct CU II. When gaming, these results are mirrored, dropping from 61c to a staggering 46c! The VReg temperatures also drop by 22c. Very noticeable improvements.

Next we measure the time it takes for each cooling solution to return from full Furmark load to idle.

Even though the Asus Direct CU II cooler is a triple slot design, it takes 22 seconds to return to idle, from a full load Furmark result of 68c. The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III on the other hand takes only 12 seconds to return to idle, from 52c. Both are impressive results when compared to the standard reference cooling solution.

Both solutions are quiet under load, but the Accelero Xtreme III is always quieter, thanks to the use of three slow spinning 92mm fans.

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