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

If you are lucky enough to have upgraded recently to the Nvidia GTX680 graphics card then today's review product will certainly have grabbed your attention.

The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III is a high end product targeting the wealthy enthusiast audience who want to enhance their gaming experience by improving cooling potential and reducing noise emissions.

ARCTIC claim massive improvements over a reference cooled GTX680 and we didn't take it easy on the product today, opting to pit it against a high end, overclocked card supplied with a metal, dual fan, triple slot cooling solution. Lets just reiterate, the Direct CU II Top cooler is no slouch.

It would be fair to say that the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III is a significantly improved solution, dropping temperatures by a whopping 15c and reducing noise emissions a little further. The fact that it is only a dual slot cooler, and not triple slot is another added bonus. If you are wealthy enough to be able to afford two GTX680's, then this could resolve a major SLI installation problem.

The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III is expensive, available direct from the company store for $119.95 (96 euros). If you are confident with your hands and have a reasonable amount of system building experience (and cash) then this is a heck of an upgrade, not only over a reference cooled card, but also the best ‘pre-modified' cards available on the net.

Just be sure to check that your GTX680 has both power connectors ‘flat' to the PCB, and not stacked as with the reference Nvidia model.

You can buy direct from the ARCTIC store, over here.

Pros:

• Amazing, class leading performance.
• outperformed the triple slot Asus DirectCU II TOP cooler.
• very low noise levels.
• will fit on a wide array of cards from AMD and Nvidia.
• only dual slot.
• everything is included in the box.
• instructions are clear.

Cons:

• newbies need not apply. requires an experienced, confident user.
• Time consuming installation.
• won't work with some GTX680's.
• will likely overhang the PCB, adding length inside a case.
• if your card has a modified PCB layout, be prepared to think ‘outside the box'.
• pricy.

Kitguru says: If you want to upgrade your cooling performance and have the skill required, then we can recommend this as a class leading air cooler for the GTX680.

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