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

For many years ARCTIC have been creating some of the finest cooling solutions. Today we are looking at their latest Accelero Xtreme III triple fan cooler which has support for Nvidia's flagship GTX680 graphics card. We know this cooler will annihilate Nvidia's reference cooler, but can it possibly outperform the stunning triple slot DirectCU II TOP cooler which features on the overclocked Asus GTX680?

Today we will find out if the cooler is worth an eye popping $120.

First, let us take a look at the graphics card we are using as the guinea pig ‘test subject' today.

The Asus GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP is one of the best graphics cards on the market, aimed at the high end audience who don't mind paying a little extra for enhanced cooling and clock speeds.

At £480 inc vat it is certainly not an impulse purchase but it includes one of the best ‘out of the box' dual fan coolers, so we feel it is worth paying a little extra. The only downside with this hefty metal cooler is the triple slot design, which can cause some install problems, especially if you want to run in an SLI configuration.

The Asus GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP ships at faster clock speeds than the reference card, 1137mhz on the core (from 1,006mhz), with a boost speed of 1202mhz. Memory is clocked at 1502mhz, or 6GBps effective.

Before we get to the install phase of the review, let's take a look at the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III.

Specifications:

Max. Cooling Capacity	300 Watts
Heatpipe	Ø 6 mm x 5
Heatsink Material	Aluminum fins x 84, thickness 0.3 mm
Fan (mm)	92 mm, 900 – 2,000 RPM (controlled by PWM) x 3 fans
Bearing	Fluid Dynamic Bearing
Noise Level	0.5 Sone
Current, Voltage	0.12A / 12V
Power Consumption	4.32W
Dimensions (Product)	288 (L) x 104 (W) x 54 (H) mm
Net Weight	653 g
Heatsink	31 pcs
Screw (M2)	4 pcs
Washer	4 pcs
Spacer (2.5 mm)	4 pcs
Spacer (3.5 mm)	4 pcs
Spacer (4.5 mm)	4 pcs
Adhesive Tape	2 pcs
Insulation Tape	5 pcs
Thermal Pads	3 pcs
EVA Foam	1 pc
GPU Back Plate	1 pc
Thermal Adhesives (3 g)	1 pc
VGA Bracket	1 pc
4-Pin Fan Power Adapter	1 pc
Limited Warranty	6 years
Dimensions (Packaging)	292 (L) x 110 (W) x 60 (H) mm
itemnumber	DCACO-V15G400-BL
UPC	0872767005693
Gross Weight	1.1 kg

The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III features three 92mm proprietary ARCTIC white fans – set in a parallel configuration. They all run from the same header cable.

It ships in a tough, clear plastic container exposing the cooler. The rear panel features a list of specifications and images. It is worth pointing out if you are buying this for a GTX680 that you pay attention to the power connectors before hitting the credit card.

Above is an image of the vanilla Asus Nvidia GTX680, which is based on the reference Nvidia GTX680 design. We reviewed this card in April. The two 6 pin PCI e power plugs are ‘stacked' above each other. Nvidia said at the time that this was a improved design idea, but they clearly had a momentary lapse of reason.

If you have one of these cards the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III will NOT fit. Blame Nvidia, we know we do.

Above is an image of the custom built KFA2 GTX680 EX OC which we reviewed in May. This is the power plug configuration that is compatible with the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III cooler. The ASUS GTX680 TOP we are using today has the same ‘side by side' power plug setup, which is ideal. Please be sure to check your graphics card before ordering otherwise you will end up with an expensive paperweight.

Removed from the box, we can see the three fan cooler in all its glory.

ARCTIC include a huge array of screws, washers, spacers, adhesive tape, insulation tape and thermal pads. There is also a foam pad, power conversion cable and a GPU back plate. We will look at these in more detail on the installation page.

The user manual is useful, although ARCTIC cooling often update the guide online, so it is worth checking their website for the latest version.

The Asus GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP is a custom design and features a backplate. We need to remove the cooler and backplate completely before installing the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme II.

The first step requires the removal of the four main spring based GPU screws.

Above, the triple slot ASUS cooler – it is a formidable design, comprising five thick copper heatpipes running from the core in one direction, with two of them then bending back into a smaller rack of aluminum fins underneath one of the fans above. The other three copper heatpipes run straight out into a larger set of aluminum fins underneath the second fan.

Above, the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III. ARCTIC have pre-applied a generous amount of high grade thermal paste to save you the hassle.

The cooler is formed around a copper base with five 6mm heatpipes which lead into two separate racks of aluminum fins on either side. The three 92mm fans run the full length of the cooler, ensuring extensive ‘direct down' airflow.

Unlike the ASUS Direct CU II cooler, none of these pipes are bent, leading straight from the copper block in two directions.

Removing the backplate takes a few minutes as there are multiple screws, including two on the I/O panel. Be sure to remove the cooling heatsink over the VRM's.

Above we took a picture of the naked card with eight of the ram cooling heatsinks underneath. We recommend taking a few minutes now with an eraser, gently rubbing each memory module, to ensure they are perfectly clean for the adhesive bonding stage shortly. The rubber tip of a pencil works well for this.

We realised at this stage that this ASUS Top graphics card is significantly different from the reference GTX 680 and that the ARCTIC diagrams didn't directly relate.

The first stage is straightforward, using the thermal glue to adhere the heatsinks to each of the Hynix GDDR5 memory modules around the core. The key to this stage is to use very little of the thermal glue, holding each heatsink in place for around 30 seconds. If you use too much glue the card can quickly end up a mess, potentially causing problems later on.

Also pay attention to the spacing, leaving enough room around the core to fit the bracket. It isn't rocket science, just line up each heatsink with the memory underneath, making sure it doesn't overhang on the inside.

All the heatsinks installed around the GPU core. While they are bonding into place, a little care is required when handling as we have other sections to work with now.

Thinking outside the box – this card is no reference design.

The ASUS TOP is very different in design to the reference GTX680, so we used heatsinks included for other cards on these sections. A little time and care is required to line these up right, taking care not to use excessive thermal glue.

All of the heatsinks installed. We recommend letting these bond into place for around 90 minutes before working any further with the card. If you have used an excessive amount of thermal glue then this bonding phase may take 3-4 hours.

With the heatsinks all bonded, flip the card over and remove the adhesive cover on the foam pad. Stick this into the center of the four screw holes, as shown above.

Locate the small clear plastic bag with the GPU mount components. There are four screws in this, and multiple spacers. ARCTIC also include adhesive pads which stick to the spacers.

The GTX680 uses the 4.5 mm washers on the CPU block. You are meant to bond these to the adhesive paper style pads then stick them to the outermost of the three holes on each corner of the cooling head as shown above.

Even though I have used a similar system before with other ARCTIC cards I had a terrible experience this time and binned the adhesive pads completely, opting to use a little of the remaining thermal glue to hold them in place.

The black spacers are used on the back plate, between the metal plate and the GTX680 PCB. This prevents an electrical short and damage to the card. It is best holding the PCB with the rear facing you, with the cooler underneath, lined up by eye. Feed the screws through the black spacers, through the PCB, then through the white spacers on the copper head of the Xtreme III. If you haven't got the white spacers held in place this can be extremely tricky.

The ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III installed, above. The only downside is that it overhangs the total length of the GTX680 PCB, measuring 288mm.

As we mentioned earlier, the Asus GTX 680 Direct CU II TOP falls outside the reference guidelines and the ARCTIC Accelero Xtreme III hasn't got a suitable 5 pin header for this graphics card (a 3 pin and 4 pin are included). Thankfully ARCTIC have factored this as a potential issue and have included a MOLEX adapter with the cooler taking power directly from the system supply.

If you are an inexperienced user I wouldn't recommend you try fitting this cooler, it takes a lot of time and a reasonable amount of skill to install properly. ARCTIC need to head back to the drawing board and come up with a slightly less fiddly ‘spacer' solution. I can appreciate that they couldn't make a dedicated cooler for every video card, but the adhesive pad/spacer stage of the install is less than ideal.

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.

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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