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Kitguru recently reviewed the Arctic Cooling MX4 paste which walked away with our highest ever score on the site, however I really do like the Noctua NT H1 thermal paste and have a lifetime supply in my drawer so this is what I will use today. I would like to stress that there is nothing wrong with the preapplied layer of paste on this cooler.
Removing the HIS cooler is a simple procedure. As well as the four backplate screws, there are three other screws across the PCB which give a little extra rigidity. In the image above right you can see the HIS 5870 (left) next to the iCooler V Turbo (middle) and on the right is the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme Plus.
Above left, the naked HIS HD5870 card and above right, the VR001 kit with the 8 heatsinks applied to the ram modules around the GPU core.
Various card solutions will require different configurations of VR001 sinks applied, but in this case 8 ram heatsinks are applied with the supplied thermal adhesive. Just remember with thermal adhesive you won't be able to remove the heatsinks without possible damage to the memory.
With some thermal paste applied, it is a simple matter of turning the PCB around and threading screws into the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus cooler. Be sure to use the little washers to ensure the metal is isolated from the PCB.
The cooler is massive. Don't believe us? then check out the image above. It extends the length of the PCB by several inches. It is 290 L x 104 W x 56 H mm.
Above we have some pictures of our new Arctic Cooling powered HD5870 beside two of our favourite cards the Sapphire Vapor X HD5770 and the Powercolor HD5870. Those will smaller chassis need not apply.
Some shots of the cooler installed with the heatsinks on the memory. Be sure to remember to attach the fan header (image bottom left) otherwise the three 92mm fans will be inactive.
In the image above left you can see the HD5870 with two six pin power connectors attached. The heatsink overruns the PCB by a considerable margin. For this build we are using the Bitfenix Colossus chassis which handles the cooler without a problem (above right). If your case can fit an AMD HD5970 you will be fine, but otherwise you will need to either remove drive bays or buy a new chassis.
