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With the packaging out of the way we
get our first look at the back side of the CoolViva Pro. The bulk
of the unit is taken up by the heat sink housing. The copper plate
for the GPU allows heat to transfer efficiently to the three heat pipes
located within the unit.
From the back side you begin to see
just how much surface area is dedicated to the Aluminum fins. This
heat sink is an impressive 1.5 inches thick.
From the side you can see the heat
pipes which run the entire length of the heat sink poking out. The
actual dimensions are 5.71 x 4.41 x 1.50 inches. The difference in
size between the stock ATI fan solution an the CoolVita Pro is hard to
miss.
Active cooling is provided by a 2 ball
bearing fan operating between 100 and 1800 RPM. In addition to
looking pretty nice, the fan operates at a quiet 20 dBA or below.
Noise levels on the X1000 family vary by manufacturer but can reach
levels in excess of 55 dBA! The X1800 series is known to have one
of the more noisier solutions, especially in the reference design.
(Our Connect 3D X1800 XT reaches about 46 dBA). That's a reduction in
your noise level by as much as 64%!
The CoolViva Pro packaging contains:
The Installation Guide, mounting hardware, 8 memory heat sinks, Cooler
Master thermal compound, and a vented slot cover.
The
Install:
I installed the Cooler
Master CoolViva Pro onto my Connect3D Radeon X1900 XT. The build
includes an Intel Pentium Core Duo 2 6600 cooled by a
CoolIT Eliminator, a Connect3D X1900 XT video card and a 2x 1 GB kit
of
Crucial Ballistix DDR2-8000 mounted on an ASUS P5W DH Deluxe.
Storage was provided by 2 x WD 74 GB Raptors in a RAID0, a
Seagate 750 GB storage drive and a
Plextor PX-755SA 16x DVD burner. The build was housed in my
Antec Nine Hundred case and powered by an Ultra X-Pro 800 Watt power
supply.
|
Hardware |
Model |
|
Case |
Antec Nine Hundred |
|
Motherboard: |
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe |
|
CPU |
Intel e6600 |
|
Memory |
2x 1 GB kit of Crucial Ballistix
DDR2-8000 |
|
Video Card |
Connect3D X1900 XT |
|
Power Supply |
Ultra X-Pro 800W |
|
Drives |
2x74GB WD Raptors, 1x750GB
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 |
This picture shows our chosen victim; the
Connect3D X1900 XT. Following the reference cooling design,
the X1900 XT is a noisy but solid performer.
Preparing the card is as simple as removing the
old heat sink and cleaning off the GPU.
Next attach the heat sinks to your video memory.
The heat sinks are held in place by a thin layer of adhesive.
The two heat sinks above the GPU will be cooled by the CoolViva
directly and do not need their own heat sinks attached.
Although these heat sinks are not large enough to cover the entire
memory chip, they should still provide plenty of cooling.
The copper heat sink surface is polished and
mirror smooth. Only a thin layer of the included thermal
compound is needed to guarantee a solid connection. Cooler
Master has provided enough thermal compound to do this install maybe
a dozen times. The four stand offs shown here are attached by
hand and can be mounted in several different configurations to allow
for most mounting patterns.
The stand offs are seated on the card and attached
using the washers shown here. Each screw comes with an
attached spring to help create a solid fit between the GPU and the
heat sink.
On the Connect3D X1900 XT the location of the heat
sink makes the placement of this memory heat sink a tight fit.
I ended up reseating it after the main unit was attached.
With the mounting complete, simply attach
the fan lead to the card using one of the two plugs. The leads
include both a 3 pin and a 4 pin option. If your card does not
have a fan control you can use the included 12 V adapter to run
power from your power supply to the fan.
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