[nextpage title=”Introduction”]
Today we are testing the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus VGA cooler, which has a huge heatsink with five heatpipes and three 92 mm fans. Check it out!
In Figure 1, you can see the XTREME Plus packaging. It is actually a plastic blister, as most products from this manufacturer.
Figure 1: Packaging
In Figure 2, you can see the contents of the package: besides the cooler itself, only a manual, a power adapter, a slot cover, a case sticker, and a set of screws and washers.
Figure 2: Accessories
In Figure 3, you can check the Accelero XTREME Plus VGA cooler.
Figure 3: The Accelero XTREME Plus
[nextpage title=”The Accelero XTREME Plus”]In Figure 4, we have the cooler viewed from the bottom side.
Figure 4: Bottom-side view
In Figure 5, you see the left side of the cooler. Here, you can check the tips of the heatpipes.
Figure 5: Left-side view
In Figure 6 you see the top side of the cooler.
Figure 6: Top-side view
In Figure 7, you check the right side of the cooler.
Figure 7: Right-side view
In Figure 8, you see the front of the cooler, where you can check the three 92-mm fans.
Figure 8: Front view
[nextpage title=”The Accelero XTREME Plus (Cont’d)”]In Figure 9, you see the bottom of the cooler. Note that the heatpipes pass through the base of the cooler and extend to all the length of the heatsink. The thermal compound comes preapplied.
Figure 9: Bottom of the cooler
The Accelero XTREME Plus has a modular installation system, meaning that you need to buy the acessory set compatible with your video card. As we would test it on a GeForce GTX 460, the manufacturer sent us the the kit shown in Figures 10 and 11, since the plate that comes with the cooler is not compatible with our VGA. This accessory set comes with a compatible plate, heatsinks for the memory chips and voltage regulator circuit transistors, and the thermal adhesive required to stick the heatsinks to these components.
Figure 10: Accessory set
Figure 11: Accessory set
In Figure 12, you can check the base of the cooler with the plate compatible with the GeForce GTX 460 installed.
Figure 12: Plate installed on the base
[nextpage title=”Installation on a GeForce GTX 460″]In order to test the Accelero XTREME Plus, we installed it on our Point of View GeForce GTX 460, which you check in Figures 13 and 14 with its stock cooler installed and removed.
Figure 13: GeForce GTX 460
Figure 14: GeForce GTX 460
Installing the XTREME Plus was easy. You just need to put it over your video card GPU and attach four screws coming from the solder side of the card, screwing them to the base of the cooler. In Figure 15, you can see the Accelero XTREME Plus installed on our GeForce GTX 460. As we always do in our reviews, we didn’t install the heatsinks on the memory chips.
Figure 15: Installed on our VGA
In Figure 16, you see the solder side of our VGA, with the screws that hold the cooler in place. Note that the cooler is longer than our video card.
Figure 16: Solder side
One problem we had when installing the XTREME Plus was that it simply didn’t fit inside our case: it needs at least 11.4" (290 mm) clearance, even if your VGA is shorter than that (see Figure 16). The only way to put our video card inside our case was by removing its hard drive cage.
[nextpage title=”Installation on a GeForce GTX 460 (Cont’d)”]
In Figures 17, 18, 19, and 20, you have a general view of the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus installed on our GeForce GTX 460. The cooler takes two slots, so after installed on your video card your VGA will take three slots of your case.
Figure 17: Bottom view
Figure 18: Side view
Figure 19: Top view
Figure 20: Front view
[nextpage title=”Our Tests”]
We ran some simple tests to check the performance of the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus, measuring the GPU core temperature with the aid of the SpeedFan software, and sound pressure level (SPL) with a digital noise meter set 4" (10 cm) from the video card, with the GPU at full load running the [email protected] GPU client. For this measurement, we turned off the fans of the case and the CPU cooler, so their noise wouldn’t interfere. Please keep in mind that sound pressure level measurement is just for comparative purposes, because a precise measurement would have to be done in an acoustically insulated anechoic chamber, which we don’t have.
We compared the results from the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus with some other coolers we tested recently (re-tested because we changed the video card from a GeForce GTS 250 to a GeForce GTX 460), and with the VGA stock cooler. You can check the results in the table below.
| Product | Noise | Room Temp. | Core Temp. | Temp. Diff. | Speed |
| Stock Cooler | 55 dBA | 25 °C | 72 °C | 47 °C | – |
| Zalman VF1000 LED | 53 dBA | 25 °C | 74 °C | 49 °C | 2100 rpm |
| Deepcool V6000 | 51 dBA | 22 °C | 52 °C | 30 °C | 1950 rpm |
| Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus | 51 dBA | 20 °C | 42 °C | 22 °C | – |
In the graph below, you can compare the difference between the temperature of the GPU core and the room temperature. Remember that the lower the value, the better performance is.
[nextpage title=”Main Specifications”]
The main specifications for the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus VGA cooler include:
- Fan: Three 92 mm fans with nominal speed of 2,000 rpm
- Base: Copper
- Heatpipes: Five copper heatpipes
- Heatsink: Aluminum fins connected to the heatpipes
- Dimensions: 11.4 x 4.1 x 2.2 inches (290 x 104 x 56 mm) (W x L x H)
- Weight: 1.98 lbs (900 g)
- Extra features: None
- More information: https://www.arctic.ac
- Average price in the US*: USD 75.00
* Researched at Newegg.com on the day we published this review.[nextpage title=”Conclusions”]
The Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus is the bigger brother of the Accelero Twin Turbo Pro, which we’ve already reviewed. It has the same problem found on that cooler, the lack of a backplate to make the installation more reliable, even more because the XTREME Plus is bigger and heavier than the Turbo Pro. It is also too big and may not fit in some cases: keep this in mind before buying it (it will need 11.4" or 290 mm clearance).
The performance of the Accelero XTREME Plus was simply unbelievable. It surpassed the Deepcool V6000, which was one of the best VGA coolers we tested so far, by eight degrees Celsius. And it did it while being really quiet.
Facing such performance, we have no other choice than giving the Arctic Cooling Accelero XTREME Plus the Hardware Secrets Golden Award: it is the best VGA cooler we reviewed to date.
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