Arctic Cooling Accelero S1: Can you say quiet and cool?

RESULTS

The result can be described in one word, WOW!  With an intake and an exhaust fan, the Accelero S1 is able to keep the graphic card running at 10 degrees cooler than the Zalman fan on the GeForce 7900 GT.  Keep in mind that the Zalman is an aftermarket fan and not the reference fan, so the temperature with the reference fan may even be much hotter.  Also, keep in mind that the Gigabyte 7900 GT is overclocked so it’s hotter than reference card as well. 

With just an rear exhaust fan, the Accelero is able to keep the card running about the same temperature as the Zalman VF700 but the Accelero S1 is fanless so it’s quieter than the Zalman VF700.   When there’s no case fan installed, the Accelero S1 is still able to keep the card running at 80 degrees C under load, which is not to shabby for a fanless cooler but definitely hotter than I would have liked for my VGA.

We can see that in order to obtain the best cooling condition, a good streamline airflow is absolutely critical.  The Accelero S1 would definitely require at least 1 case fan to help exhaust the hot air build up inside the PC and having two fans will definitely help to keep the graphic card running cooler than probably most active coolers.

With the Accelero S1 and Turbo Module, we can see that the Turbo module is able to keep the card running cool and it is able to further reduce the temperature for a minimum of 3 degrees in a well ventilated case.  If the case ventilation is limited (as shown when there’s no case fan installed), then we see that the Turbo Module works its magic in keeping the card running at cool temperature of under 60 C under load.  I am really surprised to find that without any case fan, the Turbo Module is able to reduce the card’s temperature by as much as 23 C compare to the Accelero S1 alone.  The performance is so good that it keeps the card running even cooler than when we have the graphic card paired with the Accelero S1 (without the Turbo Module) and an 120mm rear case fan installed.

Since we have already found out that in order to achieve a good performance with the Accelero S1, a well-ventilated case is critical.  However, instead of using case fans, the Turbo Module is able to offer a far more efficient cooling.  This makes the Turbo Module. an excellent addition to users who may have limited case fan mounting area if they decided to use the Accelero S1.

NOISE

Since the Accelero S1 does not use any fan it is absolutely quiet and it is the great advantage of using Accelero S1 as you can obtain a great cooling (provided your case is well ventilated) while keeping the noise to zero.  Now, what about the Turbo Module.  It is also very quite as well.  Although I do not have any physical data, the noise coming from my system is barely audible.  With the Turbo Module mounted on the Accelero S1, I do not hear the added noise coming from the system.  In fact, the NFORCE4 chipset fan's noise is actually the loudest inside the system.