Hmm... To do a video card COOLER review.....

[jonnyGURU]

Ok. Video cards aren't my forte... but I got this MACS Sorcerer cooler and I wanted to play with it.

I had a BFG 7950GT OC 512MB sitting around that I could use, so I installed it.

I went into this TOTALLY skeptical. You know how you can either OC a video card or not? This one was already a bit OC'd from the factory and I've been able to squeeze a little more out of it, but didn't expect much from a simple air cooled pelt.

Well... I was wrong.

The MINUTE I put the pelt on the GPU, even the "auto tune" feature of the Nvidia utility was able to crank up the GPU and RAM more than with stock cooling. This floored me because the Nvidia software never seems to "wait" long enough for either GPU or RAM to "heat up" and know if it's OC capabilities are limited by temperature or not.

So instantly I'm able to push this 7950GT way beyond where it was by adding this Sorcerer. The thing is, outside of GPU temp readings, I really don't know how to show the benefits. I mean, I run 3DMark'06 w/ 4x AA enabled and my GPU scores really aren't too different from one cooler to the next, which makes me thing I've got a bottle neck beyond GPU and video card RAM speed. :( The system's not a dog... I don't think. It's a P4 3.8GB on an Intel 965 board with 2GB of PC8000 DDR2 RAM.

So.. any suggestions? Free downloads I can use to put the GPU through the paces with and without this pelt so I can show the increase in GPU and RAM speed on a 7950GT is worth the extra cooling/cost/effort??

[jonnyGURU]

Ok... so maybe from the lack of responses I should gather that you guys are DISCOURAGING me from doing a video card cooler review? :D

FYI:

BFG 7950GT OC:

With stock cooling....

Stock GPU=565 MHz, RAM=715MHz

Overclock GPU=680MHz, RAM=777MHz

Room temp = 21C
Inside case temp = 23C
Idle GPU temp = 43C
Loaded GPU temp = 61C

With MACS Sorcerer cooler.....

Overclock GPU=680MHz, RAM=832MHz

Room temp = 21C
Inside case temp = 23C
Idle GPU temp = 28C!!!
Loaded GPU temp = 34C!!!

See why I'm so shocked?! That's a HUGE difference in GPU temperatures and even clock speeds (considering the card is already OC'd from the factory.)

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Ok... so maybe from the lack of responses I should gather that you guys are DISCOURAGING me from doing a video card cooler review? :D

I don't know what to suggest - I barely play games these days, and when I do my X1650 Pro is more than enough video card for me ;)

[Tazz]

OK, my method kind of fits my area.

I normally run two runs of everything I have.

2 = 3DMark 06 1-1024 x 768, 1-1280 x 1024
2 = 3DMark 05 1-1024 x 768, 1-1280 x 1024

On games I run COD2, HL2 Lost Coast, FEAR, and Doom3.

1-1024x768 max settings.
1-1024x768 playable settings (if different).
1-1280x1024 max settings.
1-1280x1024 playable settings (if different).

I do record temps over all bench mark runs. I also normally put the card against a close competitor card not as a competition though(more of a this does this and this does that), sometimes the next card up the ladder in the same brand even.

I will then do a little on overclocking the card, showing if it can be pushed any further than it comes stock.

[Kab]

I mean, I run 3DMark'06 w/ 4x AA enabled and my GPU scores really aren't too different from one cooler to the next, which makes me thing I've got a bottle neck beyond GPU and video card RAM speed. :( The system's not a dog... I don't think. It's a P4 3.8GB on an Intel 965 board with 2GB of PC8000 DDR2 RAM. Then you need a CPU and you have too much RAM :p
Earnestly, the difference in end performance isn't usually all that much with OC'ing already OC'd GPUs. The GPU you have has strong ability to push up in numbers but at the same clocks, its not as performance supreme as the highest end cards.
The way to test your it is do what MI-Tazz was saying and know the stock results. You would have to run FRAPS and games like FEAR, Half-Life 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Quake 4 etc (the usual benches) and see what the difference is whilst monitoring your temps. Some of these are too CPU intensive and even a X6800 is a bottleneck for. Run 3dMark 2004/2006 at different game quality/resolution settings, and this is what stresses the GPU like Prime95 does for CPUs, esp. if you have two running at the same time:
RTHDRIBL: http://www.daionet.gr.jp/~masa/rthdribl (http://www.daionet.gr.jp/%7Emasa/rthdribl)

For more benches, run these:

SPECapc: 3dsMax 8, Maya 6.5, Pro/ENGINEER WildFire 2.0, SolidWorks 2005.
http://www.spec.org/gpc/downloadindex.html

Combine the two testing methods and you have a perfect set of benchmark performance figures, for both application and gaming orientated graphical use. ;)

[jonnyGURU]

Well... I think because I'm thinking of reviewing a cooler and not a video card it's going to be bit easier. I couldn't get much more out of the card AND have it stable, so I'll just take that angle of "it's a waste of money and time." :D

[PaulTa]

man, you guys have hardware just laying around....


Jonny- "Honey, can you hand me the 8800GTX coffee table coaster? Nah, I don't want to use the Quad Core extreme coaster right now"...:o

[jonnyGURU]

Jonny- "Honey, can you hand me the 8800GTX coffee table coaster? Nah, I don't want to use the Quad Core extreme coaster right now"...:o

Actually, last week I did have to call my wife to ask her if the two Evga cards in the foyer were 8800GTS or GTX cards. :D

[Spectre]

man, you guys have hardware just laying around....



ATM I am considering building he leaning tower of power supplies since two more just showed up with a third on the way to add to the 4 already here. Now i know how jonny has a hard time finding them sometimes.

[jonnyGURU]

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00180.JPG
The box.....
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00181.JPG
The piece of paper that's supposed to be a "manual."
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00182.JPG
The Sorceress!
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00183.JPG
Here's the TEC on the "back side."
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00184.JPG
The power connector on the end of the cooler. A Molex adapter is included and the cooler uses both 5V (for the Peltier) and the 12V (to run the fans.)
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00185.JPG
A profile shot of the TEC.
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00186.JPG
Included hardware baggies.
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00187.JPG
Here I take the cover off of the fans.
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00188.JPG
And remove the control unit from the end.
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/pre-installation/DSC00481.JPG
Here's the metal mounting plate you're supposed to use on the back of the video card.

[jonnyGURU]

The BFG 7950GT OC 512MB... before....

[jonnyGURU]

Yes... that last picture is very blue.

Here's why...

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/DSC00483.JPG

Blue Intel motherboard, blue IDE cable, there's a blue UV light top and bottom and power is provided by an X-Connect 500W with blue UV lights in it.

This is NOT the computer in the bedroom. :D

[jonnyGURU]

With stock cooling....

Stock GPU=565 MHz, RAM=715MHz

Overclock GPU=680MHz, RAM=777MHz

Room temp = 21C
Inside case temp = 23C
Idle GPU temp = 43C
Loaded GPU temp = 66C

I could use the computer almost flawlessly, but this is what I would see when running 3DMark'06:

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/DSC00493.JPG
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/DSC00494.JPG
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/DSC00498.JPG
http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/DSC00500.JPG

That's the Firefly sequence and... yeah... it's not supposed to look like that. ;)

So I progressively lowered the GPU down, and the RAM a bit, until I got a good clean run of 3DMark'06.

So now my stable overclock is....

Overclock GPU=637MHz, RAM=774MHz

Room temp = 21C
Inside case temp = 23C
Idle GPU temp = 43C
Loaded GPU temp = 61C

Just to make sure everything was kosher, I ran 3DMark'06 a few more times and threw a couple AquaMarks in there to boot and everything seemed stable.

Just goes to show that even a card that's overclocked from the factory still has a little more juice to squeeze out of it! :D

[jonnyGURU]

Now it's time to install the MACS cooler and see if it does anything for me....

First to take off the BFG cooler.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00466.JPG

Then I need to install the RAM coolers.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00467.JPG

This alone can help improve memory overclocks on this card, but the stock GPU cooler doesn't allow fitment of memory coolers.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00468.JPG

Ok.. Now we're all set with the memory coolers.... Now to start putting the GPU cooler together.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00470.JPG

The first thing to deal with is these tiny little scres for the mounting hardware.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00472.JPG

I'm now ready to peel the plastic off the back of the cooler.....

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00480.JPG

The mating surface is not perfectly smooth. If I had time, I'd give it a good wet sanding.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00474.JPG

So now it's installed onto the GPU.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00476.JPG

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00477.JPG

Four screws go through the backplate and into the cooler.

http://jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/installation/DSC00482.JPG

[jonnyGURU]

Here's the BFG with the MACS Sorceress installed....

http://www.jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/BFG_after/DSC00487.JPG

I popped off the slot cover of the next slot over to allow some hot air to exhaust.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/Sorceress/BFG_after/DSC00489.JPG