Post Subject: VC-RHC universal VGA cooler
Posted on: Jun 13, 2007
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Today I will be reviewing the turbo 2 VC-RHC universal VGA cooler from Evercool.
First impressions
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When I first saw pictures of the cooler I didn't like the look of it. I didn't like the look of the sliver plastic. But once it arrived it didn't look to bad and I could see that the plastic is used to control the airflow.
I was very impressed by the large list of cards this cooler will work with
The following coolers are supported
•ATI
RADEON 9000/9000 PRO
RADEON 9200/9200 PRO
RADEON 9500/9500
RADEON 9600/9600 SE/9600PRO/9600XT
RADEON 9700/9700 PRO/9800 PRO/9800XT
RX300/600/800
ATI Radeon X1300 Series
ATI Radeon X1600 Series
ATI Radeon X1800 Series
•Nvidia
GeForce 4 MX 420/400/460
GeForce 4 MX 440 SE/440 8X
GeForce FX 5200/5500/5600/5700
GeForce 4Ti 4200/4200 8X
GeForce 4Ti 4400/4600/4800
GeForce FX 5600 UL TRA/5700 UL TRA
GeForce FX 5900/5900 XT
GeForce FX 5950 UL TRA
GeForce FX 6600/6600GT
GeForce 6800/6800GT
GeForce 7800/7800GT
and theres the possibility that other coolers are compatible with the cooler if the mounting holes are in the right pace and if this cooler is enough to cool it.
Out of the 5 computers around my house this cooler can cool them all. In fact out of all the graphics cards I have only 3 aren't on that list.
The cooler uses a copper base connected to 2 heat pipes that are connected to the fins. These are then cooled my the 8cm silent fan in the center of the cooler.
All the instruction are printed on the inside of the packaging and give you all the information you need to install on your GPU.
Whats in the box
The cooler
2 Screws for extension clip
2 Extension clips (for the AGP 6600)
4 Spring nuts
4 Hexagonal screws
8 cushions
Thermal paste
Installation
The card I installed the cooler on is a PCI express Geforce 6600 from chaintech.
The first thing I had to do was look at a diagram in the instructions that told me what mounting holes to use. My card could have used other mounting holes as well but used the ones the instructions told me to use. Before I attacked the cooler to the graphics card I applied some thermal paste. Then I put the cooler on a secured it using the spring nuts. It was all very easy to do and the only problem I had was I put too many cushions on one of the screws by accident. After you have your card back in the computer all you need to do is plug the power cable into the 3 pin connector on the mobo.
Heres the cooler on the card
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I didn't notice this for a while but the cooler is so big that it makes the 2 expansions slots next to the graphics card useless. This means if you have a micro ATX board like mine you will be left with 1 free slot and I doubt you could use this cooler in a SLI computer on both cards.
Here you can see how it blocks the expansion slots.
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Noise level
Its very quite in fact I cant tell if its making any noise at all as everything eles in the computer makes more noise.
Performance
Before I removed the stock cooler I done some tests to see what temperatures I got with it. The idle temps were measured when the computer wasn't doing anything and the under load measurements were done when playing a game
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Heres a picture of the stock cooler
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After I installed the cooler (and changed the thermal paste) the temperatures went down to
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The idle temps went down 12 degrees Celsius but the under load temps went down 28 degrees Celsius. This meant that there was only 4 degrees difference between the idle and the under load temps. Compared to the possible 18 degrees difference I got with the stock cooler. I found it a little odd that I always got the same results for idle or under load and i even tried opening the case up to see if it would go lower than 48 but it never did.
Pros and cons
Pros
Much better than stock cooler
Wide range of cards supported
Easy to install
Very quite
Cons
Blocks other expansion slots.
Overview and value for money
After looking around on the Internet I was able to find this this cooler for £8.49 (about $17). which I feel is a very good price for a cooler like this.
Whether you wanting to cool your gpu a bit more to overclock it or if you want to silence it I highly recommend the Evercool turbo 2 VC-RHC.
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