Today I'm trying out Arctic Cooling's Accelero S1, a passive VGA cooler, on my ATi Radeon X1900XTX 512MB card. Two of the major issues with this video card are its hot, hot temperatures and its loud fan, so I'm excited to see how this will perform and help remedy these issues. Introduced April 24th of this year and scheduled to arrive in stores in the coming few days, the Accelero S1 relies on negative air pressure created by other case fans to suck outside air through the expansion slot across its fins. Weighing in at a just 290g, it is 140(L) x 215(W) x 32(H) mm and sports four heat pipes, each 6mm. Here's how it compares with the stock cooler in size and looks:



Arctic Cooling's last cooler compatible with the X1900XTX was the Accelero X2. This cooler, said to be effectively silent at full fan speed, achieved great temperatures. However, some users complained about some unacceptable design flaws, including that the RAM-sinks were practically glued on upon first installation. This meant that if you didn't like your Accelero X2, or if you wanted to try something new, you were stuck. In this vein, the Accelero S1 has very specific instructions involving fan orientation and case setup for optimal performance. They describe how all fans should be directed outwards, and any grills in the case exterior for increased airflow should be somehow blocked off. In this review, I'll compare both their suggestion and my original case setup to see what's really happening.