Keep in mind that I had already replaced the thermal goop applied at the factory with the Tuniq TX-2 paste. In a completely stock test, core temperature would reach a high of 65° C so you can see the TX-2 has reduced load temps a whopping 7° C already. The HR-03 in passive mode idles significantly lower and is on par with the stock cooler at load. When even just a small amount of air is pushed through the cooler however, temps are reduced dramatically. From 10° C at idle to nearly a 15° C drop at load, all with a virtually silent 25cfm. For those willing to put up with a lot of noise, or can throttle up the fan for benchmarking, at 80cfm the load temp is reduced an additional 5° C. At this speed the fan is nearing a rated 50dBA output level so obviously not many people would be willing to tolerate this setting for long, and there's really no need for it with the card at stock voltage and clock speed. So what happens when we take that up a notch?
There really isn't much change to report here, even with with an 80MHz overclock on the core. The stock cooler in fact performs identical at both speeds, no doubt as a result of its auto-adjusting fan speed. The HR-03 sees the biggest difference in passive mode, but still only gains a few degrees. There's even less to report with the fan on low and almost no increase at the high setting. The HR-03 appears to be quite an efficient cooler.
As a final test I opted to modify the card's voltage, bumping the factory-set 1.0v core value up 10% to 1.1v, the maximum increase available in the BIOS. Even with the additional voltage the temperatures remained at 36° idle / 40° load with the fan set to high. This allowed me to overclock much higher, reaching 792MHz on the core speed. That's more than a 60MHz jump over the stock cooling overclock, which translates to roughly 150 more points in 3DMark06. With the memory cooling now using separate heatsinks those speeds could be increased as well, although not nearly as dramatically, up to 1080MHz.
As usual, Thermalright has produced yet another outstanding cooling product. The performance of the HR-03 GT flat out kills that of the factory reference cooler. Even in a totally-silent passive configuration, its still on par with the stock setup, and by adding a mere 25cfm through the HR-03 it reduces temps by 10-15° C. The quality of Thermalright's coolers has always been excellent as well and this one is no exception. Everything in the box fit as expected and the installation procedure is simple. There were no problems with the thermal tape on the memory sinks losing adhesion and dropping off, even after countless heat cycles. The ability to mount the HR-03 either hanging off the front or wrapped over the rear of the card allows the end user to choose whichever methods works best in their particular system configuration, and no doubt enhances the compatibility among varying manufacturers and models of graphics cards.
The size may cause a problem for some, particularly those that are looking for a multiple-card solution. If the position of the CPU cooler prohibits using the HR-03 with the fins over the back of the card, chances are there won't be enough room to sandwich it between a pair of cards either, especially with a fan attached. And although the performance of the HR-03 was respectable in passive mode, generally most buyers will want to use a fan to get the full potential of this cooler.
When it comes to price, the HR-03 GT will cost you in the neighborhood of $50-$60, and remember that this does not include a fan. But if you're looking to get the most out of your video card and are willing to pony up the dough to do it, the HR-03 makes for an excellent buy.
The Thermalright HR-03 GT is awarded the OCIA.net Seal of Approval.
