Introduction
ARCTIC initiated the trend towards quiet cooling systems for desktop PCs in 2001 and has given distinction to it ever since. Today ARCTIC is one of the leading manufacturers in computer cooling and has acquired profound know-how in consumer electronics.
Up until 2009, ARCTIC COOLING focused solely on cooling solutions. In 2010, we became ARCTIC with the additional aim to provide a comprehensive set of innovative consumer electronics and peripherals. ARCTIC’s long term goal is nothing less than being present in everybody’s home.
Official product link
http://www.arctic.ac/us_en/accelero-twin-turbo-iii.html
Packaging and accessories
The product comes packaged in a white box with blue accents. The front side of the box shows the product, the name of the product, a QR code and the manufacturer’s name “Arctic”. Here we also have the carbon free green logo.
The sides of the box are blue and they show the product’s features, the graphics card compatibility list and the installation methods of the radiator in several languages.
The backside displays the heatsink along with two charts about the noise level and fan speeds.
Accessories
The product comes with the following accessories:
– 1x Manual
– 1x Molex Adapter
– 4x Long Screws
– 2x M3 Screws
– 4x Spacers White (5.5mm)
– 4x Nuts
– 4x Metal washers
– 3x Clips (one screw)
– 3x Clips (two screws)
– 4x Washers Black (0.3mm)
– 4x Spacers White (1.5mm)
– 40x Thermal Pads
– 1x Foam (Black)
– 1x Foam (Grey)
– 2x Mounting Plate
– 1x Protective Film
– 1x Graphics Card Holder
– 1x Heatsink
Specifications
Max. Cooling Capacity: 250 Watts
Heatsink:
Heatpipe: Ø 6 mm x 5
Aluminum Fins x 35, Thickness 0.4 mm
Fan:
Diameter: 92 mm
Fan Speed: 900 – 2,000 RPM (Controlled by PWM) x 2 Fans
Noise Level: 0.3 Sone @ 2,000 RPM
Current / Voltage (per fan): 0.15A / +12V DC
Power Consumption: 2.88 Watts
Weight: 810g
Compatibility:
Nvidia GeForce:
GTX 980, 970, 960, Titan X, Titan*(Black*), 780(Ti*), 770, 760, 750(Ti), 680, 670, 660(Ti), 650 (Ti,Ti boost), 580, 570, 560 (Ti,SE) , 550 Ti, 480 ,470, 465, 460(SE) ,GTS 450 , 250, 240 (OEM), 150 (OEM), GT 640, 340, 330, 320, 130 (OEM)
AMD Radeon:
R9 285, 270(X), R7 265, 260(X), 250(X), 240, HD 8870, 8760, 7870(XT ,GHz) ,7850 ,7790, 7770 (GHz) , 7750, 7730, 6970, 6950, 6870, 6850, 6790, 6770, 5870, 5850, 5830, 5770, 5750, 4890, 4870, 4850, 4830, 3870, 3850, 3690
*No over-clocking is recommended
Accelero Xtreme Twin Turbo III is compatible only with the graphics card using a standard size PCB with a width of 98mm.
Graphics cards with different dimensions will not be compatible with this cooler. This includes:
-Low profile Graphics card
-Graphics cards with extended PCB (such as : ASUS DirectCU II R9 290, GTX780-DC2OC-3GD5)
Visual inspection
The cooler has a sleek and elegant look, the frame that holds the two white 92mm fans is black maintaining the Arctic black & white color scheme. In the middle of the fans we have the name of the product as well as the name of the manufacturer.
The cooler ensures the cooling of the graphics card using 5 copper heatpipes each with a thickness of 6mm and 35 Aluminum Fins each with a thickness of 0.4mm.
The black heatsink measures 218 mm in length, 98mm in height and 23mm in width. The black frame that holds the fans measures 217mm in length, 53mm wide and 122mm height.
Testing
The following system was used to test the cooler:
– Processor: Intel i5 4690K @ 3.9 GHz and overclocked to 4.5 GHz
– Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 9 ACK
– RAM: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical @ 2133MHz
– GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 660 OC Gaming
– SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB
– HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 500GB
– PSU: Seasonic M12II-520 EVO Edition Bronze 520W
– Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe White
– Thermal compound: Arctic Cooling MX-4
The cooler was tested using the NVIDIA MSI GeForce GTX 660 Twin Frozr IV 2 GB. The core frequency during the tests was approximately 1098MHz and the memory frequency was approximately 3004MHz. The tests were conducted 40 minutes (per test) using the software MSI Kombustor (3.5.0) and MSI Afterburner v4.1.1.
Testing the cooling efficiency of the cooler has been done at three different speeds 30%, 60%, 100%) both in idle and full load, also the noise level of the cooler was measured at three different distances (10cm, 20cm si 30cm).
The installation of the cooler on the GPU was easy, due to the easy to read manual and the clear schematics.
Arctic clearly states that the Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo III is compatible only with the graphics card using a standard size PCB with a width of 98mm.
Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo III cooling performance
Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo III sound performance
Final thoughts
The Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo III model offers a superior performance at a more than reasonable price, adding numerous improvements over the previous model, the Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo II. One of the most important improvements are the new metallic graphics card holder, which holds the weight of the cooler, the use of thermal pads instead of glue and the new included heatsink for VRM cooling.
In conclusion, the Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo III model is a product that managed to improve even more a line of products that was already well-known for its performance & reliability at a reasonable price.
Thanks for the review with artic twin 3 and gtx660.