Xigmatek Battle-Axe VD964 VGA Cooler



Introduction
Once again Xigmatek set a new milestone to the brand new VGA cooler that ultilising H.D.T Technology to provide a more efficient cooling for the power hunger VGA cards. It feature 4 pieces of H.D.T heatpipes, each 6mm in size. It also uses 2 silent fans with the special mounting mechanism to minimize the vibrations.


Features



Specifications


This post has been edited by sup3rfly: May 13 2008, 01:21 AM

Package Contents

The cooler come with a very nice and secured box.


Front View


Back View




The cooler is covered in a very secure way by thee pvc holder


Accessories that come with the cooler

This post has been edited by sup3rfly: May 14 2008, 12:35 AM

The Battle-Axe!!!


The front view of the cooler mounted to the 8800GTS 512MB


The back view








The ultra low noise fan


Battle-Axe!!!

This post has been edited by sup3rfly: May 14 2008, 12:35 AM

Test Bed
CPU: Intel C2D E8500 @ 3.15GHz
Mobo: Asus Maximus Formula
Memory: 2 x 1 GB Crucial DDR2 Memory PC5300
GPU: Gigabyte 8800GTS 512MB
PSU: Zalman 600W PSU
CPU Cooling: Custom Watercooling

Software Used
OS: Windows XP SP2
Benchmark Software: Crysis + Crysis Benchmark Tool 1.05 Final
Monitoring Software: HWMonitor

Test Method
The test will be conducted using 3 different flavor, stock speed, semi overclocked and high overclocked. It will also be stressed under 2 fan speeds, low and high speed. The reason to do so is to differentiate the noise level of the cooler fan and the reason for doing 3 different speeds is to provide a clear understanding on the results for different types of users, not all users overclock their hardwares at the max speed all the time.
By using Crysis Benchmark Tool 1.05, the settings will be set to High and the resolution will be set to 1280 x 1024. The idle temperature reading will be the value showing in the "Value" field in HWMonitor and the load temperature reading will be record down according to the "Max" value field in the HWMonitor. Alright, lets starts the test shall we???

Results

Fan Speed @ High


Fan Speed @ Low

This post has been edited by sup3rfly: May 15 2008, 09:59 PM

Issue Encountered
As highlighted by shawty, the cooler is not meant for G92 GPUs, its a fact that the Battle-Axe have some fitting problem with the G92 GPUs, the issue is due to that the GPU core doesn't come with a ihs like G80, this caused the cooler to sit lower than it normally did hence the 2 of the heatpipes is actually hitting the ram sink. Please refer to the picture below for more understanding n the issue.



The highlighted part is where the issue lies. As you can see the heatpipe is actually causing the ramsink to lift up by a lot, which means its not touching the memory. From this issue, the heatsink is not able to be mounted properly to the core as well, this will cause a massive problem as its not 100% functioning how it suppose to function. To solve this, I have removed the ramsink from the affected area to allow the cooler to be mounted properly. From what you guys can see the results is pretty impressive comparing the low speed results for Battle-Axe is the same or lower for the high speed fan on a stock cooler. I m sure you wont want your stock heatsink fan to be operate @ full speed all the time as it produces very very loud sounds.

Conclusion
The Xigmatek impress us again with the H.D.T gpu cooler. Overall its pretty impressive i must say. The fan is dead silent even at high speed fan. I have provided some finding of the issue to the Xigmatek engineer hopefully they will look into it to allow this cooler to fully support G92 GPU as well. Aside from that, I hope they would include more ramsink as G92 has more area that needed to be cooled down. I hope they can redesign the cooler's fin to allow more airflow to be flow to the ramsink to provide a better cooling for the overall card

Alright, last but not least, I would like to take this opportunity to thanks ckhoong for providing me this lovely cooler to play with. I hope you get well soon. Thanks for viewing also forumers

P/S: Sorry for the picture quality, pictures taken from my old SE K750i.

This post has been edited by sup3rfly: May 15 2008, 10:30 PM

Lets see how this performs comparing to Auras Frigde JES988.. haha.. Cant wait for the review..

8800GTS 512MB is G92 AKA naked core no?

yeah the only gpu i have...so no choice i know the cooler is not meant for g92 tho.... but it still work fine so i dont find any problem with it

How's the fan noise level like? Could a baby sleep or it wakes up a dead body?

a baby shd be able to sleep and a dead body wont wake up... i got no dead body to try out
its not a noisy fans dun worry low speed but efficient fans hehe

The thing is, when you use Xigmatek Battle-Axe VD964 on naked core based GPU, only 2 heatpipes were in contact with the GPU.

Seriously, Xigmatek Battle-Axe VD964 is only good for Nvidia G80 GPU based graphic card since Nvidia G80 is the only GPU that has IHS [Ignoring the old-old GPU lah].

yeah it doesnt ultilise all the heatpipes but the thing is by using 2 heatpipes its good enough to tame down the G92 "heater" already...ya get wat i mean
its a waste that it doesnt ultilise 4 of the heatpipes, i really wish i have a G80 and see if i can remove the IHS to fit on G92 since on the pcb there is actually the same as G80 iinm

i will try to get a 88ultra from my friend to test on it...hopefully i can get hold of it la...if i can i will redo another round of tests and add in the results of g80...

This post has been edited by sup3rfly: May 14 2008, 07:53 AM

It'll be better if you have any of those G80 graphic cards together with the Battle-Axe & HR-03 Plus to compare.

HR-03 Plus has 6 heatpipes with non HDT technology.
Battle-Axe has 4 heatpipes with HDT technology.

can fit 3870 onot?

wee looks superb.. faster show us the result..
btw where u got it from ?

currently its not available in malaysia yet...
anyway results is up.... check it out guys

yerps, i had some probs with my G92 too.
guess i'll post up my results later

lol more to come XD stay tuned

fly, any chance to have this thing fight out with the TR?

to all:
TR or baxe better? (disregarding price)

and if consider price vs performance, which better?

Kinda hard, as most of us have left G80 for a very long time.

I'd choose Battle-Axe over HR-03 Plus.
I believe Battle-Axe will win on both performance & price matter.

With Battle-Axe, you don't have to buy any fans. Plus, Battle-Axe comes with two fans, which it blows directly to the whole card.
While for HR-03 Plus, you still need to buy a 92MM fan while still not being able to cool the whole card as the 92MM fan will only be blowing to the middle of the card.

hi it didnt mention if it fits Ati 3 series gpu in the specs and i havent tried it yet so i cant really confirm for u.... sorry

seriously i have not tried any TR gpu cooling yet but TR is a well known brand in cooling for me i think they will be a good fight between them.... if there is chance that someone would borrow me then i will wanna try to compare as well

feel free to let me re-vmod it..so ugly

This post has been edited by coolice: May 18 2008, 02:52 PM

its a forbidden thing to do on a graphic card and u did it

cool .. this axe really can cut down temperature .. wat's the estimated price for this cooler ??

thanks for the reply shawty/superfly

i also think almost the same thing too. TR has been a very performing maker, but the prices they offer is always on the side while xigmatek not only offers similiar if not even better than TR in some rare cases but the price is a LOT lower than what TR can give.

i will prolly look into getting one of these as my 8800ultra is like some stupid 70-80ish celcius while gaming

=edit=
Offtopic: oh yea, besides this cooler, any other recommendations that might be on par or better than this?

im thinking auras fridge JES988 but lack confidence on a new player while xigmatek has been proven its worth over time

This post has been edited by Quazacolt: May 21 2008, 03:31 PM

If you compare between HR-03 Plus & Auras Fridge JES988, HR-03 Plus would be better since HR-03 Plus has 6 heatpipes.
But if you compare HR-03 Plus, Fridge JES988 & Battle-Axe VD964 on an 8800 Ultra, Battle-Axe would be the real performer.

This is because your 8800 Ultra GPU has it's own IHS, thus all 4 heatpipes from the Battle-Axe will get in contact with the 8800 Ultra GPU directly.

Battle-Axe is the best choice for your 8800 Ultra since your Ultra has IHS which can help spread the heat directly to all 4 heatpipes on the Battle-Axe.
Plus, Battle-Axe is the cheapest among all 3.

Do remember that HR-03 Plus & Fridge JES988 doesn't come with a fan.

ah the JES988 doesnt come with a fan? i didnt notice that. if im no mistaken, fan aside its the cheapest amongst the 3 but then again now that you mentioned fan...

HDT aside, would the heatpipes alone be the deciding factor for performance? eg: hr03 vs the jes988
the JES988 has some really good designs on the fins and all that could offset the lack of heatpipes (like some other CPU coolers we've seen that isnt as good as TR's raw heatpipe power but does provide significant and comparable performance)

auras suppose to be a passive cooler as mention on the box "0db"
thats the reason they dont bundle with fans
anyway did some test up on auras too.... detailed review and testing will up soon...

as an enthusiast and and a decently high requirement user, i dont believe in passive cooling

im not sure whats the deal with that 0db marketing, cuz most of us know that the 8800 pre G92 is hot as hell and the majority of people buying 3rd party coolers are looking into overclocking so its rather flawed to have it running passively

will be awaiting for your auras review btw
perhaps try a passive and single/dual fan setup? even better uf you can include a comparison vs the B.Axe and TR cooler (if anyone has it and willing to contribute?)

u will know when i post up^^
test is done just need to write up...just got back from jb today will try do it tonite
dam sleepy chasing flight!!!

I have 2 Geforce 8800GTS 320MB (G80) running in SLI mode. I wish to upgrade both of them to aftermarket VGA cooler such as the Xigmatek BattleAxe.

Can you please assist to advise whether the huge BattleAxe will allow me to run both cards fitted with it in SLI mode. Will the default SLI cable be long enough?

I'm just worried that this BattleAxe will hinder the current setup.

Any opinion or experience is very much appreciated.

Thanks.

oh no give me that cooler

Now BATTLE AXE come with new extra kit to support latest card like ATI HD4890, HD4770 ~ Nvidia GTX 295, 285, 280, 275, 260, GTS250

tumpang thread.

tried to install battle axe to my asus eax 4870 but the ramsink oso having same problem like urs..

did u just let the ram without the ramsink?

I fitted this cooler onto my Zotac Geforce 8800GT (non overclocked), performance was quite alright.

I had to left several rams without heatsinks since the heatpipes from the Xigmatek BattleAxe was blocking the rams.

So far, after running some benchmark and games, I have yet to face a crash.

Hi there! Any special tips for the installation of Xigmatek Battle-Axe on a GTX285 graphics card? Thank you so much in advance for advice.

This post has been edited by nismailm: Aug 6 2009, 05:29 PM

Do it with passion

---

Added on August 7, 2009, 5:13 pmDo it with passion

This post has been edited by lingloong: Aug 7 2009, 05:13 PM

Can someone recommend a good thermal paste for the RAM chips? Thank you in advance for advice. :-D

I've done it! Installed the Xigmatek Battle-Axe VD946 on my XFX GTX285. Idle temp: 39C & Load temp (while doing Crysis): 58C max. Price RM155 + RM8 shipping.

The screws were a bit 'fragile', so have to do it very carefully and not to over-tighten them. The GPU cooler fits in well with the new GTX200 series additional bracket. Some modding have to be done to secure the chip heat sink though....by using the cable ties (see image). Took out the aluminum cover because it touches the motherboard SATA connectors. Because of that, you need to use all the spare anti-vibration rubbers provided to secure the fans. As for the fan control, I've hooked the fans up with the Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus fan controller.

Love this product!

This post has been edited by nismailm: Aug 9 2009, 07:53 PM

I just wanted to ask about battle axe and u guys have a thread here. awesome
I'm planning to get this for my Gigabyte 8800GT

Is the weight of this cooler an issue? 617g

Not really an issue since the weight of the heatsink is spread out. Unlike CPU heatsink where it is concerntrate directly in one area.

Well, unless you plan to move around with it a lot, then I would say it may become an issue if you don't bubble wrap your parts in the PC.

anyone have ramsink issue when fixing this cooler on sapphire 4850? planning to get one but scare cannot put on the ramsink.

I am not sure how hot does 4850 rams get.

I too have issues of similar to yours.

I am running a few memory ram chips without heatsinks (I am using the Zotac 8800GT) 24 / 7.

I don't think it would be too much of a problem as long the casing airflow is decent to begin with.

im using battle axe for my 4850...
the things is...the temp only decrease about 5'c only?idle at 65'c..
i saw a lot of people got a better result.any1 can guide me?

I think its thermal compound that u use affect it differently...
What thermal compound u using?

the one that included with the package?is the ramsink need thermal compound too?or just the gpu core?

I think you didnt fix the cooler properly. bad contact between the cooler and the GPU.

double check?

even my card idles at 55degress(er i'm using Gigabyte 8800GT Zalman edition)..i'm planning to get battle axe tho

fit and me using on it.... cool....ide 35c.. max38c.... 12jam on