Published in Reviews

Scythe Setsugen GPU cooler tested

by on25 November 2009

Index




To test the cooler we used our test rig Radeon HD 4850 card from MSI, which annoys us with constant speed even in idle, because MSI messed up the firmware.  The cooler does not feature any other cooling elements, so it's quite easy to fit the Setsugen. Just remove the old cooler and attach the Setsugen and you are finished.

The cooler is compatible with most cards on the market; just three cards, which are old Radeon 9550/9600 and GeForce 6600 GT AGP cards, are incompatible. Before you install the new cooler, go to the Scythe page and read the instructions for your card carefully.

If you are using a weaker card, such as Radeon HD 4600 series and lower and GeForce 9600GT and lower, you can remove the fans and make it completely passive, as long as you don't try to overclock and have sufficient airflow in your case. Either way, the cooler is using a second slot.

We ran all tests with the lowest RPM setting possible, we connected the fan to the mainboard and set the control knobs to the lowest possible position.


MSI Radeon HD4850 stock cooler idle:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen idle:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 stock cooler 3DMark2003:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen 3DMark2003:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 stock cooler 3DMark2006:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen 3DMark2006:
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The results are not impressive at all, so we thought, what happens when we flip the cooler, so the fan can blow onto the card?


MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen blowing idle:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen blowing 3DMark2003:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen blowing 3DMark2006:
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With the much better results we also tried the Furmark Benchmark. This benchmark is causing a lot of stress for any graphics card and you can forget the TDP because Furmark does exceed it a lot.

MSI Radeon HD4850 stock cooler Furmark:
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MSI Radeon HD4850 Setsugen blowing Furmark:
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Last modified on 24 September 2010
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