Verdict and Conclusion
This has been a fun review, I was excited to be given a chance to test this cooler as I’ve had an old and (very) beat up Accelero S1 V2 for a few years now.
The Arctic Accelero S1 PLUS is even better, which is a fairly good trick.
It has mounts for almost every GPU out there.
It’s rated for cooling the vast majority of GPUs under 200 watts, I suspect it could do hotter GPUs as well with proper airflow. More MOSFET heatsinks would be required however.
For many cards it is rated for zero fan use, of course its no fan cooling performance depends greatly on airflow. My case has dubious airflow through that area and the S1 PLUS absolutely stomped the stock 8800GT 512MB cooler.
The G1 thermal glue really does let go easily, and while it takes some stirring and waiting it is less effort than cutting thermal tape to the proper size.
On the downside the G1 is only good for one application, after that you’ll need more. Also it comes off more easily than I’d like. The MX4 thermal compound that comes pre-applied on the primary heatsink is fantastic, there are very few compounds better.
The Accelero S1 has excellent cooling performance for running stock or overclocking. The downside to its performance is that it is not small, if your case is a narrow sort you may have issues making the cooler fit in the case.
Did I mention price? The Accelero S1 PLUS runs $30-$35 from many online retailers, making it an excellent value as well.
Shall we summarize? There are pros:
- Good cooling performance.
- Fits most GPUs.
- G1 thermal glue comes off easily.
- No-fan operation on many GPUs for total silence.
- Great price/performance.
There are cons too:
- Not small, narrow cases may be an issue.
- G1 compound comes off more easily than I’d like.
- G1 compound leaves a slight grease residue that must be cleaned before using tape.
- Four MOSFET heatsinks imposes some limits on GPU compatibility.
All told I’m quite happy with the Arctic Accelero S1 PLUS and rate it at 8.7/10!
SCORE
8.7/10
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