Written By:
Date Posted: October 9, 2001

CPUs have it easy.

People have been overclocking CPUs for years, and with that, we've been introduced with all kinds of new, obscene heatsink/fan combinations. Video cards have also been the recipients of our need for speed, but the cooling options were not as abundant as they were for their motherboard cousins. Early methods of overclocking were often the side effects of overclocking CPUs. Increasing the frontside bus to get extra CPU speed meant faster PCI slots, thus faster video cards. Early 3D cards, like CPUs, didn't employ passive or active cooling, but any high end video card available today will have some form of cooling.

Things have come a long way since then. We can now overclock video cards with registry hacks, and software such as Powerstrip. Although overclocking usually means voiding your warrenty, manufacturers have been making video card overclocking tools readily available on the drivers CD or their website.

All this doesn't come without a cost though. Your 300$ GeForce 3 can be rendered a 0$ peice of PCB/silicon if your overclocking goes wrong. Except for a few OEM manufacturers, overclocking, like I said, voids your warrenty. Even if your card doesn't die right away, strange anomolies can occur over time, such as artifacts on screen or random lockups. Let this continue long enough, and these problems become more frequent, then permanent. That, or you'll be welcomed by a blank screen and 3 distinctive beeps (2 short, one long) the next time you power on your PC.

The first 3rd party cooling solution I remember was the 3dfx Cool for the original 3dfx Voodoo. Since then, different manufacturers have introduced different cooling solutions, most famous of all, Thermaltake. Well known for their Golden Orb CPU coolers, they came out with a heatsink/fan combo to replace the one you already have. The Blue Orb (Blorb) did an amazing job at cooling your video card, but because you had to remove your old heat sink, your warrenty went out the window. For some, this isn't a big deal, but for others, the idea of blowing a 300$ investment isn't worth the risk.

Overclocking, in any form be it CPU or video card, isn't the safest thing to do. Yanking a heatsink literally welded on isn't too safe either. In comes the . Basically, it's a 60mm fan bolted on a plastic shroud, that sits on top of your video card to whisk away heat. The idea sound simple, and the fact I was able to set this up faster than it took me to open my case up is a testiment in it's simplicity.

Specifications

Light weight: only 3oz
the AGP card easily supports it.

All plastic (non-conductive) body
Base measures 80mm x 80mm
Rubber (non-conductive) feet

Fan Specs:
60mm x 60mm x 25mm
Dual Ball Bearing design
12v, 2.16w
3 pin

4200 RPM
35 dBA
27 CFM

Pictured above is the underside of the unit. There are two parts to the AGP Airlift, the shroud and the cooling fan. The shroud may come in three colours depending on availability, and is what sits on your video card. The 60mm YS Tech fan is installed with 4 small screws, and the fit is pretty secure.

Since this is something that's going to sit on your video card, you may be concerned about it falling or snapping your video card PCB. Rest assured, this will not happen. The AGP Airlift weighs literally nothing. The plastic feet seemed to be pretty good at holding the card still, even with minor moving of the case. I didn't take my PC for a jog or anything, but if you need to move around, like for a LAN party, the Airlift can be taken off in less than 5 seconds. Even if I were to tilt my PC over and it fell, I doubt any damage will be done. I didn't actually try this, so if you break anything, the onus is on you :P

The AGP Airlift's cooling is provided by the ever reliable 60mm YS Tech 4200rpm, 27cfm fan. It's no Delta fan, but at only 35dba, you won't be adding much noise to an, most likely, already loud system. The fan is mounted with the logo facing up. With most fans, this means the air will come out of here. When mounting the Airlift, the unit draws air from the shroud, and exhausts it out through the top, hence the name. Did i already say it wasn't complicated?

Testing

The test bed consists of:

AMD Thunderbird 1.4GHz (1.75v), HSF paired with regular silicone thermal paste
Abit KG7-RAID, with socket thermal sensor touching the bottom of the CPU
Antec Case, with only the Enermax power supply fans on, and side panel on
Room temperature is maintained at 23C/74F
Temperatures were gathered using a cruddy thermal probe I used to use in photography class

So, it looks easy, and doesn't seem to complicated to setup. Question is, how does it work? I'll have to admit, I was surprised by the results.

After a session of Urban Terror, where I yet again failed to kill anyone in half an hour, the Airlift managed to keep the video card about 2C -3C lower than before. Nice results for sure, considering no major hacking of the stock heatsink was needed. Why the surprise on my part? I really didn't think the Airlift would do much since it's not slapped right on to the PCB like a heatsink would.

In my GeForce 3 review, I stated that I managed an overclock of 230/515, but after a few hours of testing, I began to get lockups. Unfortunently, the Airlift was unable to help me get GeForce 3 Titanium speeds, but I was able to re-overclock back up to 230/515, and run a 3D Mark 2001 script for 8 hours without a lockup. Not Titanium speed, but getting closer. I didn't notice any strange artifacts or image tearing since then, and it's been about 2 weeks now.

Final Words

For 17$, and a little over 20$ after shipping, the AGP Airlift is a bit expensive, but also good deal in my opinion. A 60mm fan alone costs about 10$, and the drive to look for parts to make a decent shroud (unless you use your kid sister's construction paper), and the time brings you close to the price of this unit. It's too bad that there aren't other fan options available, but the YS Tech fan works well, and is near silent, compared to a Delta. Anyone who uses a desktop case or rack style case probably should look elsewhere since this item won't work for you. For the rest, if butchering your current video card cooling isn't your thing, I suggest giving the a good look.

Highspeed PC:

80%

Pros: Works as advertised, reasonably priced, doesn't void warrenty.

Cons: Won't work in desktop cases that lay flat, needs more fan options.

Caution: Although the Airlift doesn't void your warrenty by conventional means (read: ripping a heatsink off), overclocking does. As usual, use caution when overclocking.

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