Akasa Vortexx Neo review

You might not have considered replacing your graphics card's cooler, but there are several reasons to do just that.

The fan on your existing card might be noisy, or it may have failed. Akasa's brand new Vortexx Neo fits most modern cards, including those with GeForce 8800 GT, 8800 GTS, 9600 GT and 9600 GTX processors, plus those based on the Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 chipsets. As long as your card has four mounting holes 53.2mm apart, there's a good chance it will fit. Cards with two graphics processors aren't compatible, though.

Fitting the cooler is relatively simple, although you'll need to take care not to damage your card while removing the existing cooler. Make sure you have some thermal paste remover to clean paste off the processor and memory chips.

We were pleased to see copper contacts where the processor and memory touch the Vortexx Neo, even if the rest is made from aluminium. Two heatpipes carry heat away from the card, aided by an 80mm fan and plastic ducting. Unlike some coolers we've seen, the Vortexx Neo sensibly exhausts hot air out of the rear of the case, through a backplate.

There are two disadvantages with fitting the Vortexx. One is that it will make your graphics card take up two slots inside your PC, even if it currently takes up one. Second, it has a three-pin fan connector that has to be connected to a header on your motherboard, which means the speed cannot be controlled based on the graphics processor's temperature.

To test the Neo, we fitted it to a Gigabyte GV-NX88T512HP. We ran our Call of Duty 2 benchmark three times to ensure the temperatures had reached their maximums. Compared to the standard single-slot cooler, the Neo was more effective and led to a decrease of almost 30°. The fan was noticeably quieter when playing games, although noise will depend on your motherboard's fan controller.

At £20, the Vortexx Neo is good value and ideal if your graphics card's fan has broken or is too noisy.