Accelero XTREME Plus II Packaging: WTF

Unless the packaging goes outside the bounds of a typical manufacturer — I don't say much about packaging. In this case we have some questionable packaging which needs to be improved on. Arctic Cooling mentions they have a Green Spirit, but from the plastic packaging I got...I'm not Feeling The Green. In addition, the packaging for the Accelero 2 is just a pain in the ass to get open without the fear of using a sharp knife cutting into the product. It took me several minutes, snipping and cutting with a pair of scissors to get into the damn thing, because this packaging wasn't even the type you could pull apart. The entire surrounding edges were sealed.

So, why not make a 90-100% recycled paper product for the packaging of this rather expensive cooler? We're talking about a typical $85 for this sucker, and I would guarantee if it cost an extra $1 on the pricetag, any enthusiast purchasing this would gladly accept the additional charge versus having to dispose of the plastic packaging, let alone dealing with opening it.

So next time, let's see some paper packaging!

Accelero XTREME Plus II

One of the 92mm cooling fans on the Accelero XTREME Plus II

Heatfins are still a very reliable form of cooling, and the only change over the years is adding heatpipes. In this case, we have heatpipes shooting out of the central area that is the most hot, and projected directly through the heatfins, outward.

The underside of the Accelero XTREME Plus II

I have to wonder if heatpipes would work just as well if they were combined into one single rectangular pipe. Because with all the pipes coming out of the main GPU core area, heat will gather around the individual pipes themselves.

Accelero XTREME Plus II Heatpipes & Heatfins

Accelero XTREME Plus II: Accessories

Arctic Cooling provides a wealth of heatsinks (31, actually) to accommodate the various AMD and nVidia graphics cards. For some models, an additional accessory set (VR002 or VR003) will be required (models needing this are on the specifications page).

Accelero XTREME Plus II accessories

Looking over the Accelero XTREME Plus II, I definitely got the impression this was a well-designed cooler. Open-Air fans to move air anywhere other than the source of the heat. A multitude of heatfins to absorb heat not only from the five heatpipes, but from underneath, where the VRAM and Voltage Regulator heatsinks were going to be installed. Speaking of, let's get to the installation part...