Are after market coolers worth it for GPUs? They seem a hell of a lot of work, when you add the all heatsinks you need, if you change them. Are they worth the trouble?
Depends on how much you value cool temps, quietness, and overclocking headroom. Personally, not worth it, especially when the 3rd party manufacturers already have pretty solid cooling solutions.
My card has been getting a bit hotter than normal lately, so I was looking into them. I have a ref GTX 670
For me, it's more of question of are they worth the cost. The assembly is the fun part for most any computer builder. Being that any decent cooler is upwards of $50 seems kinda steep, but if temps really bother you, go for it.
well what temps are you getting?
I getting 70 under full load play crysis 3. usually it tends to stay under 65
Those temperatures are not really that bad. When you start hitting 75 to 80 then yea, you may be having a problem. What you can do is get a tube of really good quality thermal paste and redo your chip and heat spreader. This will often help lower temps.
Those temps are pretty low for a GPU. No need for an aftermarket cooler.