9800gt passive with hr-03 rev.A - need how much airflow?

[jchu14]

I just picked up the passive BFG 9800gt. Newegg link for reference

This will replace my passive Asus 7600gs.
I know it's a power hog with the old 65nm process, but it was offered at a price I can't refuse. But now I have to worry about cooling it ... quietly.

My current setup includes:
C2D 2.4 @ 3.0ghz with 1.22Vcore. 35C idle and 44C load. 28C case temp.
Scythe Ninja Rev B with Scythe Slip-stream 12L @ 800rpm in idle and 1000rpm during load.
Scythe DF12L @ 550rpm as rear exhaust.
Ultra x-finity 500w power supply with 120mm fan.

Anyone have this card or a modded a 9800gt with a Thermalight Hr-03 Rev.A? Will the close proximity to the CPU fan be enough to keep this card's temperature under control?

If not, then I'll have to try to mount an undervolted 120mm onto the card w/ strings or cable ties. I am asking now so if I do need the fan, I can buy the fan now and have it arrive at the same time as the video card.

Also, does BFG voids warranty if I flip the cooler to be 'upright'? If I have to add a fan, I'd rather have the fan blow into the card and cool the VRAM at the same time.

Current setup. (excuse the messy cabling! I still live in the olden days of ide cables )

Cheers,
Jeff

 

[BlueAcolyte]

It looks like to me that your cpu fan could cool the base of the heatsink and the vram.

But I would put an undervolt fan on the bottom if possible. I had an accelero on an 8800gt and the temps were MUCH better with any fan (80mm, 120mm, undervolt or 12v) than totally passive.

 

[EarthwormJim]

My 8800gt has a similar heatsink on it, an arctict cooling accelero (I think it performed a little better than the thermalright). I have no fans attached to it, however it sits about 6 inches below my radiator fans. It runs at around 60c fully loaded.

The air is cooler than what would be coming off of your CPU heatsink, but you should be fine just using your CPU fan to blow some air on it.

Even fully passive with bad airflow I believe that heatsink still performed similarly to the stock reference cooler.

 

[Zap]

Anyone have this card or a modded a 9800gt with a Thermalight Hr-03 Rev.A? Will the close proximity to the CPU fan be enough to keep this card's temperature under control?

Your setup should be fine. I'm guessing that fan on the CPU cooler blows air up into it? Basically it will suck hot air off the GPU heatsink, so your CPU will run hotter though it barely gets warm right now so it won't matter.

Also, does BFG voids warranty if I flip the cooler to be 'upright'? If I have to add a fan, I'd rather have the fan blow into the card and cool the VRAM at the same time.

The HR-03 was designed to work either way so yes you can physically flip the heatsink.

Technically yes it voids the warranty, however... [shifty eyes] I'm not sure BFG tech support checks it thoroughly enough so that if you don't physically break anything and it is returned to the original condition if you ever have to RMA, I don't think you'd have a problem. [/shifty eyes] You didn't hear it from me, m'kay? :sneaky: Just remember to register your card within 30 days and submit the receipt/invoice.

BTW did you call/email tech support with this question? One of them asked me the same thing today. ^_^ LOL, I gave her pretty much the exact same answer.

BTW why are you running 3 sticks of RAM?

 

[EarthwormJim]

Your setup should be fine. I'm guessing that fan on the CPU cooler blows air up into it? Basically it will suck hot air off the GPU heatsink, so your CPU will run hotter though it barely gets warm right now so it won't matter.



The HR-03 was designed to work either way so yes you can physically flip the heatsink.

Technically yes it voids the warranty, however... [shifty eyes] I'm not sure BFG tech support checks it thoroughly enough so that if you don't physically break anything and it is returned to the original condition if you ever have to RMA, I don't think you'd have a problem. [/shifty eyes] You didn't hear it from me, m'kay? :sneaky: Just remember to register your card within 30 days and submit the receipt/invoice.

BTW did you call/email tech support with this question? One of them asked me the same thing today. ^_^ LOL, I gave her pretty much the exact same answer.

BTW why are you running 3 sticks of RAM?

I thought BFG didn't care if you removed the heatsink as long as you sent the card back with the original heatsink. That is what I read when I bought my 8800gt, but that was years ago now.

 

[Zap]

Removing the heatsink for any reason officially voids the warranty. However, I have yet to find one instance where warranty was actually denied for someone having removed a heatsink (to replace TIM, use aftermarket unit, whatever) as long as it was put back the way it was for RMA purposes. There are two reasons for that. One is that really the warranty stipulation is just to protect us in case some idiot does something really dumb, such as try to lap a GPU that doesn't have a heatspreader or tries to solder on some volt mod. The other thing is that some days I suspect the tech support people really don't give a damn.

 

[jchu14]

Thanks for the replies everyone! Good to know that 8800gt can be cooled with minimal airflow. This should be very similar. I will just install the card as is and keep an eye on my temperature.

Technically yes it voids the warranty, however... [shifty eyes] I'm not sure BFG tech support checks it thoroughly enough so that if you don't physically break anything and it is returned to the original condition if you ever have to RMA, I don't think you'd have a problem. [/shifty eyes] You didn't hear it from me, m'kay? :sneaky: Just remember to register your card within 30 days and submit the receipt/invoice.

Gotcha.

BTW did you call/email tech support with this question? One of them asked me the same thing today. ^_^ LOL, I gave her pretty much the exact same answer.

Wasn't me! these passive cards must be popular these days

BTW why are you running 3 sticks of RAM?

Oh, I was doing some data processing that took up a little over 2 gb of ram in each instance. I stole a 2gb stick from another desktop so I can run 2 instances at once. I guess I should buy another stick of ddr2 to make it a full 8gb.

 

[Zap]

Oh, I was doing some data processing that took up a little over 2 gb of ram in each instance. I stole a 2gb stick from another desktop so I can run 2 instances at once. I guess I should buy another stick of ddr2 to make it a full 8gb.

Not just that, but also retaining the dual channel performance boost.

 

[Soulkeeper]

I couldn't see an intake fan in the pic.
Assuming you have a good one that blows air to the underside of the vid card, everything should be fine.
Might get some "hot spots" with the non-sinked vid mem and other components if there isn't airflow there.

I like your setup.

 

[jchu14]

Got my card and updating with new temperature numbers and pictures!

Like everyone guessed, the setup was fine with my existing fans. The GPU HSF does a great job cooling the card. I was able to maintain my fan settings.

temperature (delta temp):
CPU: 41C idle (+6), 49C load (+5). (Linpack)
Case Temp: 30C (+2)
GPU temp: 44C idle, 59C load (Furmark burning)

I am very comfortable with these temperatures.

Perfect match!

Not just that, but also retaining the dual channel performance boost.

Good point, I've swapped my 2gig stick with two 1 gig stick.

I couldn't see an intake fan in the pic.
Assuming you have a good one that blows air to the underside of the vid card, everything should be fine.
Might get some "hot spots" with the non-sinked vid mem and other components if there isn't airflow there.

I like your setup.

Thanks!

I've got a side vent (no fan) that allows cool air to flow into the underside of the card. It seems to work well. I've taped up the circular hole near the CPU heatsink to prevent cool air 'short-circuit'.

\

Thanks to everyone to helped!

 

[yh125d]

I ran a 9800GT with an AC accelero passively, with CPU also running passively, and really no fan in the case except the PSU fan and it didn't get all that hot

The stigma about 9800GTs running hot isn't necessarily that they put out a lot of heat, but just that most stock/reference coolers for it stink

 

[Zap]

Like everyone guessed, the setup was fine with my existing fans. The GPU HSF does a great job cooling the card. I was able to maintain my fan settings.

temperature (delta temp):
CPU: 41C idle (+6), 49C load (+5). (Linpack)
Case Temp: 30C (+2)
GPU temp: 44C idle, 59C load (Furmark burning)

I am very comfortable with these temperatures.

Excellent temperatures! All they need is a little bit o' airflow and they're peachy!

 

[jchu14]

bad news

My 9800 gt suddenly died last night. I was just browsing the web and video signal was lost suddenly. Now the computer can't even POST. Motherboard error beep code suggests that the video card is faulty. I tried a different power supply, but still no good.

It seems like I will be taking advantage of the BFG Lifetime warranty a little earlier than I expected. It's just odd how the card died so catastrophically so suddenly. It's not a particularly big inconvenience since I have a backup card, but still a little annoyed.

The hold time was quite bad at ~40minutes, but at least I didn't have to jump through hoops to get a RMA number. Tech support issued me a RMA number once I said the computer couldn't POST. We'll see how this goes ...

 

[mindless1]

Sorry to read that. I would replace that power supply anyway, moving from your old card to the new one might've been too much for that Ultra 500W.

Also, if you remove the rear slot cover under the card, you'll get some passive airflow under it. Even better would be putting a fan in the side panel instead of the passive intake, and cover the slot above the video card... ensuring you have no short loops that rob the rest of the system of airflow.