Any ideas on how to cool down my overclocked Geforce2MX?

[daywalker]

I got a Geforce2MX 400 and it works pretty well so far. I overclocked the card to its maximum memory frequency (i didnt overclock the core) which is 170Mhz (its default was 133) and the card worked well with no freezing or system lock ups but i did it only for a little while (bout half an hour) because i was afraid of the temperature that would build up. I found in a store this BIG PCI fan that sits right next to the card and blows air to it, but is it enough? What else should i do to keep my card cool???

 

[MatthewF01]

Hmmm, is this just a system cooling fan, or is it actually for cooling off PCI devices? I have this fan that hangs in a PCI slot, and LOOKS like its cooling a PCI/AGP device, but its actually just sucking air out of the case, and blowing it out the back. Could you have this? But even if thats so, that would probably work out good.

Anything that will keep the memory a little cooler. I'm sure it couldnt get THAT much hotter if you just utilized more case cooling.

 

[daywalker]

Yes i know what you are saying. I have already one fan that is blowing air to the motherboard and cards. so i guess that i need at least one more fan to get the air OUT of my case (the fan of my power supply certainly isnt enough). My system's temperatures are 47C for the CPU, and 32 to 33C for the motherboard...

About on how i will install that fan... i saw in www.tweak3d.com that there is a way to cut a whole to the back side of your case, under the power supply and install a fan there. (Or better yet, i might go for a whole new case...lolol)...

I also have thought on cutting little heatsinks from an old heatsink i have somewhere and place them on the card's memory chips....

I also thought that the PCI fan willl basically blow hot air to the card, but for the moment at least, i cant seem to find any other cooling solution...

If anyone has anymore ideas, please tell me...

 

[paladiin]

If I remember correctly, the MX400's come with a heatsink/fan already, right? I personally have a regular old MX, which didn't. So I installed a Blue Orb heatsink/fan. If you want to further cool your video card, here's what I would do:

1) Order a higher-quality Heatsink/Fan for your card. If I were buying one now, I'd probably go with the Crystal Orb from Thermaltake . It's a 5500 RPM fan with a Copper base and Nickel Plating (copper is very good at conductivity, thus making it more efficient at transferring heat away from your chip). Price $9 + Shipping.

2) Use a quality thermal paste inbetween your chip and your heatsink/fan. I like Arctic Silver, and Arctic Silver 3 was recently released with great reviews (like this one here). Price = $6 + shipping.

3) I personally installed a 120mm fan on the side of my case, blowing air in over both my video card and CPU. I hear lots of people say that blowing air out is better, but I found that I got much cooler temps with air blowing inwards with this fan (and my other 80mm fans blowing out). I've got a Sunon 120mm 108 CFM fan on mine. Found one here. Price $12.75+$2.75 for grill+$0.15 for screws + shipping. Keep in mind this fan is not quiet, but since I already had a 7200RPM heatsink/fan on my CPU and a Blue orb on my video card and 2 other 80mm fans, I wasn't too concerned about noise.

By the way, the RAM I had on my card was 5.5ns. The speed rating of your memory determines how fast it can go. So, in the end, I got my card to 220 Mhz core, and 210 Mhz memory (all the way up on my sliders using the CoolBits hack). I didn't need to use the memory heatsinks, but they wouldn't hurt if you wanted to give them a try.

(all prices found using www.pricewatch.com)