Anybody gone fanless on a Radeon 8500?

[Sporko]

In my quest to quiet my machine I've discovered that the fan on my Radeon 8500 isn't overly loud but it creates a high frequency whine that is driving me nuts. What can I do to get rid of the fan? Is that even feasible? Upon searching, I read someone recommended installing a PII heatsink. Would that work?

 

[OulOat]

I installed a big old P200 hs on my TI200 and it's been running stable for a month now. The hs is pretty big, it covers about 1/4 to 1/3 of the entire card. I just attached it using thermal tape, which is pretty crappy stuff. As I expected, the GPU got pretty hot, what I didn't expect was that the mem got pretty toasty too. But, like I said, it's been running steady and no problems yet.

 

[m1ke101]

the fan on my 8500le fell off a couple weeks ago so I just left it as is, ran fine while i had it. But I had good airflow so ymmv

 

[godmare]

Use this or this if your Radeon has mounting holes around the GPU.
The larger ZM80A-HP for sale here.

 

[mallik]

Wow, those are some interesting looking coolers. What's different about them from other coolers? Have you used either one? What kind of results do you get?

 

[Insane3D]

IMO, those heatpipe coolers are way overkill...in both size and cost. I run my overclocked retail Radeon 8500 with no fan. I replaced the stock HSF with one of these Alpha 45mm Z-Series heatsinks and it works fine...even @ 300/300. All you will need besides that is some decent thermal adhesive to attach it.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: mallik
Wow, those are some interesting looking coolers. What's different about them from other coolers? Have you used either one? What kind of results do you get?

The difference is they are completely silent because they use no fans They use 'heatpipe' technology, basically connecting one heatsink to another with piping conducive to heat transfer, to increase the surface area of the heatsink (in these cases doubling it), allowing the heat to escape it faster.
No, I've not used one yet, though I do plan on it, based upon all the reviews and testimonials I've encountered.

Originally posted by: Insane3D
IMO, those heatpipe coolers are way overkill...in both size and cost. I run my overclocked retail Radeon 8500 with no fan.

Yes, they generally are expensive, SVC has the ZM80-HP (the larger one) on sale for $25- the cheapest I've seen it.
I run a Geforce 4 Ti4200, though, they may run hotter than Radeons- I'm not sure. Admittedly, and curiously, I have read of some success using CPU coolers as passive heatsinks, namely the SK-6+, and the P200, and now the Alpha 45mm Z-series.

 

[Insane3D]

Yes, they generally are expensive, SVC has the ZM80-HP (the larger one) on sale for $25- the cheapest I've seen it.
I run a Geforce 4 Ti4200, though, they may run hotter than Radeons- I'm not sure. Admittedly, and curiously, I have read of some success using CPU coolers as passive heatsinks, namely the SK-6+, and the P200, and now the Alpha 45mm Z-series.

Yes, if we were talking a GF3 or 4, you would need something like that heatpipe to run passive cooling @ stock speeds. The Radeon 7500, and 8500, and 9000 GPU's all run very cool, and can get away with much milder passive cooling than the GF3/4 cards can. I suppose you could use a CPU heatsink on a card if you modified it to fit among all the capacitors and such, but the Alpha heatsink I linked is very small...it's only 45mm square, with a height of under 10mm (9.5mm). The heatsink itself fits perfectly on all sub 9500/9700 cards, and it's slightly less thick than the thin 10mm thick fans found on most Taisol HSF's.

The reason it works so well, even though it is very small, is the high density of fins and the fact that they are very thin, allowing for heat to disperse better in a passive cooling application.

 

[godmare]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
The Radeon 7500, and 8500, and 9000 GPU's all run very cool, and can get away with much milder passive cooling than the GF3/4 cards can.
....the Alpha heatsink I linked is very small...it's only 45mm square, with a height of under 10mm (9.5mm).

That's interesting- I'm definitely intrigued by that small Alpha heatsink. I don't have much experience with Radeons, so it's good to know

 

[Sporko]

Wow. Some interesting stuff here. Those Zalman units look very cool but also cost $65 + shipping here in Canada. My fan is bugging me, but not $65 worth!

Insane3D, how do you have that Alpha attached to the GPU on your R8500?

 

[Insane3D]

I used Arctic Silver Adhesive, but any decent thermal adhesive should do.

 

[Sporko]

Thanks. Now, how tough is it to get the stock heatsink off?

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Sporko
Thanks. Now, how tough is it to get the stock heatsink off?

It's easy.... Here's how I do it..

1. Get a thick piece of paper or cardboard (a business card works well) and a flat headed screwdriver with a medium to large blade.

2. Slide the thick piece of paper or cardboard in between the PCB of the card and the GPU HSF unit. The cardboard/paper will protect the PCB from the blade of the screwdriver.

3. Slide the blade of the screwdriver in between the cardboard and the HSF unit with the blade flat.

4. Once you have the blade under the GPU HSF, and you are sure the cardboard is between the blade of the screwdriver and the card's PCB, slowly turn the blade of the screwdriver to the upright position. The HSF unit should just pop off before the blade reaches the upright postion.

5. Clean off the adhesive on the GPU with a solvent. I personally use ordinary Carb and Choke cleaner from the local Auto Parts store or Wal-Mart. Once all the adhesive is removed, clean the GPU surface up with some ordinary rubbing alcohol.


Once you have done this, the GPU is ready to have the new HS attached.

 

[Sporko]

Thanks again. I appreciate the detailed reply.