BFG 9800GT Passive - $79.99 AR

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jlin101

Senior member
Feb 12, 2005
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the owner's reviews at Newegg aren't exactly stellar. The consensus seems to be that although the card is quiet, it gets exceedingly hot; since it relies on a well-ventilated case for heat exhaustion.
 
Zap

Zap

Elite Member
Oct 13, 1999
22,377
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jlin101 said:
the owner's reviews at Newegg aren't exactly stellar. The consensus seems to be that although the card is quiet, it gets exceedingly hot; since it relies on a well-ventilated case for heat exhaustion.
Click to expand...

That's the thing. It will indeed overheat if there isn't enough airflow, but actually runs great if there is enough airflow. We've tested it in a case with an 80mm exhaust fan that runs around 2500RPM (a 120mm fan can run much slower for the same airflow).

Basically it was a failed experiment. Don't get me wrong - it works fine if there's enough airflow (the VRMs and RAM are fine as long as the GPU is fine -we've tested the heck out of it). However, I think most people just slap it into their "silent" computer with near zero airflow expecting it to work, and it fails at that.

In retrospect a big heatsink with a super quiet fan would have worked better. Or better yet, waited until the "low power" versions of the 9800 GT came out, which of course we didn't know about when we started going down this path already. Ah well.

I think this is also why we stopped seeing those ECS cards that use the Arctic Cooling Accelero - people running them with no airflow, killing the card.
 
cubeless

cubeless

Diamond Member
Sep 17, 2001
4,295
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the question is "will it cool with a 120 fan tied to that hs?"... looks like an ok hs, just needs some breeze... and maybe some ram and vrm hs's...
 
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Motorheader

Motorheader

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
3,682
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Cards with cooling like that are better configured for BTX configuration. I have the Sapphire Ultimate HD 3850 and 3870<--hard to find in the U.S. -- and they both run excellent in 3 different Dell systems and an Antec Mini P180. I'm not really sure how well ram cooling does - if anything at all. I know that VRM cooling can have a positive impact on card stability.

I had the ECS 9600GT that someone mentioned - excellent silent card if your case was wide enough and you didn't require crazy high resolutions - and they did have a quiet cooling fan option you could mount too it if you thought it was necessary.

The price it good, I don't believe that it is a good hardware mix for that particular card. As some reviewers noted, 114C-120C while gaming is a scary temp. Maybe the "green" version would be better suited.
 
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davidrees

Senior member
Mar 28, 2002
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I have the Gigabyte passive 4850 which I think is similar in terms of heat.

These kinds of cards are not hard to keep cool if you have a medium to large case with proper cooling. I have a Cosmo S and the side fan should be able to keep even a pair of these kinds of cards happy.

Just don't put it in a Shuttle or a mATX case - be smart about it.
 
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Holler

Senior member
May 23, 2000
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can you SLI the 8800 GT and 9800 GT? (i hear they basically the same G92 chip) or is it a no go?
 
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stockjock

Diamond Member
Aug 29, 2000
4,205
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I guess if I'm running a water setup...so I wouldn't really care about the passive cooling anyway...My question is ...I currently have an 8800 GTS and I want to move up to a SLI config. This a good option?
Also, if you buy 2 of these, which you can per the rebate rules, and then use paypal you'll get an additional 10&#37; off which brings these down to $69 each (you'll have to find a $2 time to get over the $200 paypal dealio).
 
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K

kmmatney

Diamond Member
Jun 19, 2000
4,363
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As a previous poster said, you just have to be smart about it - it doesn't take much to keep the card cool. I have an Accelero on my HD4890, which produces way more heat than this card. To my surprise I can run passive if I want, but things do warm up a bit. I have a small, quieted (with resistor) 90 mm fan blowing across my heatsink, and that's all I need to keep it cool, even when overclocked and running Furmark. I have a pretty large case, but only 2 out of 4 case fans in use to keep noise down. So, it doesn't take much to keep a passive card cool.
 
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Fallengod

Diamond Member
Jul 2, 2001
5,908
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Ya id never want a passively cooled video card. Just doesnt make sense.

Although I recently had to RMA a BFG 8800GT because of how god damn loud and hot the thing got. They sent a replacement of a 9800GT and the 9800 is greatly quieter and stays at about 30&#37; lower temps. I still dont see how it could run passively though.
 
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Ayah

Platinum Member
Jan 1, 2006
2,512
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Fallengod said:
Ya id never want a passively cooled video card. Just doesnt make sense.

Although I recently had to RMA a BFG 8800GT because of how god damn loud and hot the thing got. They sent a replacement of a 9800GT and the 9800 is greatly quieter and stays at about 30% lower temps. I still dont see how it could run passively though.
Click to expand...

Passively cooled lower power graphics works awesomely. Think 4350.
Trying to passively cool something that requires more power than the bus provides just seems stupid.
 
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