Cooling conundrum

[stackingreasyBBs]

I have a Gigabyte passively cooled 6800nu in an Antec 3700BQE case. Now, the case is nice and quiet, and cools pretty well, and obviously the 6800 is quiet. But, man is that thing hot. It's like a small fire buring in the corner of my case. Even with my 7700AlCu my CPU (A64 2800+ at 2160Mhz and default voltage) is reading at 48C idle. I've reseated it a couple times, and it could be better, but based on the performance of the thermally controlled fan in my PSU, there's quite a big thermal load inside the case (case temp is 34C). So, the question is, what's the best way to handle the heat of the 6800?

I've heard of slot coolers that exhaust the air out the back of the case (I think it's called SuperTornado or something, by Antec). Which would be nice, but probably not quiet. So another option is to get a hold of some quiet 120mm fans (the elusive Yate Loon's, perhaps?) and hook them and the Zalman up to a fan controller. So that when I'm just browsing I could have everything at minimum and quiet, but I could turn up the rpms when gaming. Basically, I'm just looking for a slightly cooler case. The temps aren't in the danger zone, but for my peace of mind I'd like lower ones. What are your thoughts on which course of action (or a completely different one) I should take. Anyway, TIA, sorry for the long and rambling post.

 

[wisdomtooth]

You DO want a Super Tornado, but it's not a slot cooler. It's the Seasonic PSU with a 120mm fan. It vents very well and helps keep your case cool. And best of all, it's the quietest fan-cooled PSU you can buy.

The other thing you want is an Arctic NV Silencer. It dumps heat from your vid card directly out of the case and lowers the thermal burden to the CPU and PSU.

HTH.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Well, I was thinking of that, but that would require taking off the pretty serious heatpipe/heatsink thing, and I haven't heard of anyone doing this. Wouldn't it? I'll go look again at the Arctic site. Would rather not be a guinea pig for something like that.

And yeah, I actually do want a Seasonic PSU, but it's harder to justify larger purchases

Also, SuperCyclone That's what I meant.

 

[wisdomtooth]

The Arctic NV Silencer is actually one of those cyclone fans integrated with a graphics card heatsink and takes up 1 PCI slot. It will probably work better than just adding on the cyclone fan (which takes 2 PCI slots!).

Give it a shot though. You never know.. It might just work well enough for ya.

 

[Operandi]

First off the passive cooler on that Gigabyte is pretty poor so the card runs hot it should be replaced. Personally I would go with the Zalman VF-700, overall it's a better cooler then anything AC makes.

As far as you case temp it may look high but it could be normal depending on where the reading is taken. A Seasonic Tornado PSU will help lower temps not only due to it's higher air flow but also because of it's higher efficiency.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

The GPU temp actually seems to be ok (58c/68c idle/load), hot, but on par with other 6800s. If you're thinking I got one of the bum cooling ones, I think it's ok. Mostly I'm more concerned about the heat that it's adding to the case. I'd rather not tear the heatsink off to replace it with an NV Silencer or a Zalman if I can help it. Has anyone in fact done this with the Gigabyte card? The Seasonic might be a decent idea, could in theory get one with a little more headroom for the future. Maybe either that or a couple of good 120mm fans and a Sunbeam rheobus. Hmm..

 

[Tiamat]

You could try to remove the heatsink and apply your own Artic ceramique or something.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Originally posted by: stackingreasyBBs
I'd rather not tear the heatsink off to replace it with an NV Silencer or a Zalman if I can help it. Has anyone in fact done this with the Gigabyte card?

The point is to not mess around with that if possible. It still has the warranty and if I screw it up I'm out $200, whereas if I get 4 fans and a controller I'm out $40 and it can be used in all future builds.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: stackingreasyBBs

Originally posted by: stackingreasyBBs
I'd rather not tear the heatsink off to replace it with an NV Silencer or a Zalman if I can help it. Has anyone in fact done this with the Gigabyte card?

The point is to not mess around with that if possible. It still has the warranty and if I screw it up I'm out $200, whereas if I get 4 fans and a controller I'm out $40 and it can be used in all future builds.

Rig a 80mm panaflo to blow onto it. Kinda like how the Zalman ZM80 has a fan on it.

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Yeah, I was pondering that too. Like cut a hole in the side or something. Either intake to cool it down or exhaust to get rid of the heat. I guess that might work.

 

[Tiamat]

if you put it as exhaust, you want to place the hole as far back as possible. If you like playing with lexan and epoxy, you could make your own duct so that the exhaust fan pulls air "only" from the graphics card area.

 

[blinky2004]

I haven't tried anything yet but I have the Gigabyte 6600GT-238VP which is passively cooled using a heatsink on both with heatpipes connecting them. I suspect that adding a fan to the cooler (back?) heatsink would probably me the easiest method.

I'm thinking the cooler side = creates greater temperature gradient which means heat pipes work better....

 

[stackingreasyBBs]

Good point. Think I'll pursue the case fan route (because I'd like to get some more air over the hard drive) then think about modding the side. Could either use the stock 120mm or another fan I have lying around. Thanks for the thoughts, everyone.