Fastest card with dual-head and passive cooling?

[DrVos]

Hi all,

I currently have a MSI Geforce3 ti200 with a giant passive heatsink on it. I love how quiet it makes my system, but I am less that impressed by its visual quality (esp in 2d). Could anyone suggest a card that runs cool enough to support a possible passive cooling mod? I have seen geforce4 mx 420s and 440s with passive heatsinks... Do radeons run cool enought to run passively?

TIA for any input you can provide

 

[Auric]

My Radeon 7200 came passive. I made my 8500 passive by using a larger heatsink. You could probably use just about any video card with a large heatsink. They always come with small ones so as not to obstruct the next slot. If it got too hot during intense use you could always add a manually switched or thermally controlled quiet fan, especially to move the hot air across the HS and out the back. That way it would at least be silent for general use and much quieter for gaming.

 

[Peter]

Have a look at the pile of Radeon 9000 variations that begin to hit the shelves right now. Plain 9000 is fanless, while 9000pro seems to come w/ fan. It's the same silicon though, just different speed grades. They're all dual head capable and TV-out ready, just shop for a card that offers those features you want.

regards, Peter

 

[DrVos]

How fast are the 9000's or 7200's compared to that of a geforce3 ti200? I'd rather get something as fast or faster if im gonna spend the money...

The 8500 mod is very intriguing...

 

[Nafets]

I just bought a Sapphire Radeon 9000 Atlantis 128MB. Paid $93 shipped, new retail box.

It runs at 250MHz core and 200MHz (400MHz) memory, and uses just a passive heatsink.

Comes with analog and DVI-I output connectors, and has a TV-Out. The analog 2D quality should be much better than the Geforce3, but I can't say, since I use a DVI flat panel monitor.

As far as speed, the Geforce3 Ti200 would be faster in most applications, than the Radeon 9000...

 

[Holmecollie]

The GF4 ti4200 with Zalman HS + 12dBA fan would probably be the best silent video solution at the moment. Zalman are working on a fanless HS for the GF4 but I don't know when it's gonna be out...

Existing Silent Zalman
Upcoming Fanless Zalman

 

[DrVos]

Wow, that heatpipe thing is very intriguing, does the heat pipe need to be conntected to anything to work? or is it self contained? Sorry, im a n00b at exotic cooling.