Fastest gaming card which is passively cooled

[Coup27]

Hi,

I am looking to buy the fastest gaming card I can which is passively cooled. I am only a casual gamer and my case is on my desk so prefer it to be quiet.

From the research I have done I have come up with either the Sapphire Ultimate R7 250 1GB GDDR5 or Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti KalmX SilenT 2GB. I'm pretty sure the 750 TI is the faster out the two but would appreciate some confirmation.

My full PC details are in my sig but I have a 360W Seasonic SS-360GP PSU. Sapphire recommend a 400W PSU but this link says 380W is enough. The same page says I would need 400W for the 750 TI but a Silent PC review of the 750 TI card calculated it's power consumption at 88W which I would presume is well within my 360W envelope.

So in summary:

Is the 750 TI faster than the R7 250? If so, is the 750 TI the fastest passively cooled card available?

Will said card fit into my 360W PSU envelope?

The last snag I have is my case which is a Lian Li Q28B. Dimension wise I don't think the R7 250 fits or if it does it will be very close. I have not been able to obtain overall dimensions for the Palit card yet so if anybody knows where to get those from without me emailing Palit I would appreciate that too.

Thanks for any help.

 

[JDG1980]

The fastest off-the-shelf fanless video card I've ever seen is the Powercolor SCS3 R9 270. However, a quick Google search doesn't come up with any online shops that currently stock this card.

Your best bet is probably to buy a non-passive card and swap out its default heatsink with the Arctic Accelero S3. The S3 passive cooler works with many different GPUs, some of them reasonably powerful. It's officially said to cool cards up to 135W passively. (Presumably the exact limits depend on how good your case's airflow is.) That means that you can cool a Nvidia GTX 960 without needing a fan. An AMD R9 270 (non-X) would probably also work, even though the documentation does recommend a fan for it. That card's official TDP is 150W, but TechPowerUp's only review of a non-X 270 indicates that it topped out at 138W in Furmark. In normal games, it won't get that high. A well-ventilated case should be able to handle that without an extra fan strapped on the card. You could also try to underclock and/or undervolt a 7850 or 7870.

I googled that Lian Li case, and it looks like it has a front fan blowing directly parallel to the long side of the GPU. This should help the Accelero S3 a lot, since the fins are oriented the right way. That is NOT the case with the Palit fanless 750 Ti. Clearance may be a bit tight, so make sure you've got a decent return policy.

As for your PSU, it's hard to say whether it will be adequate without knowing what kind of CPU you're running.

 

[Termie]

The 750 Ti is far faster than an R7 250. The R7 250 is about half the speed, making it a pretty bad choice for gaming in a modern system.

Either is fine with your PSU.

As for dimensions, you can count on fanless cards being a tight fit in many ITX cases. The Palit isn't even available in the U.S., so you'll need to source that information from a non-US site. The only dimension that should be of concern is the height, but the Q28B actually looks like it can fit video cards that are not just long, but tall and triple-slot as well. Should be OK.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Get the Palit GeForce GTX 750 Ti KalmX SilenT 2GB.

From a Gurud3D review:

Admittedly, being all passively cooled I do have to give props to Palit, they deliver an excellent little card. This product offers pretty decent performance for the money, next to that all other variables are done right as well. The card looks good, does not make noise and cools the GPU at anywhere from 50 to 80 Degrees C depending on your level of airflow inside the PC chassis. Also a big plus is fairly low energy consumption.

 

[BSim500]

Is the 750 TI faster than the R7 250? If so, is the 750 TI the fastest passively cooled card available?

750Ti is much faster (about +5-10% over a R7 260X) and is about the fastest compact passive card you can get. As others have said, you can buy slightly faster cards and retro-fit a big passive cooler, but it probably won't fit in your case, is fiddly and more expensive, may invalidate warranty, etc.

Will said card fit into my 360W PSU envelope?

Easily. I've seen the 750Ti run on 200w SFX Mini-ITX PSU's before with an i5 (and I've seen your G360 handle a GTX 960 with an i5). Your PSU is fine. They always over-exaggerate the PSU requirements on low end cards.

The last snag I have is my case which is a Lian Li Q28B. Dimension wise I don't think the R7 250 fits or if it does it will be very close. I have not been able to obtain overall dimensions for the Palit card yet so if anybody knows where to get those from without me emailing Palit I would appreciate that too.

Palit GTX 750 Ti KalmX 2 GB = 18.5 cm x 14.1 cm. Fits in two slots:-
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Palit/GTX_750_Ti_KalmX/3.html

If you want some serious advice though from a silent PC enthusiast (as in "the kind you have to get down on your knees and place your ear right up to the case to hear if its on" 12-14db kind of super quiet), you don't need to go passive GFX card to get an ultra quiet PC (and the Palit can be hard to source in some countries). Some of the Asus Strix & MSI Twin Frozr cooler cards can be forced to run at very low 20-30% rpm fan speeds and remain virtually inaudible even under load. MSI's "Twin Frozr" cards are incredibly quiet but a bit bulky at 25-26cm. Asus coolers are only a shade behind them but more compact (the Strix is only 19.6cm length and spins down when idle / under light to moderate gaming):-
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_750_Ti_OC/24.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_750_Ti_Gaming/24.html
http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/asus-gtx750-ti-strix-oc-edition-review/16/

 

[Coup27]

Firstly thanks for the replies. I did read them at the time but tonight is the first chance I have had to do any research.

I looked at the Strix and Frozr cards and I liked them a lot but I am still learning towards the Palit.

Asus offer 2 750ti models with 2GB which are obviously only minor improvements over the Palit and 1 with 4GB but I could not find the 4GB model for sale anywhere. They also offer a 780 but I could not find that for sale either.

Moving onto the 960's the Asus model is £180 but this is more than I wanted to pay. The MSI is £165 but needs an 8-pin PCI-E connector and my PSU only has a 6-pin.

Based on my budget I am still thinking the Palit is the best option for me unless there are any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[monstercameron]

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_7850_scs3_review,6.html

should be equivalent to a 265

 

[BSim500]

Moving onto the 960's the Asus model is £180 but this is more than I wanted to pay. The MSI is £165 but needs an 8-pin PCI-E connector and my PSU only has a 6-pin.

The MSI GTX960 actually comes with an 8-pin to 6-pin adapter cable in the box. Since it draws only around 110-120w, it'll work fine with a PSU with only 1x 6-pin.

 

[Coup27]

I decided to go with an Asus Strix GTX 960 card. The MSI was cheaper but was a bit longer and would have been nearly touching my case fan. I also have a personal preference towards Asus products.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Valantar]

I think you made a good decision going for a quiet actively cooled card. It's been a few years since my experience with passive GPU cooling (I stuck a couple of Arctic Accelero S1s on my CF 4850s back in the day), but it was a hassle like no other. Even in my well ventilated (open-air with 7 120mm fans) CM Stacker case, they ran horrendously hot, specifically the VRMs got so hot they caused quite a few crashes. Cooling the GPU itself passively is no big deal, but the other components on the card is a different matter entirely. Less power hungry cards, or cards with factory installed heatsinks might fare better, but a good, quiet active solution with decently sized low rpm fans will be the best solution every time.