Fastest nvidia GPU for aftermarket fanless operation

[SunRe]

Hello,

I plan upgrading from a Geforce 9500 GT that I modded with Accelero S1. It stays cool and I'm happy with it but I'd need something more powerful especially for CUDA capable apps and OpenCL stuff. I don't plan gaming on it.

So which is the fastest gpu I can have with Accelero Xtreme III without any fans on it? An alternative cooler could be the DeepCool Dracula if I can source it here somehow, again, fanless. If you have other fanless suggestions, please let me know!

The case has a modest airflow, it's a Define R3 with two fans, intake on front out on back. I plan removing the intake from front and place it on the bottom of the case, it would be less restricted that way (right now it blows over the HDD cage).

Can I hope at anything higher than a Geforce GTX 650 Ti? maybe 660? Should I wait for the next generation, maybe those will be more efficient?

 

[nforce4max]

For openCL you are going to want AMD as they are much faster in certain apps. As for passive then a 650 is a sure thing with a large block but no higher than a 650 Ti or 660 and you will still need low rpm fans. Be sure to add some sort of coolers to the power vrms on the card for the long run.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Be careful since alot of passive cooling solutions actually require active cooling from somewhere else.

I would simply get one with active cooling.

 

[Jimzz]

I agree with both above.

The 650 is probably the best for that but, from nvidia, you will still need case fans to keep the air moving.
The 7750 and 7770 is AMDs mid level cards that are not to power hungrey.

 

[ShintaiDK]

The GTX650ti is clearly the fastest tho.

 

[Jimzz]

Just lookd at newegg and no 650/660 cards come fanless. There are some fanless GT640 cards. The 640 and 650 use the same GPU but the 650 has a higher Mhz and DDR5. So you might be able to get a 650, put on a large heatsink, and lower the Mhz down.

The only AMD 7000 series I could find fanless were 3 7750's.

Even then you still need at least 1 case fan and good venting for fanless cards to not throttle down under heavy load.

 

[LoveMachine]

I remember a review of the fanless Zotac 640 saying that it did get uncomfortably warm under load. I have the HIS iSilence 7750 that stays fairly cool with only one case fan going (but a well ventilated case), but you stated you need CUDA support, so that ain't an option. A 650 with one large fan probably would stay cool at low RPMs without much noise. Smaller fans have to spin much faster for the same airflow, and correspondingly greater noise.

 

[Obsoleet]

I have an old fanless GF 8600GT somewhere. Fanless cards are great, if they're fast enough for what you want to do. That said, I found they only really spin up when I'm playing a game, and I always have my headphones on then.

Not sure what the answer to your question is, but I'd probably get a fanless Radeon 7series.
I'd personally just go for integrated graphics from AMD or Intel instead and do my shopping there.. but this was one of the better ones I found on Newegg. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161417

 

[SunRe]

Hi,

Thank you all for your replies, much appreciated. As mentioned, I'm interested solely in nvidia cards. I like AMD, but I need CUDA.

Also, the two VGA coolers I pointed at, the DeepCool Dracula and Arctic Cooling Accelero III are not exactly usual VGA coolers.

Good cooling implementations of the GTX 660 are rarely using more than 3 heat-pipes, the above products are much larger, with up to 5 heat-pipes, more fins, more mass, etc. The case will have at least two 140mm fans, maximum three, and one of them will be an intake at the bottom, blowing almost directly over the tail of the video card with one of these coolers installed.

I am wondering if I can get by with the GTX660 in fanless... I am even considering going the diy route a bit, and improoving one of the designs above.. Are you aware of better aftermarket vga coolers (fanless ofcourse).

By the way, the CPU (core 2 now, Haswell soon) will also go fanless, with a Thermalright HR-02, or the upcoming HR-22.

So, to sum-up, two or three 140mm fans in Define R3, fanless CPU and fanless nVidia card.

 

[SunRe]

edit: this was a post about trying to mod the accellero, but it was no good so forget about it

I'm thinking very seriously at procuring some heatpipes and fabricating a solid vga block. I have some experience in designing heatsinks for high power amps so maybe I could come with something large enough to accommodate a larger GPU..

second edit: sorry

I mean look at this, we can do better:

 

[Makaveli]

Agreed with the 650 choice.

i'm using a EVGA superclocked 650 for Physx and its very quiet.

 

[Concillian]

edit: this was a post about trying to mod the accellero, but it was no good so forget about it

I'm thinking very seriously at procuring some heatpipes and fabricating a solid vga block. I have some experience in designing heatsinks for high power amps so maybe I could come with something large enough to accommodate a larger GPU..

If you have the room, just get the cheap accelero and zip tie a 120mm fan and downvolt it. Sure it takes up 4 PCI slots, but who cares if you don't put anything else in your slots.

That solution has been better cooling AND quieter than any OEM solution I've had. And my latest was the ASUS directCUII, which is pretty good for an OEM setup. It's so quiet I cannot hear it with the case closed & the tower by my feet.

That setup will cool just about any card you want, and you can skimp on your case fans since there's direct airflow on the card.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

edit: this was a post about trying to mod the accellero, but it was no good so forget about it

I'm thinking very seriously at procuring some heatpipes and fabricating a solid vga block. I have some experience in designing heatsinks for high power amps so maybe I could come with something large enough to accommodate a larger GPU..

second edit: sorry

I mean look at this, we can do better:

Of course we can do better, Artic Cooling can do better themselves. They just have these pesky things called margins that dictate profits. They design a product to give them the desired thermal dissipation for a given noise level, and keep it to the bare minimum in order to have profits.