GF4 MX440 - run without fan OR heatsink?

[jumpr]

I've got an old video card lying around that I want to put into my server box, but I want it to be silent as well. The card is a Mad Dog GF4 MX440, and the fan it came with is incredibly loud. If I take off the fan and remove the thermal paste from the GPU, will the chip burn up?

The OS is Ubuntu linux, and there won't be any intense graphics processing going on - just Gnome.

 

[Steve]

Why not leave the heatsink on?

 

[clamum]

I'd just leave the heatsink on since it doesn't make any noise

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: sm8000
Why not leave the heatsink on?

That's a great idea. I'll take out the fan blades and the power connector and leave the metal from the heat sink on the card.

Thanks!

 

[acemcmac]

I'd just get an aftermarket fanless cooler for it..... or pick up a fanless video card.... I'm sure you can get something for $20. If you go the latter route, you don't have to risk destroying a perfectly good video card. Remember, video card heat problems are one of the absolute most prominent reasons for system instability!

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: acemcmac
I'd just get an aftermarket fanless cooler for it..... or pick up a fanless video card.... I'm sure you can get something for $20. If you go the latter route, you don't have to risk destroying a perfectly good video card. Remember, video card heat problems are one of the absolute most prominent reasons for system instability!

I definitely want this to be stable, but I'll try it like this for a while and see what it leads to.

 

[Savij]

watercooling works for me. Now all I hear is my old harddrive spinning.

 

[drinkmorejava]

I have a 440 in one of my comps and there's no fan. Just a 2x2.5"ish Al heatsink.

but don't take off the actual heatsink, it def will fry then.

 

[jumpr]

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
I have a 440 in one of my comps and there's no fan. Just a 2x2.5"ish Al heatsink.

I've got it fired up now with just the bottom half of the fan mounted onto the card. It acts as a heatsink, and everything seems to be stable as far as I can tell.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

The 440 in my comp is passive and it even overclocks.