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Possible to let a Gainward Ti-4200 run without a fan?

N

ndee

Lifer
Hi there,
once again, I'm on the mission to make my computer as quiet as possible. I figured out that the Fan on my Ti-4200 is the loudest one in my computer. Is it possible to just let the card run without a fan? Could it be possible if I somehow can put a big Socket-A-Heatsink on there?

Thanks.
 
Between Leo's project and people saying they didn't notice their fan had died on their GF3 cards until they happened to be in the case one day I decided it's safe enough and (finally) made the switch. While I only have a GF2ti at the moment I'm so sold on this that the first thing I'll do to a new card is rip the whiney little fan off.

Though my GF2 the card was just as stable as before with just the larger sink in place. I only used a 1.5" x 1.25" x .75" heatsink off a on P133. With very little airflow around the card it was fine, but got hotter than I wanted it - could hold my finger against it, but uncomfortably. Made a duct so my front/bottom case fan is blowing more directed towards the cards and voila, sink's cool, overall airflow's more useful than before and it's quieter.

I was really pleasantly surprised how little airflow I needed with my card. So going fanless on a GF2 is real easy, bet GF3 would be about the same (Hint to you guys still using 2's, 3's and Radeons). If you want to go ultra quiet like Leo then you have to go more extreme with the heatsink, if you are going to keep you case fans then I bet you could get away with something very close to what I'm doing now with the duct even with a much faster card.

The only problem is each day when I get home from work I keep thinking the computer must have shut off somehow while I was gone as I don't hear it when I walk by in the hallway. Had gotten so used to it I now expect to hear that videocard's fan whine when I get to the doorway. It's still nowhere near as quiet as Leo's, but it's at a point where I like it now.

Do it, you'll love yourself for it.
 
Originally posted by: McCarthy
Between Leo's project and people saying they didn't notice their fan had died on their GF3 cards until they happened to be in the case one day I decided it's safe enough and (finally) made the switch. While I only have a GF2ti at the moment I'm so sold on this that the first thing I'll do to a new card is rip the whiney little fan off.

Though my GF2 the card was just as stable as before with just the larger sink in place. I only used a 1.5" x 1.25" x .75" heatsink off a on P133. With very little airflow around the card it was fine, but got hotter than I wanted it - could hold my finger against it, but uncomfortably. Made a duct so my front/bottom case fan is blowing more directed towards the cards and voila, sink's cool, overall airflow's more useful than before and it's quieter.

I was really pleasantly surprised how little airflow I needed with my card. So going fanless on a GF2 is real easy, bet GF3 would be about the same (Hint to you guys still using 2's, 3's and Radeons). If you want to go ultra quiet like Leo then you have to go more extreme with the heatsink, if you are going to keep you case fans then I bet you could get away with something very close to what I'm doing now with the duct even with a much faster card.

The only problem is each day when I get home from work I keep thinking the computer must have shut off somehow while I was gone as I don't hear it when I walk by in the hallway. Had gotten so used to it I now expect to hear that videocard's fan whine when I get to the doorway. It's still nowhere near as quiet as Leo's, but it's at a point where I like it now.

Do it, you'll love yourself for it.
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot for your opinion.

The big question is, how can you put such a large heatsink on the video card? Glue will melt with the heat, no? Cuz then, I could put my FOP32 Heatsink on it can do it without fan...

 
The preferred method would be to use artic silver epoxy. What I do is a little less efficient, but works too. I cover the core with heatsink compound leaving the corners or sometimes the entire perimeter of the chip bare - then mix regular epoxy and put it there. Set the heatsink in place, clamp it till the epoxy sets and you're done. That's how I did my GF2, works fine. I've done a number of different things with this method, if I had artic silver epoxy on hand I'd do that, but as as long as this is working it saves me having to buy some 🙂

Unless the heat is extreme it won't hurt the epoxy, much higher than what a working heatsink installation gets to I mean.

The bigger the sink you can put on the better of course. If you have some capacitors in the way, they're easy to overcome. Just find a sink you like (Fop32 would be fine) trial fit it. Find the obstructions. For caps, easy as drilling a hole so the sink can surround it. Don't know for sure if it's bad to have the outsides of the caps connected through contact with the sink so I'd drill the holes a bit big and maybe even wrap them with some tape to electrically insulate, just because I'm not sure and it's easy. For other obstructions you might have to cut a corner off the sink, grind a patch, etc - all depends on the layout of your card.
 
Originally posted by: McCarthy
The preferred method would be to use artic silver epoxy. What I do is a little less efficient, but works too. I cover the core with heatsink compound leaving the corners or sometimes the entire perimeter of the chip bare - then mix regular epoxy and put it there. Set the heatsink in place, clamp it till the epoxy sets and you're done. That's how I did my GF2, works fine. I've done a number of different things with this method, if I had artic silver epoxy on hand I'd do that, but as as long as this is working it saves me having to buy some 🙂

Unless the heat is extreme it won't hurt the epoxy, much higher than what a working heatsink installation gets to I mean.

The bigger the sink you can put on the better of course. If you have some capacitors in the way, they're easy to overcome. Just find a sink you like (Fop32 would be fine) trial fit it. Find the obstructions. For caps, easy as drilling a hole so the sink can surround it. Don't know for sure if it's bad to have the outsides of the caps connected through contact with the sink so I'd drill the holes a bit big and maybe even wrap them with some tape to electrically insulate, just because I'm not sure and it's easy. For other obstructions you might have to cut a corner off the sink, grind a patch, etc - all depends on the layout of your card.
Click to expand...

So this silver epoxy, can I use the Arctic Silver II that I have? I don't know what you exactly mean with that silver epoxy 😱
 
You can use the ASII you have if you go with the method I used. Arctic Silver epoxy is basically ASII already mixed in epoxy. So you just mix it, stick the sink to the chip and you're done, little simpler than my method.

What I'm talking about is this stuff.
I really don't know which is "better". I say the way I do it is a little less efficient just to avoid a big debate. With my method you have pure ASII over most of the core, with theirs you have ASII mixed in epoxy which is a little less conductive - but the entire core is covered where mine has areas where there's just epoxy which doesn't transfer as good. With my way only part of the sink is glued to the chip, but with pure epoxy, with theirs the whole thing is glued, but with weaker epoxy so I really don't know which is more durable (read: knocked off accidently) either. In the end I'd guess results are about the same on both counts....which is why I just glue the edges and call it good. Always worked so far.

If you do it, take some pics and let us know how it works out. Only downside of a FOP is it's so tall so you're going to give up at least two, maybe three PCI slots. For you that might be fine, for others it might not do. I like that the little sink I used only takes one PCI slot away, ideally if I had a hotter card I'd find a sink of the same or a little more height and a lot more width so I could still only lose one PCI slot, but then I have a lot of cards.

Good luck, report back 🙂
 
Hey McCarthy,
I don't wanna question your answers but does the AS II has some "glue"-features? I'm just kinda afraid that the heatsink will fall off. 😱
 
Originally posted by: ndee
Hey McCarthy,
I don't wanna question your answers but does the AS II has some "glue"-features? I'm just kinda afraid that the heatsink will fall off. 😱
Click to expand...

Pure ASII has no glue like features... it is simply a thermal compound. AS Epoxy is like the name says... it's a thermal compound mixed with a certain type of glue. The effect? It hardens like cement, but retains a very large percentage of it's heat transfering abilities.
 
Originally posted by: stonecold3169
Originally posted by: ndee
Hey McCarthy,
I don't wanna question your answers but does the AS II has some "glue"-features? I'm just kinda afraid that the heatsink will fall off. 😱
Click to expand...

Pure ASII has no glue like features... it is simply a thermal compound. AS Epoxy is like the name says... it's a thermal compound mixed with a certain type of glue. The effect? It hardens like cement, but retains a very large percentage of it's heat transfering abilities.
Click to expand...

OK, I just ordered the Arctic Silver Thermal Adhesive from phamcomputer.com. I hope it'll be soon here (Switzerland) 😀
 
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