Silverstone FT02 and non-blower GPUs?

[blackphoenix]

I've been reading that the Silverstone FT02 is not a good case to use with the non-blower style GPUs. Is there any true to that?

--Basically trying to know if my EVGA 560 (non-TI) will work well.
I can't seem to find a good picture for the orientation of the heatpipes to know for sure.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i'm not aware of video coolers having restrictions on orientation. do you have some links?

 

[frostedflakes]

i'm not aware of video coolers having restrictions on orientation. do you have some links?

See the Q&A for the FT02 on Silverstone's site.

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=242&area=en

There are two main types of heat pipes used in popular aftermarket coolers, they are groove and powder. Groove heat pipes are very susceptible to gravity while powder heat pipes are less so. To achieve best performance in either heat pipe technology, they need to be placed horizontally or have the heat source side located below the other end of the heat pipe. We recommend choosing and installing components with heat pipes carefully by taking into consideration of the following examples:

Motherboard:

The orientation of an enthusiast motherboard in a normal ATX case

The orientation of an enthusiast motherboard in the FT02

As the illustrations above show, most enthusiast motherboards with heat pipes will work fine in the FT02, the heat source is located below other parts of the heat pipe.
CPU cooler:
Horizontal style cooler

Good orientation Good orientation Bad orientation

Many CPU coolers can be rotated when installing on motherboards, the illustration here shows a SilverStone NT06-E

VGA cooler

The illustration here shows a VGA cooler that will not work well in the FT02 because the heat source side (touching the GPU) ends up being located higher than the other end.

Only seems to be a problem with coolers that have heatpipes running the length of the card. I had an ASUS 6950 DirectCU, for example, that would quickly overheat in an FT02 with the shaders unlocked and the card overclocked/overvolted to 6970 speeds. When I loaded up something like Furmark, the fans would immediately ramp up to 100% and within like 10 seconds temps would get up to 100C. Merely rotating the case 90 degrees so that it sat on its face (putting the video card in the conventional horizontal orientation) made a world of difference, under the same load the card would reach steady state at around 80C with like 40% fan I think.

The heatpipes on the 6950 DCII run vertically in a case like the FT02, and the heat source is above the cool side of the heatpipes. Apparently this causes big problems with 90 degree rotated cases like the FT02, because after the working fluid condenses into a liquid on the cool side of the heatpipe, it now has to work against gravity to return to the hot side and transfer heat away from the GPU again. Wicks can help the fluid work against gravity, but apparently it doesn't help enough and this orientation still kills the efficiency of heatpipes in these coolers.

EXPreview did a really good article on this that explains the problem and tests some common coolers in both the horizontal and vertical orientations in an RV02.

http://en.expreview.com/2010/11/15/90°-rotationhow-to-install-heatpipe-cooler/11843.html

Ones with heatpipes coming out the side (such as the GTX 275 reference cooler, or the EVGA 560 cooler OP is looking at) see a small performance drop, but nothing major. I also used an MSI Radeon R5770 Hawk (heatpipes coming out the side) and reference 6950 (vapor chamber base) in the FT02 and neither seemed to have any problems, it was only the 6950 DCII that performed poorly in the vertical orientation.

FT02 and other Silverstone cases with 90 degree rotation have great airflow, but you have to be very careful about what coolers you use in the case due to the heatpipe orientation issues. Most heatsinks are designed to perform well in conventional cases, and that doesn't necessarily translate to good performance in cases with the rotated motherboard design.

 

[blackphoenix]

Silverstone also just replied to me, they said since my EVGA 560 typically vents to both ends of the card (the fan blowing down onto the heatsink) it will fight with the cases intake fans and can cause the GPU to not cool properly.

FYI for those curious.

 

[frostedflakes]

I wouldn't worry too much about that. Silverstone recommends cards that exhaust out the back (since airflow is in the same direction as case airflow, bottom to top), but as good as the airflow is in the FT02, it shouldn't have any problem cooling cards that exhaust into the case as well. Any air being blown out the front of the heatsink is going to be miniscule compared to air from the AP-181 fan being blown over the card; if the two are fighting, the AP-181 will easily win.

The far bigger issue with VGA heatsinks in this case is the heatpipe orientation. As mentioned since the heatpipes appear to come out the side for that EVGA GTX 560, I suspect it would work fine in the FT02.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

The illustration here shows a VGA cooler that will not work well in the FT02 because the heat source side (touching the GPU) ends up being located higher than the other end.

doesn't that describe any heatpipe-equipped video card installed in a normal atx case? the hot gpu is higher than the pipes and fins.

 

[frostedflakes]

I suppose the difference is the distance traveled. The working fluid doesn't have to travel nearly as far against gravity in the horizontal orientation as it does in the vertical orientation.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i think it's the pipe bends that are the killer. unless you know you have anti-gravity wicking in the pipes, the bends must not face upward.

 

[blackphoenix]

From what I can tell with the EVGA 560 the heatpipes would end up sideways in the FT02. Can't find a good picture of the EVGA 560 heatsink and I don't want to take mine apart.

I think I'll have to look at some more reviews and see if I can find some non-blower GPUs, I'd rather not spend this much on a case and find out my GPU temps soared or something.

Anyone here own one with a non-blower GPU?

 

[blackphoenix]

Having just looked through about a dozen or more reviews, I couldn't find a single one that was not using a blower GPU in their tests.

I think I'll just play it safer, and cheaper, and look towards a Corsair 650D.

Thanks guys!

 

[fffblackmage]

I think you're just over-thinking things. While cooling may not be optimal, I don't think it would be disastrous as you might think.

 

[blackphoenix]

Perhaps you're right. Just trying to be careful with my purchase.

But for those interested. I did find a shroudless picture of an EVGA 560, so it looks like the heatpipes should be ok. Well its the TI, but from what I can tell the TI and nonTI have the same cooler.

http://www.ninjalane.com/images/nv_gtx560ti/heatsink.jpg

 

[SZLiao214]

That case cools so well that i don't think it matters. All my video cards run at very nice temps with my fans on low.

 

[blackphoenix]

I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the Silverstone FT02.
I'm excited!

 

[jvh1701]

I realize this is an old post, but I currently have two GTX 770's in SLI overheating in a Lian Li PC-X500FX case. The case has three 140mm intake fans in the lower chamber but only one measly 120mm exhaust. When I remove the side panel tons of hot air escapes after a gaming session crashes. The issue has to be heat - even though my fans are turned up all-the-way.

I am considering purchasing a Silverstone FT05 when they are released, but I am concerned that the EVGA "ACX" coolers may overheat in the vertical orientation. I see in disassembly images of the card that the GPU would be above the heat pipes. Does anyone have any updates to this thread is I'm worrying about a non-issue?