What are the fastest heatsink-only video cards

[imported_maxx]

What are the best graphics cards available that use only a heatsink (no fan) for cooling?

I spent some $$$ on buying quieter cpu fan, powersupply, and disk. They did a good job, but the fan on the video card is still there, and still loud. (I shared an office with a few very loud computers at one point, and now I am more interested in quiet than performance) I might toy with the occaisional game, but otherwise what I do with my PC requires minimum 3D graphics capability.

Thanks.

--M

 

[Matthias99]

Well, the fastest one currently available is the Gigabyte 6800NU (at least I think it's Gigabyte). There's a long thread on it if you search. ATI's fastest stock non-fan offering is the RADEON 9600 (try to avoid the 9600SE). Sapphire offers a line of faster RADEON cards equipped with Zalman heatpipe coolers under its "Ultimate Edition" lineup. You can also buy the Zalman heatpipe systems aftermarket and install them on most graphics cards (see their website for more details).

Please use the search function in the future for common questions like this...

 

[PhlashFoto]

I definately agree with the above post. I thought I would simply add that you might want to search for "passive" cooling/heatsink.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Didn't I just answer this yesterday? Search.

If you need "minimum 3D" you could get away with the vanilla Radeon 9600 easily.

- M4H

 

[snerdini]

I've got a Gigabyte 6800 (vanilla) - works great.

 

[MadEye2]

Is it possible to replace the fans on graphics cards with passive coolers? How much hassle is it to do this?

 

[MadAd]

I ripped out the noisy normal fan and heatsink unit from my 9700pro, instead i fitted an arctic cooler, using some arctic silver of course, works brillantly but takes up a second slot. (some seem to care about that, i dont). It has 2 modes, silent and silenter Hehe, seriously, i cant hear either hi or low fan speed over my hdds, and thats not loud at all, so i leave it on high. Can't hear a thing

 

[MadEye2]

I've just been reading about Arctic Cooler. It says it'll fit on some GeForce 3 cards, how about Geforce 4 ti4200s? How much did it cool your card by? I want be able to run my ti4200 at 300Mhz for the GPU and 640 for the RAM.

 

[MadAd]

I dont bother o/cing the card, it was for noise reduction mainly, anyway cpu overclocks are much more worthwhile ..... check with the arctic cooling site, they have a compatability guide somewhere - there are ones that fit geforces but your on your own there, i have no experience of them.

 

[MadEye2]

Ah, there are some for ti4200s but only the onles not made by asus - the power cones are in the wrong place or something (?). I'm just going to put a couple of 80mm fans against the card.

 

[cryptonomicon]

hmm ive done these things to my asus ti4200 (v8240 deluxe):

-80mm zip tied to asus heatsink - this is what asus should have shipped it with instead of the POS fan

and later..

-zalman zm80d dual heatpipe cooler - looks cool but ends up cooking the vram like a grilled cheese sammich. i have noticed about a 5-8deg drop in GPU temps and about 2-4degree increase in vram temps. but then i just modded a fan into the window right next to it, problem fixxed.

 

[MadEye2]

What kind of temps are you getting on your ti4200 currently, cryptonomicon?

 

[cryptonomicon]

well off the top of my head (at a library)
ill call method 1 - .12a 80mm @ 100%rpm sunon zip tied to stock asus heatsink:

if i remember correctly:
GPU: 56 idle, up to 62 load
VRAM: 37 idle, up to 42 load

and method 2 - zalman zm80d dual heatpipe with 80mm .1a panaflo 50%-80% on a window:
GPU: 53 idle, up to 58 load
VRAM: 36 idle, 38 under load

to wrap it up the zalman thing is cool, but only if you use the window mod because otherwise its like a heat sandwich. when i didnt have the window and ran it pure passive it worked well enough (not oced)


also keep in mind for all of those numbers my card is at 315/630

 

[MadEye2]

OH, excellent. I was worried about temperatures that high. I've got mine clocked up to 312/620 at the moment and i have a desktop fan blowing almost directly on to the card - 43°c to 47°c on the GPU and 35°c -37°c on RAM. I was told these cards run quite warm, but I was worried they would start to funk up at 60°c hance the fan. It's quite loud but my old PC was a noisy ah heck so I'm used to it.

 

[Elcs]

The fastest fanless ATI card is the Sapphire 9800Pro Ultimate I believe.