Best passively cooled PCIe Video Card?

[bookman]

Which passively-cooled PCIe video cards are out there? And what has been peoples' opinion of these? I am in the market for a good one, and wanted to hear your thoughts on this.

Thanks

 

[amol]

isnt there a gigabyte 6600GT thats passively cooled??

 

[Cheesetogo]

Originally posted by: Amol
isnt there a gigabyte 6600GT thats passively cooled??

Yeah, and it's also got the memory clocked about 120mhz faster. Also, I know that Gigabyte's 6800 is passive on agp, not sure about pci-e.

 

[gobucks]

I've heard gigabyte makes an X800 that has passive cooling. The X800 is pretty damn cool, and it's supposed to be $200, but I kinda doubt we'll see those prices for a while. Still, the card looks nice - it even has a full 256MB memory, versus the standard 128MB. Here is the best price so far:

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDe...ductCode=322261&affiliate=pricegrabber

Of course, you could always buy the Zalman heatpipe cooler (forget what it's called). It fits most GPUs, from what i've seen.

 

[bookman]

Thanks for the tips, but has anybody actually tried these? I am looking for some with first-hand experience, to learn about any potential issues, such as physical space limitations, etc. Any thoughts?

 

[Pieded]

the only limitation would probably be overclocking

 

[REMF]

there is a passive X800XL too.

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=14366

 

[Creig]

Why do you need passively cooled? There are some cards out there with fans that are so quiet you won't hear them over the power supply fan.

 

[THUGSROOK]

passive cooling?
youre kidding right? what do you think this is, a volkswagon?

passive cooled vid cards are not a good idea dispite all the ppl that will flame me for saying that

 

[gobucks]

i do understand the desire for silent cooling, but considering it's not really possible to make a performance computer TOTALLY silent, I'd focus more on QUIET rather than SILENT. For example, the Zalman VF700 VGA cooler is close to silent at its low fan setting, while providing cooling at least as good as stock cooling, often better. At high, it's still pretty quiet, and features great cooling.

 

[bookman]

Clearly, passively-cooled cards are not meant to be overclocked. I am looking at putting together an HTPC, so silence is golden. I am looking at a passive PSU, undervolting an AMD 64, and probably modding an HTPC case to provide for natural convection cooling. Just like some like to overclock their systems till they can fry eggs on them, my quest is to make a computer that is as quiet as any other stereo or video component.

 

[Excelsior]

just go through newegg..look at the images..and find the passively cooled ones. Then choose.

 

[Pete]

Yeah, apparently Gigabyte will introduce a fanless X800XL. At 380 ?, though, it's something of a rip-off. Factoring in the higher prices Europeans pay and the still-high X800XL prices, though, that Gigabyte might hit a more reasonable price point if it makes its way to the U.S. If it stays at that price, tho, I'd look for another card with a known quiet active cooler.

 

[WraithAkaMrak]

just go through newegg..look at the images..and find the passively cooled ones. Then choose.

Thing is, Newegg (last I checked) only carries the passive 6800 nu.

Gigabyte's 6600GT, 6800 nu, X800, and X800XL have already been mentioned. With the 6600GT, just make sure you're getting the correct model (GV-NX66T128VP), because some online stores don't show the correct product picture. Gigabyte sells both a fanned and passive 6600GT PCIe.

http://tw.giga-byte.com/VGA/Products/Products_NewProduct_List.htm

 

[REMF]

its £247.00 at scan.co.uk, which is right on par for X800XL cards in general in the UK.

for those of wishing to build HTPC's (i'll build another O/C'ing titan next year) silence is indeed golden.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
passive cooling?
youre kidding right? what do you think this is, a volkswagon?

I thought that those were force-air-cooler, not passively-cooled?

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
passive cooled vid cards are not a good idea dispite all the ppl that will flame me for saying that

Bah, no imagination.

What we *really* need, is some tower case designs, with integrated heatpipes that go from the CPU and video card's GPU, and lead up to a passive radiator on the top of the case, that just so happens to exactly resemble a George Foreman grill (tm). Cleanup of your tower case after cooking some burgers on it might leave a bit to be desired, though.

 

[sellmen]

Passively cooling modern components is very difficult.

Modern video cards run quite hot. Passively cooled cards essentially rely on your case fans to cool them - without some air circulation, your card will eventually overheat. You're going to have to choose between a passively cooled card and a higher RPM case fan, or a air cooled card with a smaller/slower case fan.

Either way, the noise level will be about the same.

Are you planning on passively cooling the A64 as well? If so, good luck...even underclocked and undervolted, it's going to put out quite a bit of heat.

 

[bookman]

Actually sellmen, you are on target. I intend at this point to have 120 Nexus fans as intake and exhaust fans, plus a quiet (though not passive) PSU fan, maybe a Noisetaker. This will eliminate the smaller and noisier fans, while the 120 MM quiet fans should be able to remove the heat. I am figuring about 110-120 watts of heat (45-50 for the video card, about the same for the CPU, balance from one DVD burner, northbridege, one HD, and memory. If this configuration works on a mid-tower case, after a while I may splurge on an HTPC case, drill vents top and bottom, and see if I can get away with convection cooling in a horizontal configuration, not unlike that found in a stereo amplifier.

 

[sellmen]

Originally posted by: bookman
Actually sellmen, you are on target. I intend at this point to have 120 Nexus fans as intake and exhaust fans, plus a quiet (though not passive) PSU fan, maybe a Noisetaker. This will eliminate the smaller and noisier fans, while the 120 MM quiet fans should be able to remove the heat. I am figuring about 110-120 watts of heat (45-50 for the video card, about the same for the CPU, balance from one DVD burner, northbridege, one HD, and memory. If this configuration works on a mid-tower case, after a while I may splurge on an HTPC case, drill vents top and bottom, and see if I can get away with convection cooling in a horizontal configuration, not unlike that found in a stereo amplifier.

Sounds interesting, keep us informed how it goes. I'm always interested in ways to further quiet my computer.

By the way, here is a review of the Zalman cooler along with a large passive thermaltake cooler. You can see that even on a 6800LE (only 8 pipes) the load temps almost hit 80. On a 12/16 pipe video card with higher clocks, you'll see even higher temperatures with a passive cooler.