Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: RTHolmes on April 16, 2009, 06:37:05 AM
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GPU fan is quite noisy when running 50%+, so I'm thinking of getting an arctic cooling passive cooler:
(http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/images/AcceleroS1Rev2_pic_300.gif)
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=105 (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=105)
Its a 9800GT so fairly low power/heat, and the case design looks to be perfect for it. My preference for PCs is small and quiet, not monster towers with 8 fans running. Anyone else used one of these?
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GPU fan is quite noisy when running 50%+, so I'm thinking of getting an arctic cooling passive cooler:
(http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/images/AcceleroS1Rev2_pic_300.gif)
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=105 (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=2_&mID=105)
Its a 9800GT so fairly low power/heat, and the case design looks to be perfect for it. My preference for PCs is small and quiet, not monster towers with 8 fans running. Anyone else used one of these?
If you have to run the stock cooler past 40% chances are the passive cooler will get red hot. You should probably look into your general case ventilation as a first thing and use compressed air to clean the current cooler.
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well the current GPU fan isnt working as efficiently as it could because the airflow is disrupted by the output from the CPU fan. the CPUs run pretty cool, even after a monster AH session, so the exhaust is also pretty cool. its this airflow I want to use to blow over the passive cooler.
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well the current GPU fan isnt working as efficiently as it could because the airflow is disrupted by the output from the CPU fan. the CPUs run pretty cool, even after a monster AH session, so the exhaust is also pretty cool. its this airflow I want to use to blow over the passive cooler.
Do you have something mounted wrong? I don't get it.
The CPU fan should be blowing toward the back of the case, almost directly into the exhaust fan if it's an aftermarket tower type unit, or blowing directly down into the heatsink if it's an Intel stock type unit. The GPU fan should be facing the bottom of the case with the CPU on the other side of the card, above it.
There shouldn't be any interference or disruption between the two of these. Even if you have a northbridge fan it should be blowing onto the nothbridge heatsink which is also mounted above the video card (opposite side from the GPU fan).
That said Nvidia cards run hot but they are rated to do so. I run my GPU fan at 65% always and my GPU never exceeds about 55C under load but they are rated to well over 100C. As long as you can get that heat out of the case you should be ok to let it heat up a little. If you let it get too hot you'll know... you'll get black-outs, grey-outs, freezes, etc. while gaming. As long as that's not happening your OK.
If you really don't like fan noise maybe it's time to look at a water cooling solution.
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its a compact HP case. recently they decided to swap the MB to the other side of the case (not sure why), so the GPU is at the bottom of the case facing up, right next to the CPU blower. Its actually a very well designed compact case, the first ive seen with proper ducting for the CPU, which works incredibly well. Its not however designed to have a hot GPU inside it.
Hard to describe, I'll take a pic when I can.
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found one (mine is the same but with E8200 @2.66 and a new PSU):
(http://images.tigerdirect.com/itemdetails/A72-10011/A72-10011-out06-ge.jpg)
so you can see where the GPU sits: the fan facing up, right next to, and 90deg to, the CPU heatsink.
when I take the side off I can feel the hot air building up under the CPU ducting from the GPU, because it has nowhere to go to. the idea is to use the substantial airflow from the CPU to the case fan to draw hot air off the vanes of the cooler sitting directly beneath.
It'll either be a quiet, cool, cunning solution. or a complete disaster. not sure yet :D
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I don't think your going to be able to passively cool a card like that without toasting it but hey, I could be wrong.
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I don't think your going to be able to passively cool a card like that without toasting it but hey, I could be wrong.
x2
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Looking at that case, it appears your only option to get good air flow, is to use ducting (custom, not what came with it). Or, cut out the area on the bottom of the front panel. Then turn your PC fan to blow to the front (unless it already is).
Personally, I'd buy a new case.
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Personally, I would like to hear TheZohan's insightful comments on this.
ack-ack
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You can get away with it but you have to make sure that there is plenty of air running over the heatsink from other fans.
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Personally, I would like to hear TheZohan's insightful comments on this.
ack-ack
:rofl :rofl :rofl
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You can always get the passive cooler and then if it overheats, zip-tie a really slow/quiet 80 or 92mm fan to it. That should be more than enough airflow and it'll still be quiet. You can even get a fan with a speed control so you can balance airflow vs. noise if you want to cover all your options with one fan.
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Personally, I would like to hear TheZohan's insightful comments on this.
ack-ack
:rofl :rofl :rofl
Thanks. I needed that.
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i think you should get a better case.
my 2 cents.
my 4850 runs in the 40's
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Open up the side of the case, leave it open. Point a 8 - 10 inch Tabletop fan at the GPU.
May not be ideal, but I'm thinking it will cool better than the passive cooler.
Which you'll end up doing the same thing with.
I've got the ATI 2600 with the passive cooler which works fine as long as I have a fan blowing on it.
Wife brings home cheap round 7 to 8" round tabletop fans. They work great for cooling. 110v ac powered so no drain on the PC power supply. Low speed for winter cooler temps, high for summer.
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well ive always built my own PCs, but this is more of an experiment really to do as little as possible to a cheap PC and see if it can be used as a kickass AH box. I just got the cheapest business desktop from HP with an intel dual core, cost £429 inc monitor and 3yr onsite hardware contract, dropped in an £88 9800GT and a 550w PSU i had lying around, works great so far :aok
before I fit the acrtic cooler I want to get some numbers on the temps, but over a long period for comparison. I have speedfan, but would like to be able to save the data (plus speedfan wont show the history for temps and fan speed simultaniously). anyone know of a temp/fan speed utility that will save long term (1day) data?
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the biggest key to passive cooling is airflow, airflow and airflow. if the heat isn't dissipating then you components being cooled will be toast.