• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

passive cool a gtx280?

Jfan

Jfan

Jfan

Associate
Joined
22 Aug 2005
Posts
542
Just wondering if it would be possible to passively cool my gtx280? :D

I intend to be using using a silverstone fortress ft02b-w http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-067-SV&groupid=701&catid=7&subcat=1092

and a Thermalright HR-03 GTX http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-077-TR&groupid=701&catid=57&subcat=787

I'm hoping there will be enough airflow from the bottom 180mm fans to forego putting a 120mm fan on the gpu cooler, but if I have to ill put one facing up towards the top of the case

reason I'm trying this is my overclocked q6600 and gtx280 combo are still going strong, and I reckon they have some life in them yet, (they have been best value for money pc items I've ever bought) but the gtx fan is damned annoying when you start gaming
 
asking for trouble I reckon, relying on the case fans air flow to help cool that hot card will surely end in disaster.

the specs of that thermaltake mention a fan mount, wonder why?
 
Why is there any reason not to run a fan.

Ok the stock fan is loud and annoying, thats fine, get a 3rd party cooler thats fine, why run passive, it would be a NEW fan, not the stock loud one, so buy a , shock horror, silent 92-120mm fan and you won't hear it, not really sure what the issue is.

Personally I really really wouldn't run it passive, largely because theres no reason to, you can have a silent fan that won't increase case noise at all, and increase cooling and overclocking capacity to go with it, for the price of a £5 fan. Frankly get any old cheapo fan and run it at 5 or 7v, a zalman fan comes with a inline resistor to run at a lower speed which is pretty close to silent.

I'd also seriously consider a 92mm or even 80mm fans. 120mm fans push more air, but gpu heatsinks are relatively narrow, you lose a lot of the airflow around the heatsink and the deadspot(centre circle air is blocked from going on and also stops air going through the sink that area covers) is a lot bigger on a 120mm fan.

The best heatsink our there, the prolimatech mk13, is expensive, but reviews show it runs cooler with 92mm fans rather than 120mm fans for the dead spot reasoning. Likewise I'd consider getting that sink as it has removeable mounting points and a promise to release cheap mounting kits in the future when new cards are released, meaning it has a great chance of being compatible with the next few generations.

The zalman is supposed to be very good aswell and cheaper, and fan speed options to run high/med/low low being silent.
 
Ordered the thermalright gtx now :( , didn't realise the mk13 was as good as it seems

don't worry ill be using a quiet fan on the gpu cooler, I was just wondering what people thought about my chances of running passive gpu cooling, with the unique cooling setup of that case I posted

thanks for the feedback
 
there is no way you can game on a 280 with passive cooling. It will overheat. It will crash and burn
well unless you like solittaire and minesweeper
 
Quick update on this

Got my Silverstone FT02, But not got round to installing my Thermalright HR-03 GTX onto the graphics card yet

The great thing is though, It seems with the combination of great airflow from this case, and probably the fact that the graphics card is pointing upwards so all the heat can come out of it, My graphics card fan has never once gone above 40% speed, so I dont really hear it any more, so Prolly wont end up using the thermalright cooler (wonder if it will fit on a gtx 460? :) )

I have played hours and hours of mass effect 2, and bc2 theres been some really hot days aswell weather wise, I'm really impressed with this case

fan on the graphics card used to ramp up within 30 seconds of starting a game in my super armour with 25cm side fan
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom