Passive Cooling Suggestion

[MotherMayI]

Hi there, I haven't followed hardware in any way for quite a while, and am after some advice:

I currently have a 5770 HD which I am perfectly happy with performance wise, but the sound is amazingly irritating. I'm looking to swap the card out for a passively cold one, with a possible performance upgrade, but it is not vital.

Are there any cards people would particularly recommend, or recommend avoiding?

 

[Cleeecooo]

I haven't seen anything passively cooled on the OcUK site that is even close to the 5770 performance wise. My 5850 was really quiet, maybe replacing the cooler with a quiet one would be cheaper?

 

[Emphacy]

Passively cooled cards with close performance to the HD 5770?
There's just no chance, these cards generate so much heat, it has to have some forced airflow over it.

Maybe you should replace the stock cooler with a much quieter one, or if you are really bothered go water cooling, although it's expensive...

 

[Freddie1980]

The best card I've seen that's passive cooled is the Powercolor SCS3 HD5750 1Gb edition and in terms of performance it will leave the 2600XT in dust and is only a little bit slower then the HD5770. The only draw backs is the price (£115ish) and it's dual slot.

 

[freddie64]

I would have said try a after-market cooler.

 

[appletree]

To my knowledge Powercolor's HD 6850 is the most powerful passively cooled GPU to date

http://www.techpowerup.com/135146/PowerColor-Readies-First-Passive-Cooled-HD-6850-Graphics-Card.html

if you can find it get it but note that you still need good airflow in the case - so it won't be completely silent. Otherwise I still consider even non-passively cooled HD 6850 to be the best currently available compromise of performance vs. noise - that is if you do not want to go with aftermarket cooler. I have Sapphire 6850 card and with stock cooler and custom fan profile in afterburner I can cool it at full load (games - not furmark !) with fan at 40% (25% idle) but at the cost of temps about 85-90 degrees (which works without problems, while potentially shortened card's lifespan doesn't bother me as long as it is quiet). However this is with good airflow in the case.

At idle it is basically inaudible over noise floor of my system. At full load it is slightly louder but I still probably couldn't tell if the PC is on/off from 2 meters in a quiet room (with some demanding game running). Take this as from someone who is very concerned about quiet computing - I would rather sacrifice performance than quietness, others people priorities may be different (therefore maybe you could be fine with a bit louder but better performing card or vice versa - but with those tweaks - it's definitely not much louder than completely pasive card)

 

[Skyrocket]

This IS the daddy of passively cooled cards:-
6850 scs3

Not out yet though

 

[appletree]

Maybe you should replace the stock cooler with a much quieter one, or if you are really bothered go water cooling, although it's expensive...

Yes aftermarket cooler is a good option if you don't mind modding the card, however water cooling for 5770 is just total overkill - definitely not needed and most likely wouldn't be even quieter as aftermarket air. You would see substantial drop in temperatures and noise from any decent aftermarket on air, and almost anything that will fit should be able to cool it more ore less quietly - especially compared to stock cooler.

Edit. seems like none mentioned that there also exist passively cooled 5770 which is as close in performance as it can get

http://www.guru3d.com/fullimage.php?image=25970

but I am not convinced it makes sense to buy 5xxx series at this time

 

[Freddie1980]

You coukd jsut try disconecting the fan power cable and see what happens.

 

[mikkyh]

You coukd jsut try disconecting the fan power cable and see what happens.

Haha. "*sniff sniff* What the hell is that smell ?!!"

 

[mrteabag]

I have a (broken) 570 vapor-x and the fan cable could be easily disconnected.