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Removing fans from a RX 460

benjii

benjii

benjii

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I'm in the process of building a 4k capable HTPC and the 460 seems like the obvious choice for this. I'm aware XFX have released a fanless 460 to the Asian market and I'm wondering how well a DIY passively cooled 460 would work.

What do you all reckon at unplugging the fan header on the Powercolor 460? Would the heatsink be capable of passively cooling it?
 
I should imagine that the fanless version will have a bigger and better heatsink than the version with fans. Unplugging the fans on the Powercolor to run passively is not a move that I would make as the heatsink is much smaller and will have been designed to work with fans.

If it's noisey, altering the fan curve with the likes of Afterburner shouldn't be a problem. Just keep a eye on temps to make sure it doesn't get too hot.
 
pastymuncher said:
I should imagine that the fanless version will have a bigger and better heatsink than the version with fans. Unplugging the fans on the Powercolor to run passively is not a move that I would make as the heatsink is much smaller and will have been designed to work with fans.

If it's noisey, altering the fan curve with the likes of Afterburner shouldn't be a problem. Just keep a eye on temps to make sure it doesn't get too hot.
Click to expand...

this - if you're going to want it passive - you're going to want bigger heatsink and good airflow in the case....
 
Yeah, that did strike me after I posted this. I realised the XFX passive has a huge heatsink. Thanks for the input.
 
if it's just for video playback then the gpu load and p-state should be real low, as the onboard decoder is going to be doing all the work. As said above though just modify the fan curve to nigh on silent, My htpc r7 360 ticks over at 15% and it's inunaudible.
Most Gpu's now incorporate silent fan running until a temperature threshold is reached anyway.
 
Brazo said:
There is a passive 750ti which will cover your needs.
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wait what? why would you recommend that for 4k when 460 better capabilities for this; second he was asking on 460; so again why would you even just drop in to recommend this?

750ti decent for 1080p htpc; but not for 4k
 
Many models will run semi-passively which would be silent when just watching movies, browsing etc.

If that's not good enough, you could slap on something like an accelero S1 or S3.

Would be good if they bought the passive models out in the UK though.
 
meldarthx said:
wait what? why would you recommend that for 4k when 460 better capabilities for this; second he was asking on 460; so again why would you even just drop in to recommend this?

750ti decent for 1080p htpc; but not for 4k
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Because even the igpu is overkill for 4K in terms of watching films. The 750ti is passive hence why I suggested it. 460 is crap. So is 750ti so I have no desire to argue between them but both will do the job and 750ti is passive.
 
meldarthx said:
wait what? why would you recommend that for 4k when 460 better capabilities for this; second he was asking on 460; so again why would you even just drop in to recommend this?

750ti decent for 1080p htpc; but not for 4k
Click to expand...

Agreed and also having a passive card still means the heat needs to be pushed out of the case(I tend to use mini-ITX rigs myself).

I would rather have an actively cooled card with lower noise profile and some slow fans to blow the hot air out. The OP should also look at cases which are engineered for low noise,ie,they use thicker panels and foam to block noise.

Also,OP is the rig just for playback?? AMD is releasing the Bristol Ridge APUs soon,which have H265 abilities in the IGP. You might want to see how these pan out when they are released.
 
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I'm sure you could buy some heats inks and stick them to all the necessary parts. And there must also be one big enough for the gpu core for sale somewhere.
 
This is the card the op was interested in. That cooler looks rather similar to one of Arctic Coolings older Accelero's. They still make the Accelero S3 but I am not sure that it will fit. It does have the RX480 on it's compatibility list although it is rather expensive.
 
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