9800 GT Passive?

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:13 pm

Red Alert 3 is coming out and I have been thinking about upgrading my MSI 7900 GS 256MB. I have a Dell 3007WFP which runs in a high res and requires dual link DVI.

I liked the look of the Asus Passive 9600 GT but someone told me I might not see too much of a difference between that and my current card. As far as I can tell, the next step up is a Passive 9800 GT but they're harder to come by. In fact, the only one I've seen for sake is this one from Elite Group with a price that seems too good to be true.

Since most graphics cards seem pretty cheap at the moment, I'd be happy to go for the best passive (or near-silent) nVidia card, but I can't work out what that is.

I've been burned by ATI drivers in the past, so I'd prefer to stick with nVidia, but I'm open to suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:21 pm

Just pick up a 9800GT from someone like evga, and then buy an artic cooling s1 for about $25 and run the card passive no fan

That's what I do. My idle temps are about 42 idle and load about 60. And its very easy to install....Here's the Evga for $129

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814130380

The S1 is here

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6835186016

Elvellon · Post by **Elvellon** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 4:38 am

I have a card that's really the same. It's a 8800GT, stock passive from Elitegroup, bought for a suspiciously low price.
It has a non-reference and simplified design, but doesn't come near Elitegroup's old reputation.

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 11:50 am

falcon26 wrote:Just pick up a 9800GT from someone like evga, and then buy an artic cooling s1 for about $25 and run the card passive no fan

I've been looking at a Asus 9800GT Ultimate. I'm new to the S1, do I just remove the stock fan and replace is with the Accelero?

I'm told the Asus is pretty quiet, so I might try it with the stock fan first and only go passive if I need to.

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Sat Sep 27, 2008 7:00 pm

That Asus one is good. The stock cooler is pretty quiet. It would probably do just as good as the S1 so I'd say go for it...

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:43 pm

Just to follow up. Bought the Asus 9800GT. Nice and quiet but wouldn't work with Vista. Seems like a lot of people are having the same problem.

Can anyone recommend a comparable ATI card that's quiet or passive?

ck8-04 · Post by **ck8-04** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 7:26 pm

What do you mean it wouldn't work with Vista? I'm using an 8800GT (same G92 core) with Vista just fine.

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:23 pm

I described the problem with the 9800 and Vista here.

lodestar · Post by **lodestar** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 4:43 am

When changing from one graphics card to another I would always recommend removing the old drivers first, second using something like Driver Cleaner Professional to make sure that no trace of the old drivers remains, and finally installing the latest drivers for the new card from fresh. Anti-virus products can interfere with correct driver installation so disable them during this process.

You can of course get away on most occasions with just installing the new card and if need be, updating the drivers. What I have found is that when this fails you will experience severe issues such as system instability and screens of death. By following the 'back to bare metal' procedure above I have recovered the situation.

DavidA · Post by **DavidA** » Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:27 am

Thanks Lodestar. Unfortunately a fresh install made no difference. I'll chalk this one up as a mystery I'll never solve.

ermi · Post by **ermi** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:15 am

So what are the max temps for the passive 9800GT?

And tell us what kind of case/ventilation you have.

This one looks nice: http://razetheworld.com/blog/?p=454

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:48 am

Hi,
I have a 9800GTX+ with an Accelero S1 with a 92mm fan on it (Arctic Cooling PWM fan running between 800 and 1300 rpm, controled by speedfan, it's silent).

Idle = 45Â°C
Loaded = 55Â°C

ermi · Post by **ermi** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 3:27 am

Great temps. Did you try it without the 92mm fan, tho?

How is your case ventilation?

I'd rather not use fans where not necessary. The PC will be in a recording/mixing room. But I'd also like to play a game from time to time.

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 4:21 am

If I remember correctly, temps without fan :
idle = 53Â°C
load = 70Â°C

I know those temps are fine for a GPU but this setup make the case temperature rise a LOT

and I wasn't confortable with that.

My case is a Solo with no front fan, just a rear exhaust : viewtopic.php?t=49286&highlight=
(scroll down a bit)

I'm sure if I added a front fan in the bottom intake, it would make it possible to go fanless on the Accelero and get decent temps. I just like having a fan on the Accelero to keep my case temps down. And noise is greatly reduced by not having a fan in the front.

ermi · Post by **ermi** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 10:11 am

frenchie wrote:And noise is greatly reduced by not having a fan in the front.

Interesting.
So the Noctua fan in the front was noisy? What speed did you run it at?

frenchie · Post by **frenchie** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 11:12 am

it's a bit off topic... (maybe we can discuss this further on my topic in the gallery if you want ?)
My apologies to the original poster.

Anyways :
The front Noctua was inaudible at around 700 rpm, which is the speed I used to run it at. It was used to spot cool my HDs at the time, not to provide airflow to the GPU (which was a 8600 GT at the time, and this GPU runs cool).
When I upgraded my GPU to the 9800, I tested the Accelero with no fan. Temps got too high like I said before. I tried speeding up the Noctua (1000 rpm) but the close proximity of the Solo front door made it noisy over the rest of my system (Those noctuas are great if nothing impeeds the airflow, otherwise, not so great).
My opinion on the Solo's front intake it that you don't really need a fan there unless you are spot cooling your HDs or you are aiming for positive pressure in your case (great mod on this forum of someone who moded the front door to fit two 100mm fans). Otherwise, plug all the other holes of the case, use only exhasut fans, and the air is going to have to come in through the front doors no matter what.