The fastest GPU ever discontinued??

They make noise, too.

Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee

Post Reply
steger
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 5:31 am
Location: Denmark

The fastest GPU ever discontinued??

Post by steger » Wed Jul 03, 2013 3:29 am

I checked everywhere. No other 100% passsively card exixts as far as I know.

The PowerColor SCS3 ATI Radeon HD6850. But for some reason it is sold out and discontinued verywhere...

Anyone know a place you can get it? 8)

CA_Steve
Moderator
Posts: 7650
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2005 4:36 am
Location: St. Louis, MO

Re: The fastest GPU ever discontinued??

Post by CA_Steve » Wed Jul 03, 2013 7:25 am

There is a passive Powercolor HD 7850.

Although I think "passive" is a misnomer for these 100W cards. You'll still need some air flow to keep it from broiling.


Spoon Boy
Posts: 168
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2005 11:44 pm
Location: London

Re: The fastest GPU ever discontinued??

Post by Spoon Boy » Wed Jul 03, 2013 10:18 am

A review of the 7850
http://www.eteknix.com/powercolor-hd-ra ... rd-review/

Colorful iGame GTX 680, Not that i know of any stockist.
http://phys.org/news/2012-06-passively- ... -card.html

Plekto
Posts: 398
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 2:08 pm
Location: Los Angeles

Re: The fastest GPU ever discontinued??

Post by Plekto » Sat Aug 10, 2013 7:58 am

I just bought the 7850 myself for my son's new box (my old one - heh). My thinking was this:

- I'd spend $40-$50 on an aftermarket cooler like the Accelero S1, including decent vram heatsinks (the ones with the S1 are junk and don't stick most of the time, sorry to say) and shipping, tax, and all of that. And slice off some skin in the process, most likely.

- Fanless is the way to go. The main reason is that if the card is designed to run passively, it won't die if the fan fails. That is, if you take a stock video card and the fan fails, it's toast in minutes. Possibly taking the PSU or MB out with it as it goes into thermal runaway and draws more and more power. This card could still struggle on even half blocked with dust as long as the case fans are doing their job.

- Fanless cards also overclock better if you do stick a fan on or put a lot of air over it. The massive radiator crushes the stock coolers. The Accelero turbo models are great proof of this, but IME, a simple slot fan two slots away from the card undervolted to 7v is just as effective as it draws air out of the case immediately and is a soft drone you hardly notice.

- My last video card with an active cooler (almost ten year now - heh) sounded like a vacuum cleaner by comparison, revving up and down all the time. And don't get me started on passive CPU heatsinks. I've been saved twice by that decision, just on this PC I'm using now. The last time, my fan seized on the cooler due to dust (previously, due to age), and the system ran only 5c hotter. The advantage to a passive design is that the fans are optional, so if one dies, it's a bit hotter but doesn't brick itself.

$220 well spent.

Post Reply