Can the MSI GeForce3 Ti200 Run Fanless?

[JWarrior]

I've got an MSI GeForce3 Ti200 video card, and I'm wondering if I can run it fanless. It came with a tiny little stock 40mm fan that's extremely whiny and annoying.

Here's a picture of the card itself...the heatsink seems rather large, and covers the ram chips as well as the GPU.



I've unplugged the fan, and am able to run 2D appilcations fine with no issues, but the heatsink itself is rather hot to touch. (I can touch it with my fingers without burning myself, but i can only hold it for a second or two before it begins to hurt.)

I have yet to attempt any 3D intensive applications with the fan off. Has anyone tried running this card (or a similar GF3Ti200) fanless? Will I be shortening my card's lifespan significantly by running it without the fan?

JW

[blakerwry]

I put an old 40mm fan from a slot A cooler I had sitting around on my Ti200... it's double the height of the original fan, so I 5 volted it... it's inaudible, unlike the original crappy sounding fan which was audible at any level besides off.

I just used a bit of super glue on the 4 corners of the fan and stuck it to the heatsink

My geforce3 Ti200 is a leadtek and has a smaller heatsink, it couldn't run fanless for sure... but runs fine with this 5 volted one.

Specs for the fan I'm using:
Top Motor DC1205BI (DC1205BI-E)
DC 12v .08A
40mm x 20mm

[Cams]

If you really want to run the card without a fan, I'd fit a Zalman ZM80A-HP heatsink. I've fitted one to my Ti500 and can run it fanless, although I don't push the graphics card very hard. I should think the Ti200 will run just fine with a ZM80A-HP fitted and no fan, but hopefully if I'm wrong someone will come along and tell me.

In any case I *wouldn't* advise running it fanless with the stock HS.

Cams

[daedalus411]

I'm running a PNY geforce3 ti200 with the fan turned off and have had no problems. Stock heatsink. However I don't game at all, all 2D work.

I might be shortening it's life, but it the grand scheme of things.. It'll be useless by then anyways.

b

[ez2remember]

Looking at the large HS on your graphics card, you could simply remove the stock fan and have a 80mm fan mounted parrallel @5v which should be inaudible anyway.

[Ginta]

I have a fanless oem MSI GF-3 Ti-200 made for Compaq that I bought at Fry's 2 years ago. The heatsink is about 65mm square and the fins are not as fine as pictured. The memory is not sinked and it doesn't have the DVI port.
Running stock speeds it gets burning hot but has been stable. Lately, I've taken to overclocking it to GF-3 speeds (200/460) (stock is 175/400) so I twist-tied on a 60mm fan at 5v to keep it cool. The fan takes out the adjacent pci slot, so I've been considering picking up a Zalman ZM80A and eventually a new Radeon.

When I was running it stock passively it was stable in 3d games and such, but it would crash in the summer depending on the ambient room temperature. Cranking up the case fan speeds alittle would prevent locks in those cases.

[MikeC]

If you read the sticky READ ME! in the cooling forum, you would have seen this:

2. Video cards.... If there's room above the PCI/AGP slots, a low noise 80-92mm fan on a Zalman 123 or 165 fan bracket (or facsimile) will bathe both sides of the VGA card with enough airflow to replace tiny fans, usually w/o any mod of the HS. Often good with a 5-7V Panaflo (80mm, L). This is the simplest, cheapest effective quiet VGA cooling - if you have room. The 123 is an excellent solution for CPU fan mounting as well.

Still one of the simplest ways to cool a hot VGA card quietly. No hacks or mods, just the bracket, a quiet fan and a fan speed controller (like the Zalman fanmate1)

[JWarrior]

I had read that sticky, and that is probably what i'm going to do with my card. I was just hoping that I'd be able to run it completely fanless with the stock heatsink for an even quieter solution.