Passive 6600GT using a VF700...a nice surprise.

They make noise, too.

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Likif
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Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Passive 6600GT using a VF700...a nice surprise.

Post by Likif » Tue Oct 11, 2005 9:11 pm

I'd just like to share my new solution with the good people of SPCR. I simply put a VF700-Cu without a fan on a 6600GT. The Zalman fan has an annoying sound quality, even at 3 volts, and it offended me, so I plucked it out. I expected to have to point a quiet 80mm fan at the 6600GT, but it runs effortlessly without. Fanless!

I think this may be because some of the fins of the VF700 extend slighty outside the PCB, getting into the airflow of the case. Which is very little, btw. No intake fans, only an 80mm Nexus at 7 volt and an S12-330 Seasonic PSU provide exhaust ventilation. System temps are usually fairly hot, between 35 and 40 degrees, not that the S12 cares about that - quiet as the grave. The GPU does not go above 85 degrees Celsius, at any load.

Stable, quiet, and so much easier to install than a ZM80D-etc., and its ilk.

System:

2400+ T-bred, at 1.5 V.
Nforce2 mainboard.
1 80 Gb Barracuda IV.
1 160 Gb Samsung, SP1604 I think.
1 GB ram.
S12-330 PSU.

I think the idea of extending a GPU heatsink's fins outside the PCB is solid, as long as the fins are vertically aligned, of course. It's a little like Thermaltake's attempt at extending the GPU heatsink outside the case, only this is a great deal safer.

AlNasty
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Different results here...

Post by AlNasty » Fri Oct 21, 2005 4:10 pm

I have a simular system. I have the aluminum version though. My system shuts down after less than a minute without the VF700 fan on, but with the fan set to "Silent", it has not gone above 60c after 1 hour of BF2, and idle temps are about 48-50c. Also, I cannot hear the fan at all in this mode. (but it is as loud as the stock fan when set to normal speed.)

I have a AGP version, and did the bios mod to read the temps. Do you know how hot your card is getting?

Likif
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Location: Copenhagen, Denmark

Post by Likif » Sat Oct 22, 2005 6:34 am

Like I wrote, my GPU temps do not exceed 85 degrees Celcius, at load, without any fan. I use the Nvidia drivers to check temps. And I do have the extra 12v power cable attached.

My noise tolerance is way below yours, since at 5 volt the Zalman fan was clearly the most annoying element in my pc.

Maybe your PC shuts down because of a BIOS option, or some option in the nvidia panel. Go take a look, my default throttle threshold is at 127 degrees. Couldn't imagine your card gets that hot. Or maybe you have too little case airflow.

AlNasty
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Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2005 2:58 pm

Post by AlNasty » Sat Oct 22, 2005 12:34 pm

I wonder if your fan is louder than mine, with it in the case-I cannot hear it at all. The one time I did not have the fan plugged in, the case was open, so lack of airflow would be doubtful. Either way I don't plan on spending anytime looking into it. No worries if your temps don't get high-so I guess it's all the same :).

josephclemente
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Post by josephclemente » Sat Oct 22, 2005 1:15 pm

Likif, what kind of case are you using? Nice results, BTW...

Likif
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Post by Likif » Sun Oct 23, 2005 7:33 am

thanks. My case is this fella here. I have cut out the grills on the lowest exhaust fan opening and put my nexus there.

Something else that probably makes a huge difference: I have removed every single PCI slot cover below the GPU, quite unrelated to the VF700, though. I've simply used every slot over time for something. Those open slots draw in cool air right below the VGA card.

Haven't experimented with blocking them, though. I'm sure I couldn't do without having them open.

kuril
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Post by kuril » Sun Oct 23, 2005 10:10 am

Hmmmmm. Considering that my GF6600GT AGP fan is by far the most annoying POS EVER to grace my stomping grounds (it chitters and whines like nothing else).... and that I found out the hard-way that one passive solution from Zalman couldn't be fitted to it because of that darn pci-x to agp translation chip (now Zalman has a statement about that -- a bit late!)... this just might be what I should do.

I was initially concerned after reading the Zalman website that the positioning on an AGP GT may be structurally unsound, but maybe I'll give it a shot after reading your report.

edit: btw, I'm very sure I've enough airflow in my case so that the fan won't be necessary. Hmmmm, again :-)

Thanks

Likif
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Post by Likif » Mon Oct 24, 2005 10:41 am

Good luck, because I'm not offering any guarantees.

btw, you may want to put a big blob of thermal paste on the chip when you mount the HS, the contact isn't as precise as on a CPU. Pile pressure on, and the excess gets pushed to the side, anyway.

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