Passive Video Cards

Fayd · Post by **Fayd** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:45 pm

Do they need a fan actively blowing air over them, or can they work with just airflow within the case?

i'm looking at these 2 video cards...

the asus 8600GT - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121076

and the gigabyte 8600GT - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814125061

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It's final destination is my parents computer, but in the meantime it will be going into my computer while my video card is out on RMA.

i'm using an antec sonata 2, and the front 120mm fan in it is placed such that it active airflow component flows *just* over the top of the video card, missing the heatsink entirely. i might be able to set up some kind of duct, but i dont know how well that would work.

their computer will be using an antec solo, and i will fill both 92mm bays with nexus 92mm's. so airflow *shouldnt* be a problem in that case. also, their motherboard will have it's first PCI-E x16 slot closer to the motherboard, so it wont be missed by the active airflow of the fans.

which of these cards will work for my case, and why? i'm concerned about using either of them...

the reason i dont want to use aftermarket hsf like the vf900 is because i have one on my current card, and now that i have to RMA it, it's gonna be a bear to get it back to stock.

does anyone know if the techs check your hsf goo to see if it's the stock stuff?

Fayd · Post by **Fayd** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 7:15 pm

i think i may have just seen the answer to my problems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127287

Aris · Post by **Aris** » Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:22 pm

i dont place an extra fan for my passive video cards, but i do setup the fan on my CPU heatsink in a way that causes airflow over that region of the case.

i have it right now where it pulls air up from the VGA region of the case and blows it up to the top rear 120mm exhaust fan for the case.

i wouldnt ever use a seperate fan just for passive vga cards, i just plan my case airflow carefully so i dont need to.

partycrasher · Post by **partycrasher** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:07 am

Just a word of warning regarding the Asus 8600gt and Vista x64:

I am using it together with an Intel D975XBX2 motherboard and it is NOT a stable combination. Lots of blue screen of deaths that seem to originate from the Nvidia driver.

For this motherboard I will not recommend the 8600gt.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Sun Jun 24, 2007 4:21 am

Hello,

I used the Gigabyte 8600GTS in a Solo, and it ran great. Cool air comes in the back and hits the warmest part of the HS, and cools it very well.

v3n · Post by **v3n** » Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:51 am

my passive 6200 AGP runs past 70c when decoding mpeg2 without a fan and is rock solid