HD6850 Passive by PowerColor!!!!!!

[ballcall2]

Im am speechless!!!!

If this is real news it is going to be just amazing- a really strong card with 0 db!!!
Here is a link from TechPowerUp: http://www.techpowerup.com/135146/Power ... -Card.html
If it will be available I will be the firts one to buy this,believe me...

[dhanson865]

That's one huge heatsink. I'm going to say it won't fit in a Solo without modding the HS, Case, or both.

Reminds me of the Gigabyte Silent Cell HD5770.

[zoran89]

aaa....i want one....ooo yes.... i want one.....


its so pretty.....its perfect....when will it be available ?

[LNick]

This is awesome, can't wait for it to be available in my country and review too. Looks quite heavy.

[Tzupy]

It doesn't look like it won't fit in a Solo to me. I assume the PCB is the same size as a regular 6850, and the heatpipes seem to protrude another 1.5-2cm, which shouldn't be a problem with a Solo.
But the stickers are stupidly placed, they block the airflow. I hope they are easily removable without voiding the warranty. Of course, I want one too...

[Anatorax]

Looks amazing, but I trust the passive cards from manufacturers no more after my 5750 reached 100C under Furmark within 4 minutes, despite good cooling. Nothing will beat the Accelero S1 I got on my 6850.

[frenchie]

What a cooler !! Not bad looking at all
However, no matter what they say, I still think you'll need a fan really - and I mean really - close to this thing to keep temps decent (dissipating 120 Watts with no fan close by is not an easy task). We'll see how confident they are with their design : if SPCR gets a sample, it's a good start.

Source for the 120W figure : http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd ... -review/10

[Modo]

Nice. I can't wait for the Gigabyte answer.

Looks amazing, but I trust the passive cards from manufacturers no more after my 5750 reached 100C under Furmark within 4 minutes, despite good cooling. Nothing will beat the Accelero S1 I got on my 6850.

GPUs are designed to survive very high temperatures. If it comes fanless out of the factory, you can bet the other components can be safely cooked as well. 100 C is not a problem as long as the card stays stable. I'd be more worried about the components not cooled by the Accelero and VRM/memory heatsinks.

[boost]

Thanks for pointing it out with just enough exclamation marks. The sixth one really did it for me.

[fumino]

Thanks for pointing it out with just enough exclamation marks. The sixth one really did it for me.

i wouldnt have clicked on the thread if i didnt know it was that important though...

on topic: why doesnt anybody make their passive cards in reverse... like pcb on the bottom, and it extends into the slot above it with all the hardware, and a decent backplate too... seems like it would be more efficient than having all that heat rise straight into the card itself.... i cant imagine that it'd be too hard to do.

[andymcca]

why doesnt anybody make their passive cards in reverse... like pcb on the bottom, and it extends into the slot above it with all the hardware, and a decent backplate too...

I think they are worried about NB coolers getting in the way. The space above the graphics slot is a scary unknown!

Edit: but i guess it would be interesting if the PCIe port was jumpered to a PCB below the standard graphics card slot -- with the cooler where the card usually goes? Seems expensive to manufacture, though.

[K9-Cop]

why doesnt anybody make their passive cards in reverse...

The XFX 7950 GT passive card was. Mine lasted 4 years but died a few days ago. Would have hoped for 5 years. Anyways, I'm looking at getting this card. Hopefully it comes out soon.

[tima]

on topic: why doesnt anybody make their passive cards in reverse... like pcb on the bottom, and it extends into the slot above it with all the hardware, and a decent backplate too... seems like it would be more efficient than having all that heat rise straight into the card itself.... i cant imagine that it'd be too hard to do.

Check out the Sapphire Passive 4670:

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentatio ... 01&pid=205

I had to install mine in an inner x8 slot on my Asus P7P55D Pro thanks to the heatsink going over the back of the card and Asus positioning the main x16 slot first, where the card would collide with my Hyper 212 Plus.

[K9-Cop]

Question:
I've got an Antec Solo, with one rear Scythe 120 fan in the back, and a Seasonic PSU pushing air out the back too. Is that enough cooling for this card, with its heatsink on the bottom side? Kind of seems like a lot of dead space to me.

[jamotide]

Anyone find anything new on this card? There does not seem to be any info out there about it, its been a month!

[Modo]

Well, somebody is already using it. I found a pic in a rig on a Polish board. The case is a Lian Li PC-X500, the PSU is a Seasonic X-460. It was taken before the system was complete, I think.

[flemeister]

Question:
I've got an Antec Solo, with one rear Scythe 120 fan in the back, and a Seasonic PSU pushing air out the back too. Is that enough cooling for this card, with its heatsink on the bottom side? Kind of seems like a lot of dead space to me.

Removing a few of the expansion slot covers should allow air to come in through the back of the case and go through the card's heatsink.

[dhanson865]

Well, somebody is already using it. I found a pic in a rig on a Polish board. The case is a Lian Li PC-X500, the PSU is a Seasonic X-460. It was taken before the system was complete, I think.

That is a Gigabyte 5750 or 5770 Silent Cell not the Power Color fanless 6850.

[rpsgc]

Now Crossfire two of them!

[fnukyguy]

nice! this looks like the ideal card for me....
I read its supposed to come in march at http://news.softpedia.com/news/PowerCol ... 7735.shtml
...wonder what the price will be?

[jeekub]

Well, somebody is already using it. I found a pic in a rig on a Polish board. The case is a Lian Li PC-X500, the PSU is a Seasonic X-460. It was taken before the system was complete, I think.

nah, I reckon it's a Gigabyte's 4850 - see that weird protruding thingy at the side?

[Tzupy]

Review at Techpowerup: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powe ... 3_Passive/
I find it a bit dissapointing, since Powercolor cheaped on VRM heatsinks ( there are none ) and also on
the number of VRM phases for the GPU, only 3 are present, IMO they should have used 4.
As a consequence, while in a demanding game like Crysis 2 it behaves well, I bet in Furmark the VRMs overheat
and it uses more power than an overclocked 6850 ( PCS+ ), IMO with serious damage potential.
My advice for buyers: remove cooler, put some small heatsinks on the bare VRM mosfets, then reseat cooler,
preferrably with a better thermal paste than whatever was on the GPU ( maybe they cheaped on it too ).
If you still get temps too high for your taste, zip-tie a 500 rpm Slipstream on it, and then enjoy.

[Mallee]

My advice for buyers: remove cooler, put some small heatsinks on the bare VRM mosfets, then reseat cooler,
preferrably with a better thermal paste than whatever was on the GPU ( maybe they cheaped on it too ).
If you still get temps too high for your taste, zip-tie a 500 rpm Slipstream on it, and then enjoy.

Sounds like you are likely much better off to just buy a stock 6850 and add an after market cooler like arctic cooling with VRM heatsinks.

[ballcall2]

99°? I will pass...

[dhanson865]

99°? I will pass...

That was 99c with NO CASE FANS. Do you really run your case with no exhaust or intake fans? Even the cheapest cases come with a 120mm rear fan.

Heck gamers often run cases with 4 or more case fans. Lets mine newegg for a few minutes:

Antec Nine Hundred is the case with the most reviews (over 5,500) and the stock fans are
1 x 120mm rear fan
2 x 120mm front fans
1 x 200mm top fan


COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 is the case with the second most reviews (over 2,500)
1 x 80mm Front Fan
1 x 120mm Rear Fan


Antec Three Hundred (over 2,400 reviews)
1 x 120mm TriCool rear fan
1 x 140mm TriCool top fan


COOLER MASTER HAF 932 (over 1,900 reviews)
1 x 140mm rear fan
1 x 230mm front fan
1 x 230mm top fan
1 x 230mm side fan

Rosewill CHALLENGER (over 750 reviews)
1 x Front 120mm Blue LED Fan
1 x Rear 120mm Fan
1 x Top 140mm Fan


I know some SPCR regulars run with 0 case fans but I would expect anyone running a Radeon 6850 to have at least 1 rear case fan to exhaust the heat and that would make a noticeable difference in temps for a card that uses this much electricity.

[justice99]

A nice card with a nice price, the card hit 99 degres if you overclock it from 775mhz to 930mhz.

By the way :

Once the card runs at around 102°C it will throttle down to 600 MHz clock speed which will significantly reduce performance but ensures the card does not overheat.

I wish this card was avalaible 4 months ago...

The bad things from the review :

Triple slot cooler
Requires some case airflow to stay cool
Overdrive limits too low
Runs at reference design clocks only
No support for CUDA / PhysX

[jamotide]

Werid, why would they skimp on the VRM cooling? Maybe it is not a problem with these cards, as in no risk of overheating?

[tzhu07]

I've been eyeing this card. I'm glad Powercolor is catering to this niche of users.

[Tzupy]

For those interested, it's going to be available at AmazonDE from the 1st July:
http://www.amazon.de/PowerColor-Radeon- ... 199&sr=8-3
And of course, it's already available at Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

[tzhu07]

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/ha ... eview.html

Hardware Canucks just posted their review of the Powercolor 6850 passive. They gave it their Innovative award. So far this and the TechPowerUp review are the only two reviews I've come across.

So far very positive.