what is the best way to cool your video card?

Blueboy1986 · Dec 10, 2003

what is the best way to cool your video card? i know water cooling is one way, but i heard that there is pci slot fan coolers that move alot of air and arent all that loud. is that true and where can u find those?

OSUmaxx · Dec 11, 2003

My setup has a 120 mm fan in the side panel blowing straight onto the video card. If I ever get around to it, I have a heatpipe for the video card. That combo should yield good results.

Korndog · Dec 11, 2003

you could get an expensive heatpipe heatsink from zalman..
or if u have an old socket 370 heatsink or even larger, u could epoxy that on or drill holes for it and put it on with springs/screws/bolts.

//edit
and about those slot fans. they move out a lot of air, yes, but this aids ur casetemp, not much for video card. if ur case temps are already okey and u have enough airflow, then you're probably limited by your heatsink

caRpetbomBer · Dec 11, 2003

You can always get a Zalman heatpipe which is good if you like a quiet system. You can also use a fan to blow over the zalman heat pipe for better cooling. Something like a 80mm 5volt-ed for low noise. Also can put a retail cpu heatsink and fan on the gpu of a video card just need to do a little work drilling out holes. I did this for a system for my cousin.

All the fans in this system are 7volt-ed i cant believe how quiet the computer is LOL.

Korndog · Dec 11, 2003

nice job caRpetbomBer
ooo swiftech heatsink :drool:

i'd get that if i didn't have a water cooling

but anywho, slapping on an old heatsink is probably best and cheapest

specific · Dec 11, 2003

Korndog said:
//edit
and about those slot fans. they move out a lot of air, yes, but this aids ur casetemp, not much for video card. if ur case temps are already okey and u have enough airflow, then you're probably limited by your heatsink

if you get one that reaches back far enough to align with the gpu then it aids in getting the air coming off the gpu out of the case, and can help add rpm to the gpu fan.

that is if the gpu fan is pulling air through the hs, then both fans are working in the same direction.

a friend of mine told me that is what he was doing. i was suprised to find out that his gpu fan was not blowing air onto the hs, but the other way around. didn't really believe him at first. come to think of it, i never even checked my own to see what it's orientation is.

hold on a second...............

CrystalMethod · Dec 11, 2003

specific said:
if you get one that reaches back far enough to align with the gpu then it aids in getting the air coming off the gpu out of the case, and can help add rpm to the gpu fan.

that is if the gpu fan is pulling air through the hs, then both fans are working in the same direction.

a friend of mine told me that is what he was doing. i was suprised to find out that his gpu fan was not blowing air onto the hs, but the other way around. didn't really believe him at first. come to think of it, i never even checked my own to see what it's orientation is.

hold on a second...............

For the majority of cards, the fan pushes air towards the heatsink. The slot blowers draw air away from the heatsink. Usually this will cause the fans to compete for the same air, and create a "dead spot". Causing temps on your GPU to rise.

orion25 · Dec 11, 2003

I have an Artic Cooling VGA Sliencer . I just got it today and it rocks! I have already increased my core by 15 and my ram by 10. That may not seem extreme but I am getting 4300 (3DMark 2003) with a radeon 9800np with no artifacts with Folding running. I cannot wait to get some ram cooling!!

By the way, this cooler vents through an open PCI slot below the Video card. If you can get one it is the next best thing to water cooling. That is unless you are talented enough and have enough time to adapt a PCU cooler.

**EDIT**
I now have my 9800np up to 415 core and 336 mem with the VGA silencer (and AS5). I am getting 6001 with 3DMark2003. The best I could do with the stock cooling was 341 core and 330 mem. I am using Omega 3.9 drivers.

I have also recently put some old Ti4200 Ramsinks on my 9800np.

See sig for further system details.

chasingapple · Dec 11, 2003

Any pics of it in action?

Hookem · Dec 11, 2003

I have not tried one as of yet to cool the GPU

http://www.thermalfx.com/index.php?action=item&id=6&prevaction=category&previd=6&prevstart=0

These memory heatsinks at SVC are great

http://www.svc.com/prbgarasof4.html

Have the heat sinks on the way from SVC and am going to order two of the GPU coolers first thing in the morning...Some of the heat pipe Video coolers like the Zalman do nothing for the memory...I have not checked out the Artic Cooling solution...And I really do not like the idea of hanging 4 or 5 hundred grams of metal on my horizontially mounted video card...Must admit the Zalman looks bad to the bone...Especially with the fan...But not being able to mount heat sinks to the memory made me X them off my list of possible cooling solutions for my video cards...

Luie · Dec 12, 2003

Nice work, caRpetbomBer. wow.

Arkaine23 · Dec 12, 2003

Is that the retail AMD HSF? I stuck one on my 9700pro but the fins face the other way to take advantage of my side panel fan. I also used those nickel-plated copper ramsinks with the bottoms lapped.

caRpetbomBer · Dec 12, 2003

Yeah thats a retail AMD HSF. I drilled the holes on a drill press at home. Then i got my cousin to mill out 2 spots for the nuts to fit in. The hardest thing is getting the holes lined up.

AndrusLRoc · Dec 12, 2003

I ordered two packs of those BGA ramsinks from SVC and they sent me one and won't rectify my order, so I suppose I'll order another set.

I have a set of them on my old TI4200 they are nice, tryin to get them for my 9800pro now, but uh, I watercool the core.

FunkDaMonkMan · Dec 12, 2003

IMHO the best way to cool a card is DIY. Get an old heatsink, a fan.. and attach it with arctic ALUMINA epoxy. Alumina does not conduct electricy like arctic SILVER does. You don't want fry anything.
Next chop up an old heatsink and put that on your ram chips. This worked great on my radeon 8500 and gave me something like 25mhz on the ram and 20mhz on the GPU.

Make sure to sand down the edge of the cut-up heatsink to avoid any metal flakes gettin on the ram pins.

GOOD LUCK!

what is the best way to cool your video card?

Blueboy1986

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OSUmaxx

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Korndog

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caRpetbomBer

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Korndog

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specific

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CrystalMethod

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orion25

Folding in memory of my dads, Tim B. & Mike B.

chasingapple

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Hookem

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Luie

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Arkaine23

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caRpetbomBer

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AndrusLRoc

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FunkDaMonkMan

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