Quiet Video Cards

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr Koko
  • Start date Start date
" Do these 'quiet' video cards (no fan) require other cooling from the case
fans or do they take care of themselves OK? "


Wherever there are heatsinks, a continuous flow of air is expected to be
travelling across them. Otherwise there would be little point in having the
heatsink in the first place.

If you include a passively-cooled video card in a system with no case-fans,
you can only expect it to crash within a short period of time. You'll also
be shortening the life of your components by doing this.
 
Dave C. said:
Well you NEED case fans, if that's what you are asking. But they don't
need to be directed at the video card. -Dave
Click to expand...

I guess what I'm asking is do I need to install an "extra" case fan if I
switch to a "fanless"
video card? (Right now my loudest fan is the one on my video card.)
 
I guess what I'm asking is do I need to install an "extra" case fan if I
switch to a "fanless"
video card? (Right now my loudest fan is the one on my video card.)
Click to expand...

Ummmm . . . that depends on what your fans are, at the moment. Generally,
your power supply needs an exhaust fan, which is also used to provide SOME
very limited cooling for the case. That won't be enough by itself, though.
.. . Not even if your video card had a fan. You will need at least one fan
mounted low on the case pulling cool air in (usual location, low in the
FRONT of the case). If you don't have this already, then yes, you will need
an extra case fan. -Dave
 
Michael said:
The heat is dumped inside your case, so you need good airflow. Your case
temp will increase slightly if new card produces more heat than old card.
Click to expand...

Those are both true whether the video card heatsink has a fan on it or not
(the exception being if it's a special heatsink/fan assembly that exhausts
out the adjacent PCI slot).
 
Ummmm . . . that depends on what your fans are, at the moment. Generally,
your power supply needs an exhaust fan, which is also used to provide SOME
very limited cooling for the case. That won't be enough by itself,
though. . . Not even if your video card had a fan. You will need at least
one fan mounted low on the case pulling cool air in (usual location, low
in the FRONT of the case). If you don't have this already, then yes, you
will need an extra case fan. -Dave
Click to expand...
That's just what I have...p.supply fan, frt. case fan (about 3"), cpu fan,
and (presently) video card fan.
 
Cuzman said:
" Do these 'quiet' video cards (no fan) require other cooling from the
case
fans or do they take care of themselves OK? "


Wherever there are heatsinks, a continuous flow of air is expected to be
travelling across them. Otherwise there would be little point in having
the
heatsink in the first place.

If you include a passively-cooled video card in a system with no
case-fans,
you can only expect it to crash within a short period of time. You'll
also
be shortening the life of your components by doing this.
Click to expand...
Do round cables make a noticeable increase in airflow thru the case?
 
Dave said:
Ummmm . . . that depends on what your fans are, at the moment. Generally,
your power supply needs an exhaust fan, which is also used to provide SOME
very limited cooling for the case. That won't be enough by itself, though.
. . Not even if your video card had a fan. You will need at least one fan
mounted low on the case pulling cool air in (usual location, low in the
FRONT of the case).
Click to expand...

No. The best position for a single case fan is at the rear, exhasting
the hot air and working in parallel with the PSU fan creating airflow
through the case that will cool all devices.

If you don't have this already, then yes, you will need
an extra case fan. -Dave
Click to expand...


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neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. To jump to the end
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people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant, too. Please
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http://www.marrow.org/
 
Mr Koko said:
Do round cables make a noticeable increase in airflow thru the case?
Click to expand...

Yes. At least for my case where the hdd's are mounted all the way at the
bottom. I noticed that after switching to round cables, I can feel the
front intake fan even after it blown on the hdd and out back. With flat
cable's the breeze stops before the cables.
 
No. The best position for a single case fan is at the rear, exhasting
the hot air and working in parallel with the PSU fan creating airflow
through the case that will cool all devices.
Click to expand...

I was under the impression that its better to have balance with intake and
exhaust. With air flowing from lower front to upper back. If the PSU fan is
doing a good job creating -ve pressure then given the chioce of a single
fan, a low front intake would seem better for airflow. Using it for
additional rear exhaust would increase -ve pressure but cool air might not
neccesarily flow across components. es HDs which are usually at the front.
In this case air is more likely to come in through any gaps that are close
to the fans. (eg Empty Rear fan cut-outs, PCI slots etc)

Thats just my opinion based on zero evidence though. So I'm not presenting
it as fact :)

Lordy
 
No. The best position for a single case fan is at the rear, exhasting
I was under the impression that its better to have balance with intake and
exhaust. With air flowing from lower front to upper back. If the PSU fan
is
doing a good job creating -ve pressure then given the chioce of a single
fan, a low front intake would seem better for airflow.
Click to expand...

You are correct. If you have negative pressure, your external drives are
soon destroyed by dust being sucked into them. If you have positive
pressure, some dust still gets into everything, but less of it gets into the
external drives. -Dave
 
Lordy said:
I was under the impression that its better to have balance with intake and
exhaust. With air flowing from lower front to upper back. If the PSU fan is
doing a good job creating -ve pressure then given the chioce of a single
fan, a low front intake would seem better for airflow. Using it for
additional rear exhaust would increase -ve pressure but cool air might not
neccesarily flow across components. es HDs which are usually at the front.
In this case air is more likely to come in through any gaps that are close
to the fans. (eg Empty Rear fan cut-outs, PCI slots etc)

Thats just my opinion based on zero evidence though. So I'm not presenting
it as fact :)

Lordy
Click to expand...

Front intake fans don't really do a great job of pulling air in for most
case designs (especially generic or unmodified cases). They do, however,
do a good job of creating extra noise! Exhausting the hot air is more
important than trying to pull more air in than is already coming in from
the airflow created by the PSU fan.

Cheers,

Ari


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. To jump to the end
of the story, as a result of this I need a bone marrow transplant. Many
people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant, too. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
Front intake fans don't really do a great job of pulling air in for most
case designs (especially generic or unmodified cases). They do, however,
do a good job of creating extra noise! Exhausting the hot air is more
important than trying to pull more air in than is already coming in from
the airflow created by the PSU fan.
Click to expand...

But dont PSU fans exhaust? Or do you mean the airflow coming in to equalise
the -ve pressure from the PSU exhaust?

Lordy
 
Lordy said:
@quokka.wn.com.au:




But dont PSU fans exhaust? Or do you mean the airflow coming in to equalise
the -ve pressure from the PSU exhaust?

Lordy
Click to expand...

Yes, PSU fans exhaust. What part about what I typed is unclear?
 
Lordy said:
'Salright I mis-read this bit ...
Click to expand...

tha's cool, I wasn't sure if I'd made a mistype or some such, and upon
rereading couldn't find one.


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. To jump to the end
of the story, as a result of this I need a bone marrow transplant. Many
people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant, too. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
Yes. At least for my case where the hdd's are mounted all the way at the
bottom. I noticed that after switching to round cables, I can feel the
front intake fan even after it blown on the hdd and out back. With flat
cable's the breeze stops before the cables.
Click to expand...

So is anyone here using a "fanless" video card? Have you noticed any
problems
with heat since going fanless?
 
Mr said:
So is anyone here using a "fanless" video card? Have you noticed any
problems
with heat since going fanless?
Click to expand...

The card you're looking at comes with a heatsink that the manufacturer
says is sufficient. It's not a gaming card, so it's not likely to
generate terrible amounts of heat. 'going fanless' usually refers to
replacing a fanned heatsink with a larger passive heatpipe cooler for a
gaming video card. As long as you have at least one case fan, preferably
exhausting heat rather than as a noise producing inefficient intake fan,
you should be fine.

Cheers,

Ari

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

I'm going to die rather sooner than I'd like. I tried to protect my
neighbours from crime, and became the victim of it. To jump to the end
of the story, as a result of this I need a bone marrow transplant. Many
people around the world are waiting for a marrow transplant, too. Please
volunteer to be a marrow donor:
http://www.abmdr.org.au/
http://www.marrow.org/
 
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