Cooling Advice

I recently upgraded my video card to an NVidia 8600 OC with 256 Meg. I have an 120mm fan pulling air in the lower front of the case, an 80 mm fan pushing it out the back, not quite at the top of the case. The video card's GPU has a heat sink and fan, as does the CPU. I did not realize the darned card was overclocked from the factory and now I am having overheating issues with the GPU after several hours of running.

I play some graphics intensive games, particularly CoH/CoV, so I don't want to give up the wonderful resolution. I don't have anymore places to attach more case fans. What would your sage advice be?

Should I cut an opening for a new fan in the top of the case with my Dremel tool? Will one of those flexible internal fans, pointed at the Graphics card help? Should I upgrade my exhaust to an 120 mm fan? :confused:

Personally, I'd go with a 120 mm case fan in place of the 80 mm if your case will accept it. Right now, my favorite 120s are the Scythe S-Flex series. They use Sony fluid bearings and very advanced blade design to move a lot of air at extremely low noise levels.

The SSF21D flows 33.5 cfm at 8.7 dBA
The SSF21E flows 49 cfm at 20.1 dBA
The SSF21F flows 63.7 cfm at 28.0 dBA

Life of the fans is estimated at around 150,000 hours and cost is usually in the $14-15 range. Panaflo fans are a good choice if you want even more airflow with
somewhat higher noise. The FBA12G12L1BX flows 69 cfm at 30.0 dBA, and you can go all the way up to the FBA12G12H1BX, which flows 103.8 at 41.5 dBA. These models also use a fluid bearing system.

In-case heat is also dependant upon cpu cooler settings which vary with motherboard makers.

Asus, for example, has the Q-Fan system which screws up lots of people because they use it without understanding that to GAME, you need to set the target temp as low as possible (in my case 52degrees C) to get max fan speed as soon as possible.

If you have the room arounf the video card then I would change out the stock fan/cooler for something from Zalman or Artic Cooler.
http://www.zalman.co.kr/eng/product/...t.asp?code=013
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vgapartners1.php

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OMGmissinglink

Only problem changing out the stock fan is if the card becomes defective the manufacture will not warrenty the product.

slgreib's idea 120 mm case fan in place of the 80 mm if your case will accept it, or pci slot fan IMHO your better solutions.

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Yes the 120 is a good idea.
But try convincing the manufacturer you didnt do anything wrong when the video card burns out from over heating on the stock cooling.
Been there done that and it isnt pretty

Many thanks for the great suggestions.
I will definitely upgrade my case exhaust fan to 120 mm, prolly one of the more robust ones from slgrieb's list.
I do not have an extra slot for a card type fan.
I am not too concerned about warranties, if the card fries, I'll just buy a better, newer one, so I will look into a better fan for the GPU.
Woo-Hoo! Now, maybe I can crank up the card to its limits! (j/k)

All too many manufacturers seem to do anything they can to avoid honoring a warranty, alright, but there are some very nice after-market video coolers out there. Thermalright makes a nice line of heatpipe coolers, including a model that mounts on the back of the card and doesn't require removal of the stock cooler. However, with any of these coolers you really need to check the dimensions against your available space. Prices are in the $24-$60 range (plus a fan in most cases). Installation is pretty simple IF you have checked our clearances.

All too many manufacturers seem to do anything they can to avoid honoring a warranty, alright,
Exactly what I have found and something overheated with a fan that still spins but isnt doing the cooling job is dam hard to get warranty for.

No matter what OMG says

BTW el tentacled one - what motherboard?

Just to add to the warranty argument, i know here in canada, when your dealing with the manufacturer, it can be a royal pain in the *** to get stuff across the border and back. a few years ago, i RMA'd an asus video card, the bloody thing sat in customs for a month. I would rather spend an extra $60 for better cooling and not have to RMA it in the first place.

I went with the V1000 with the ram cooler addon from Zalman for my 8800.