[TH] 1050Ti passive cooling mod

[nathanddrews]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-gtx-1050-ti-passive-cooling-mod,4837.html#p1

Final Thoughts
Our small battery of tests shows again that completely passive cooling configurations in the 60 to 75W category are only possible after a handful of compromises. Choose one of two options: either install a set of low-RPM fans to create a little airflow inside your case, or allow the GPU to hit its temperature limit in a passively-cooled enclosure and live with the reduced performance. Leaning on a fail-safe isn't really ideal though, so we don't love that idea.

Realistically, the upper limit for completely fanless operation remains around 40W, where almost all of the card's power is dissipated as waste heat. In that situation, the best option is to manually set a power target of 50%. Otherwise you're going to see protection mechanisms kick in and force the power limit anyway.

Given the circumstances presented, we must recommend at least some air circulation in your case for a project like this one. With that in mind, when we think back to our original passively-cooled GeForce GTX 650, not much has changed in the past three years. After all, we aren't picking cards that use dramatically less power. What they do, however, is deliver significantly better frame rates, improving the performance to power ratio versus three years ago. The frustration of coming up short on a completely passive solution is dampened somewhat by the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti's excellent response to a humble, low-RPM fan.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Interesting. I had a passively cooled ... nv 6800? ... that cooked itself to death last decade, luckily it was under warranty.

I care much less about fanless these days now that GPUs can automatically downclock themselves so much better under low loads like non-game applications, and some boards now run fanless when it isn't needed.

 

[nathanddrews]

Fan noise never bothered me much either, but I like the reality of what we can achieve on completely silent, modern gaming machines.

 

[SlowSpyder]

There are some very quiet actively cooled cards on the market these days. I remember someone here, BFG maybe, did some tests with a passively cooled card some years back. The computer actually ended up being a bit louder than it was with a good non-reference actively cooled card as the additional heat that is dumped inside the case made the CPU fan run faster.

 

[BFG10K]

I remember someone here, BFG maybe, did some tests with a passively cooled card some years back. The computer actually ended up being a bit louder than it was with a good non-reference actively cooled card as the additional heat that is dumped inside the case made the CPU fan run faster.

Good memory, it was this one: http://techreport.com/review/8308/gigabyte-gv-rx80l256v-graphics-card

Back then I didn't have a very good case and had a stock Intel CPU cooler, which spun up like a Banshee.

Nowadays I have one of those small footprint ATX cases with 3x front fans and an open top, and an 800RPM scythe on my CPU (most of the time it spins at 300RPM). So if you have such a positive air pressure case, you should be fine.

I run a passive PSU and semi-passive graphics card and the system is really quiet.

 

[JDG1980]

Why did Tom's Hardware use an active cooler with the fans removed, instead of the Arctic Accelero S3 which is explicitly designed for passive cooling?

 

[David_k]

Lately The major noise hazard in my PC are 2 HDD's, and not the fans which I've set to run at lowest speed, or off with a custom bios on my G1 970.