8800 GTX Cooling Solutions...

G

Greg Rosler

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Joined
Mar 23, 2007
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Ok, everyone who has a 8800 realizes that the cooling on it just plain SUCKS.

The amount of heat that this board puts off seems high enough to fry bacon.

I want to find a good way to dump all the heat from this board out the back of my case so that it doesn't heat up the inside of the computer case.

Basically, I'm thinking about using a plexiglass shroud that would cover the top/bottom/side of the card (about a half inch from the card) and then mount a 120mm fan at the end of the shroud (inside the case at the end of the card) to push air thru it.

I'm also considering using a Thermalright HR-03 Plus in this configuration.

So, if you can visualize a 8800 GTX vid card with a HR-03 installed, covered in a plexiglass shroud with a 120mm fan at the end of the shroud dumping the heat out the end of the case using both slots above and below the vid card as a exhaust......

Has anyone tried anything like this yet?

I can't believe there isn't a better cooling solution out for this video card (air cooling solution). Thermalright just isn't going for enough with the HR-03 Plus since it leaves the hot air inside the computer case.

Thanks for any feedback,
Greg
 
Well I have an 8800 (GTS) and I havn't realized that the cooling solution sucks. :confused:

What problems are you having with it then? If you don't have efficient airflow in your case it isn't the cards problem.
 
The problem is that the heat from the graphics card is dumping too much heat in to the computer case.

I'm trying to find a good solution to remove that heat. :)

If I can get rid of the heat from the graphics card before it disperses in to the case it'll bring down the temp in the case a ton.

Greg
 
fit a slot cooler directly below the card to suck the exhaust from the internal grill out the back of your case. seems to work for alot of people.
 
Fawkes said:
fit a slot cooler directly below the card to suck the exhaust from the internal grill out the back of your case. seems to work for alot of people.
Click to expand...

This is my solution. Cheap and effective. The hot air that would otherwise be dumped into the case is instead sucked into the slot cooler and pushed out the back. Even without modifications to the fan speed I get respectable temperatures. And with the fan turned up to 80% (or even 100%), I never see temps above 70C. And the slot cooler only cost me about $12.
 
Honestly, your problem isn't so much the 8800gtx, it's your case's airflow.

I have an Antec 900 and with the 120mm and 200mm exhaust + 2x120mm intakes I never have any built up heat. And at low on all fans the only thing I can hear is my seagate 7200.10
 
taking off the cooler and thinning up the paste would help alot too. I took mine off and found a ton of paste on the gpu. don't do anything else though leave the pads alone. just clean off the paste on the gpu and the cooler area and then reapply AS5 thin and reattach the cooler. part of the problem is too much paste. I watercool mine and it idles 42 and games like 44 but hwen i took off the stock HS i found as usual way way too much paste.
 
Don't the 8800's have the double wide cooler that exhausts out the back?

I have never owned a card with a double wide cooler, but I just thought that is how they work. If not then that would be a big surpise to me to find out that they actually suck air in.
 
Greg,
I know exactly how you feel, but it's not the GTX per say, its airflow inside your case. I also had extreme temps (90C while gaming). The problem is the GTX radiates some serious heat. There isn't much i can do about my case's airflow besides adding a slot cooler which was only marginally effective.

Thankfully, the stock HSF isn't that loud when at max RPM. I finally got around to watercooling my GTX and when i took off the HSF i discovered a ton of paste on the GPU. It was one big, droopy mess. Removing that and reapplying some AS is the first thing i would try.
 
Greg Rosler said:
Ok, everyone who has a 8800 realizes that the cooling on it just plain SUCKS.

The amount of heat that this board puts off seems high enough to fry bacon.
Click to expand...

It isn't the coolings fault.
You should thank your lucky stars something moving oxygen allows that beast to run.
The card just runs HOT.
It isn't damaging the card unless it is over 85c, and even 80c is pushing it.
The cards standards are just, HOT.
 
Back when I was on air I found Antec's double slot blower to be very quiet, almost silent, and suck the in-case portion of the card's exhaust out of the case nicely. I think I might have seen a 1 or 2 C temp improvement also without the hot air recirculating. Of course no small air cooler like found on a VGA card will keep that beast super cool, so then water becomes an attractive option, and is much more quiet than effective air cooling can ever be.
 
the double slot is a load of crap imho... if you put paper up to the slot you'll see just about as much air coming out of it as there is in the vented slots (my case had vented slots) the shroud isnt airtight and the fan isnt really designed to pull air in and push it out the back, at least in an efficient way. I have mine oc'd with the thermalright and a panaflo and its steady at 51c idle I think too much is being made out of exhausting the air out of the slot/ as long as your case exhaust is good you'll be fine.
 
Rinzo those are not very good temps. On a decent day here in So Cal, I can see 53-55C idle on the stock cooler at 70% fan speed
 
lol if you can have your stock cooled gtx at 650/2100 at 51 idle then god bless you but no one else can... and btw I cant hear my hsf but i bet you can hear yours..
 
Vengance_01 said:
Rinzo those are not very good temps. On a decent day here in So Cal, I can see 53-55C idle on the stock cooler at 70% fan speed
Click to expand...

With the case open and the slot blower i will never see those temps. In the winter my GTX did see low to mid 60's. Yes, i'm also in SoCal so no AC for me. The weather was pretty warm about 10 days ago... ~90C from my GTX. It was idling in the mid 70's. nVidia went overboard on the GPU paste. It's like a jelly sandwich once you take off the HSF.
 
I say you just use the HR3 everything ive read says its very effective
 
I'm selling a EK 8800 gtx Full waterblock w/ the Acrylic Top. It has the 3/8 barbs
 
Well, I actually already have a slot cooler installed below my 8800 GTX. I should have posted that before.

It really does almost nothing. The amount of air these slot coolers move just isn't that impressive. Then again the slot cooler is mounted below the video card and heat rises.

I guess I'm just looking for a solution that removes the video cards heat from the case before that heat can disperse. My cases airflow isn't that great (P180 case).

At this point I'm going to focus on getting the video cards heat out of my case. I'm going to order the HR-03 cooler and give that a shot.

I'm right on the edge of considering going to water cooling but the idea of using water inside my pc makes me nervious.



Greg
 
RiZnO said:
lol if you can have your stock cooled gtx at 650/2100 at 51 idle then god bless you but no one else can... and btw I cant hear my hsf but i bet you can hear yours..
Click to expand...

I'm telling you... the problem is not the 8800gtx, it's your case's airflow.

With my Antec 900 and all fans on low, my idle temps on a 8800gtx are 55c w/out the air conditioning on. And if I have my AC on, they drop to to 51-52c idle....

And that is at 640/2120

People really underestimate the value of a good cooling case.
 
Greg Rosler said:
Ok, everyone who has a 8800 realizes that the cooling on it just plain SUCKS.

The amount of heat that this board puts off seems high enough to fry bacon.

I want to find a good way to dump all the heat from this board out the back of my case so that it doesn't heat up the inside of the computer case.

Basically, I'm thinking about using a plexiglass shroud that would cover the top/bottom/side of the card (about a half inch from the card) and then mount a 120mm fan at the end of the shroud (inside the case at the end of the card) to push air thru it.

I'm also considering using a Thermalright HR-03 Plus in this configuration.

So, if you can visualize a 8800 GTX vid card with a HR-03 installed, covered in a plexiglass shroud with a 120mm fan at the end of the shroud dumping the heat out the end of the case using both slots above and below the vid card as a exhaust......

Has anyone tried anything like this yet?

I can't believe there isn't a better cooling solution out for this video card (air cooling solution). Thermalright just isn't going for enough with the HR-03 Plus since it leaves the hot air inside the computer case.

Thanks for any feedback,
Greg
Click to expand...

those card are made to run hot, to hot. why dont you go water cooling?
 
anonuser said:
I'm telling you... the problem is not the 8800gtx, it's your case's airflow.

With my Antec 900 and all fans on low, my idle temps on a 8800gtx are 55c w/out the air conditioning on. And if I have my AC on, they drop to to 51-52c idle....

And that is at 640/2120

People really underestimate the value of a good cooling case.
Click to expand...
I have a stacker 830 with two 120's blowing directly on the card.... I have swapped teh hr03 to be under the card instead of around it and that seems to have helped... so now at idle 48c and load 57c... I had a 900 with the gtx first and i had all teh fans on high the gtx never ever got down to 51c ever...
 
RiZnO said:
I have a stacker 830 with two 120's blowing directly on the card.... I have swapped teh hr03 to be under the card instead of around it and that seems to have helped... so now at idle 48c and load 57c... I had a 900 with the gtx first and i had all teh fans on high the gtx never ever got down to 51c ever...
Click to expand...

Don't really know why you were getting such bad temps with the Antec 900. I can only think you had a mess of cables impeding air flow from the front of the case to the back?

This thing cools like a dream for the price.
 
I can vouch for that, it's by far the best *cooling* case I've ever owned. keep your cables nice and tidy and you'll be fine.
 
quicksilverXP said:
Can't wair for Zalman's and AC's new upcoming coolers.
Click to expand...

I was waiting for AC's answer to this, specifically the Silencer series for the 8800's, but I was told that they were discontinued, so I wouldnt hold out for AC's answer. Maybe Zalman will come out with something, but I'm just going to go with the HR-03 Plus, either this weekend or in a couple weeks. Sucks too, cuz I've used AC Silencers on my previous 2 video cards and they were awesome.
 
What I like about the Zalman is that the mem and chip cooler seems to be bolted on using the exisitng holes on the card. So you probably don't have to use any thermal tape in cooling the memory. Hopefully they release it soon because its been quite awhile since the 8800s have been out.
 
Go water... I had to spend quite a few more bucks than I anticipated but it is SO worth it !!!
 
I think some people toke up on the chronic b4 reading posts lol or they skip over the words like a rock across a pond only picking up certain ones and ignoring the rest...

BTW my 900 was pretty neat at the time... if you could post some screenies of your case and ntune that be nice.
 
Well, I got the HR-03 in the mail today.

I'm going to do a install on it on Sunday (first day off for me this week).

Then I'm going to jury rig up a cover/fan to blow all the exhaust out the back of the case.

I'll test the temps before and after and post the results/pics here.

I still can't belive that no one sells some type of shroud for this card.


Greg
 
I would just liquid cool it.

If you have the money, H2O is unbeatable. My GTXs never broke 50 load with my water setup.
 
adding a blower right beneath my gtx drop idle temps by 6c and load temps by almost 10
 
I didn't need a slot cooler with the HR03, my case temps are pretty low, and I have my 8800GTX oc'ed 24/7. Specs in sig. Could be just the great airflow in the TJ09, but I didn't want the added noise of a really high rpm fan on all the time.

I haven't checked temps lately as I just upgraded to a Dell 30" LCD so I'd imagine my temps went up due to the higher resolutions, but back when I ran everything at 1600x1200 max aa/af I never saw a temp above 55C. The HR03 is really a great piece of hardware.
 
I'm using a Antec p180 case.

I'm considering going to water and cost isn't really a issue.

But I keep thinking that leaks might be a issue. Although danger den has a coolant that is non conductive.... :)

If I bite the bullet and go to water cooling then I need a couple of things to convince me to do it.

1. I want a "no noise" setup.
2. External Radiator that can handle my qx6700 cpu and 8800 GTX.
3. I want a radiator than can use a "large" fan (ie not a bunch of small 120mm fans).
4. I'd like the radiator to have some extra heat dissipation so that if I need to add more loads to the cooler the radiator is up to it.


Basically the only noise I'd hear from this setup would be my hard drive, a couple case fans (on low), the radiator fan (big fan = low noise), and the water pump.

Is this realistic or am I just dreaming?


Greg
 
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