No need for MOSFET cooling on 8800GT? Can anyone confirm?

T

the_transporter

Limp Gawd
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Aug 19, 2004
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I would like to get the S1, since it's on sale in Canada. Can anyone confirm that you don't need any cooling at all on the MOSFETS or VRM (don't know which term to use, sorry). And that it should be safe 24/7, idle, and load w/o any cooling on them whatsoever. I plan to use the S1 passively.

Thanks.
 
the_transporter said:
I would like to get the S1, since it's on sale in Canada. Can anyone confirm that you don't need any cooling at all on the MOSFETS or VRM (don't know which term to use, sorry). And that it should be safe 24/7, idle, and load w/o any cooling on them whatsoever. I plan to use the S1 passively.

Thanks.
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No one but nVidia knows for sure, and nVidia isn't talking obviously.

The reference cooling design has the power regulation circuitry making contact with the cooler, complete with thermal compound - which makes me believe that they need some sort of heatsink and airflow. But you'll find people that say the exact opposite... *shrug*

Be safe and spend a few bucks on some extra ramsinks or something to put on the MOSFETS.
 
I cannot confirm and do not recommend it for long life and reliability. Consider a PCI slot fan under the card. Most of them can be turned down to inaudible levels with a built in speed control on the slot bracket. Even just a little airflow will double the cooling. But it would not hurt anything to give it a try and you can always add it later. Consider riviatuner to underclock the card in 2d mode, that would help a lot. While messing around with mine I set the 2d clocks to 500MHz and memory to 500MHz and I could not tell any difference doing windows type things.

Another anecdotal bit of info, when I first installed the waterblock I decided that with my slot fan under the card I probably would not need to install ramsinks. I found I got random lockups in games at the stock OCed settings of 650 core and 950 memory my card came with. Installing ramsinks eliminated the issue. If your card is a completely stock clock card 600/900 it may not be an issue but I would have some laying around just in case.

I do not have any sinks on the mosfets but the slot fan air hits them directly. I will add them when I find some cheap or have the time to make some.

Any who, I understand about going for quiet but it appears these cards do run fairly hot and close to the edge stock so just wanted to let you know what I found out. I think of lot of your success is going to depend on case airflow.
 
Thanks for the info. Yeah, my plan is to go quiet. I'll probably just test it with and without a fan. I just found out that the S1 comes with voltage regulator sinks, but they don't fit on the 8800GT (not sized correctly). I'll cut them most likely for them to fit.
 
Posted this in another tread, but as its relevant.

At least one manufacture does not believe Power mosfet cooling is necessary, in fact they are indication the mosfet temps are lower like this exposed compared to the stock cooler.


winfast_px8800_gtzl_2.jpg


winfast_px8800_gtzl_4.jpg



http://www.leadtek.com/eng/3d_graphic/overview.asp?lineid=1&pronameid=401
 
At least one manufacture does not believe Power mosfet cooling is necessary, in fact they are indication the mosfet temps are lower like this exposed compared to the stock cooler.
Click to expand...

Just want to clarify what the poster above is (I hope) trying to say. The manufacturer in question DOES believe power mosfet cooling is necessary. Click the link to see what the manuf actually is saying, which I paraphrase as: The addition of a Zalman high performance cooler in place of the stock cooler provides airflow over ALL the components on the board cooling them better than the stock heatsink.

PX8800 GT ZL takes ultra high performance cooler from Zalman, and its air flow goes through every component on the board
Click to expand...

I do not have a problem believing this looking at the very thick thermal pads and how the stock cooler is designed. mosfets are power devices and designed to run hotter than normal resistor/capacitor/transistor/ic packages but all electronics lives longer when kept cool and it does not take but a little moving air hitting the component to really help a lot.

At stock settings I will buy leadtek statement. However my experience concerning the memory is that ramsinks help, a lot, if you try to OC the memory. Note that the card has an OCed gpu but the memory is stock.
 
BillParrish said:
Just want to clarify what the poster above is (I hope) trying to say. The manufacturer in question DOES believe power mosfet cooling is necessary. Click the link to see what the manuf actually is saying, which I paraphrase as: The addition of a Zalman high performance cooler in place of the stock cooler provides airflow over ALL the components on the board cooling them better than the stock heatsink.
Click to expand...

Basically correct however you are playing with words. Most coolers like the VF900/Fatal1ty also blow air over the components and Vram, in fact most coolers that vent internally will do this as the air has to go somewhere.. The Cooler above might be a little more directional however no "additional" cooling is used for the mosfets.

And I agree the reference cooler gets extremely hot at that end of the card and the stock thermal pads are dubious at best.


As for ram, many coolers like the Zalmans come with ram sinks anyway so this is less of an issue.
 
I've been running w/ ramsinks and GPU only for about a month now no problems on a bfg 8800gt. I'ts overclocked @ 710/1030.
 
I've also been wondering this, because I hear the S1 ramsinks don't stick and I'm not spending another 10 dollars for more sinks, either they better stick or I'm not buying any cooler at all
 
Well, (one of) the Galaxy 8800s has bare vram and mosfets.

I've got it now, and I'll be putting together the system on Tuesday (Last Exam 9AM Tues).
Shortly thereafter, I'll be putting sinks on the vram and mosfets, so I'll be able to compare the stability/OCability.

It looks like there is some cooling required, but heatsinks may not be. Simply moving air over the components might be enough.
 
Tylerdurdened said:
I've also been wondering this, because I hear the S1 ramsinks don't stick and I'm not spending another 10 dollars for more sinks, either they better stick or I'm not buying any cooler at all
Click to expand...

You could buy a small roll of double sided thermal tape, I think 3M do one.
 
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