Experiences with a Gigabyte 6600GT Silentpipe

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 1:18 am

Hi Brian,

if you look at the third picture, that is all of the thermal paste they used

The core had the yellow gum on it and the heatpipes screwed to the heatsink had normal thermal grease on them. Also, I simply can't understand why they didn't use thermal paste when connecting the "upper" heatsink to the core element. I would have to say, that it won't be a bad thing to take the cooling solution apart and re-apply proper thermal paste.

However, if I had seen these pictures before my shopping decision, I would have bought a normal card with a fan and replaced that with my Zalman heatsink. For a very little experienced silencer this card is a good option, but for anyone else I can't recommend it. What's the point of buying a passive solution if you have to replace it with your after market solution? Even with my GPU temps going down to ~80C while stressed, I simply think that is too high. I have to say, that the mechanical engineer who designed that thing never prototyped it...

End of rant.

CGameProgrammer · Post by **CGameProgrammer** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 1:30 am

Oh, and as an additional update, it looks like my card idles at 54 C now, instead of 58. This is after replacing the stock exhaust fan @ 5V with a Nexus @ 12V, though I thought they pushed about the same amount of air at those voltages... whatever.

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 10:32 am

Aleksi wrote: However, if I had seen these pictures before my shopping decision, I would have bought a normal card with a fan and replaced that with my Zalman heatsink. For a very little experienced silencer this card is a good option, but for anyone else I can't recommend it. What's the point of buying a passive solution if you have to replace it with your after market solution? Even with my GPU temps going down to ~80C while stressed, I simply think that is too high. I have to say, that the mechanical engineer who designed that thing never prototyped it...

End of rant.

I completely agree. The mixed results that people are getting temperature-wise prompted me think of a similar scheme.

Unfortunately, since I am trying to save some money (overall) by going with the AGP version of the 6600GT, I kept coming back to Gigabyte's N66T128VP. First, trying to successfully fit a heatpipe type cooler was a complete unknown or at least resulted in a less than perfect install (that ZM80D). Second, the Gigabyte heatsink is attractively low profile and compact compared to aftermarket ones. Third, I figured I wouldn't save all that much money by buying a cheaper HSF equipped card and swapping it out, only to end up with a heatsink that doesn't fit all that well.

Aerocool's VM-101 cooler looks like it would fit with its similar heatpipe arrangement, but I didn't want my heatsinks on top, and it is less attractive to buy (for me) anyway.

PCI-E 6600GT (and 6800?) users don't have these aftermarket heatsink problems of course.

So in the end I'm back looking at the Gigabyte as the most "elegant" solution. I will probably end up taking it apart and redo everything with AS5/Ceramique before I even install it.... what a pickle.

NSParadox · Post by **NSParadox** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 11:40 am

I'd like to confirm what some people have stated in this thread.

Using Gigabyte's V-tuner 2 plus sensor, I overclocked my card from 325 MHz to 350 MHz. The idle temperature has now gradually dropped from approximately 80 degrees C to 59 degrees C. I would guess it was some kind of temp recalibration at higher clocks, except it went down *gradually*. Anyone used a discrete themometer to verify the temp decrease?

My hardware, fyi:

Gigabyte NV68128DH (fanless 6800)
Sonata, no mods
Seasonic S12-380
Nexus 120mm 12V @ rear, nothing in front
P4 2.8A w/ Zalman 7000A AlCu

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 12:46 pm

Hi guys,

NSParadox, it seems I should get a hold of a proper thermometer (you the laser pistol type

). When I get it I will test those temps with and without overclocking. It seems too weird to be true, but hopefully not!

and now to the experience I had today...

Had my computer off for a few hours and switched it back on. For some reason WinXP wouldn't load. I would get "loading" screen and then signal got lost and the monitor would turn itself off. After trying this few times I managed to get into WinXP in safe-mode. I tried different drivers, but everytime I switched from 640x480 to a higher resolution I would get total darkness or a messed up screen OR a screen full of characters.

Well, the first though after my heatsink reinstallation and AS5 was "crap, I shorted something out!

" With a little help from my girlfriend I managed to get all the screws undone. If I didn't know any better, I would say that people at Gigabyte want to make sure, that if you take it apart once, you can't get it back together in decent shape.

I checked everything, but couldn't find AS5 anywhere it shouldn't be.

So for the fun of it or should I say as the last option as the original heatsink was f-ed up, I installed the Zalman ZM80D without the fan.

After testing in the same conditions as earlier, my peak GPU load temp is now 71C (with that rthdrib), idle temps are around ten degrees lower than that.

I guess that's enough said... Anyone want to buy a good passive heatsink for their GFX card, it's made by Gigabyte?

EDIT: Sorry for all the typos, just too tired and pissed off at the damn card to think straight

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 2:19 pm

and strangely enough, with the Zalman heatsink the overclocking to 350MHz does NOT drop the core temperature...

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Sun Jul 10, 2005 8:32 pm

is there a point overclocking to 350mhz?? for my 6600GT, that would be overclocking the 2d mode, and I only overclock the 3d mode

For my N66T128VP, it idles at around 60, load is about ~80 degress.. Perfectly acceptable in my opinion..

I guess I won't be taking my heatsink apart

NSParadox · Post by **NSParadox** » Mon Jul 11, 2005 11:30 am

On overclocking my 6800 from 325 MHz to 350 MHz (memory not OC'd)

My idle temperatures definitely dropped from ~80 degrees to ~55 degrees celsius.

However, the load temperature stayed in the ~90-95 degrees celsius range. In fact, it may have been 1 or 2 degrees C higher. So I cannot really explain why there is a temperature drop from the slight clock increase, but it appears to only benefit my idle temps.

p00hbear · Post by **p00hbear** » Wed Jul 13, 2005 8:10 am

I was comtemplating getting one of these gigabyte heat pipe cards for my shuttle - seeing the problems with heat issues - is this a good idea now? I already have the XFX gamers 6600gt but its so loud, can I fit a zalman on this and keep the XFX instead? Just thinking about the room on the PCI-E slot - not much space...

mmjw · Post by **mmjw** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 5:02 am

I have the passive gigabyte 6600GT and have had temps up to 116°c +. Having heard from a gigabyte guy via email it would seem that 100°c + temps are ok. Not so sure about 116 but anyway (at 550 core, 1300 mem with only 2 SLOW case fans)

.
I now have a 92mm enermax on min (vv quiet altho for some reason it doesn't always start at boot

) I get probably a max of 88°c in CS: source with case temp of 27°c.
It should probably be fine, but personally I am a little worried about an early death for my card.

Might I recommend the thermalright V1? Looks good to me, but I wont bother.

James

bobov · Post by **bobov** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 7:45 pm

I have a Gigabyte SilentPipe X800XL. With a nexus 12mm@800rpm blow to the stock HS, I get 56/96C idle/load temperature.

Today I install a Zalman ZM80D-HP on my X800XL. Now I get 46/66C idle/load temperature. Large improvement.

rei · Post by **rei** » Thu Jul 14, 2005 8:24 pm

see this:

http://forums.silentpcreview.com/viewtopic.php?t=23700

timmytimmytimmy · Post by **timmytimmytimmy** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 4:14 pm

Looking at the pictures on the previous page, I have a few questions:
1) Removing the heatsink will void the warranty- correct?
2) How much of a difference do you think using AS5 instead would make?
3) Is it really that difficult to get the heatsink back on- I'm not going to use aftermarket solutions..

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Fri Jul 15, 2005 11:45 pm

1) yes
2) hard to say, depends on the factory installation's success. I'd guess around 5-10C, maybe even more 15C.
3) It's actually really easy, IF everything goes OK. But if you're unlucky like me, then you better have an extra set of screws lying around.

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 12:39 am

Hi guys,

I used the T-Balancer to measure the VGA heatsink temps. It's been reported also in thread that overclocking the GPU core from 325MHz to 350Mhz seems to lower the GPU temps. Well, after measuring the VGA heatsink, I would have to say it is actually true.

325MHz, GPU temp 70C, heatsink 51,5C
350MHz, GPU temp 55C, heatsink 42C

These are idle Windows 2D temps, but the same effect should happen with 3D temps. I’ll test that a bit later.

Twigathy · Post by **Twigathy** » Sat Jul 16, 2005 3:02 pm

Just ordered myself one of these from Dabs.com, despite the nay-sayers in this thread

. Will report back when i get it installed

BrianE · Post by **BrianE** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:46 am

Could someone please explain to me why increasing the GPU clock speed lowers the temperature?

I hope I'm not the only one confused about this, because while this is very good news, it doesn't make sense to me at all.....

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Sun Jul 17, 2005 8:57 am

Hi Brian,

no, you're definately not the only one confused. I seriously thought the overclocking somehow messed with the temperature measuring. I had to measure it with the T-Balancer to believe it.

I'm just quessing based on what I've read, that there must some kind of power saving states triggered when the GPU clock goes over 350MHz. I think this may have also something to do with the BIOS problems these card had when they came out (remember the only 8 pipelines enabled?), I'm guessing there's still something wrong with the BIOS options.

geekbanter · Post by **geekbanter** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:28 am

Increasing the clock leading to lower temperatures is weird, but not the only weirdness I've seen from other cards. I have a Radeon 9600 that was getting poor framerates in HL2. I kept lowering the resolution and detail to no avail. Later I set the game to max setings and my framerate jumped up 20fps with better graphics and smooth animation! Different drivers and upgrades haven't changed this, and the same is true for other games like Halo and Doom3 demo. I also had a GeForce2 MX card with 32MB and It was always listed as 64MB in one computer, but not others.

Another weird thing is that my laptop (used to) run cooler clocked at the full 1Ghz (battery life was lower though) than at the underclocked speed. Not sure why that is, but my guess is that it didn't throttle correctly undervolted. That particular issue went away after a BIOS update.

Let's face it, computers are strange folk indeed

With all the ifs, buts, maybes, no ways, and okays I'm thinking about steering clear of the Gigabyte 6600gt silent pipe. Now I just need to decide on what replacement cooling solution to use now....

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 12:31 am

Speaking from experience, the Zalman ZM-80D is more than enough to cool down a 6600GT / 6800, even without case fans. If you aren't bothered using a fan on the GFX card, I'd go with the new Thermalright VGA heatsink.

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 9:05 am

I reinstalled the original heatsink as I need the Zalman for another project. But watching the temps is just so depressing..

I hate this freaking card

EDIT: bitching about the heatsink ridges, but noticed they were exactly how I wanted them to be...

carry on!

geekbanter · Post by **geekbanter** » Mon Jul 18, 2005 1:04 pm

Not so sure that the ZM-80D would actually work. I've done quite a bit of google searching and there isn't much that pops up. What I did find was a warning page, google for "GeForce 6600 GT nicht passive kühlbar!" and translate the page. I "think" it says they had problems with the card even with acceptable temperatures on the ZM-80D. The screen went black and the system crashed

I think 'll just stay patient and wait for the Thermalright V-1 to come out.

.
.
.
.
.
patience is hard.....

Twigathy · Post by **Twigathy** » Tue Jul 19, 2005 5:06 am

Well, I recieved my 6600GT today. Its quite a bit warmer than my Radeon 9600 pro was, Idle 58C and loaded its only 62C [Bots playing on UT2004, 1024x768 in a window so i could view temps easily]. I have an intake fan below the card and an exhaust above it, both 80mm Nexus' running at about 10 or 11V (Fan controller, slowed down slightly). Overall, I'm damned happy with the card

schmidtl · Post by **schmidtl** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:51 am

First post!

Being a bit of a silentpc newbie (longtime pc builder though), I wanted to avoid doing any unnecessary work on my first build aimed reducing noise, so I figured this would be a great card (reasonable price/performance and no fan).

Stock Stats: Idle core temp of ~70 C. Gaming (World of Warcraft) @ 1024x768 raised the temp to ~90 C. WoW at 1280x1024 shot the temps into the 110+ C range and caused a few game crashes and lockups. (all temps according to RivaTuner, which are similar to nvidia hwmonitor, speedfan, and gigabyte hwmon). This was unacceptable.

Attempt 1: I bought the Zalman FB123 and ran the fan at both 7V and 12V, no change in temps (big change in noise though!). Clearly the stock heatsink isn't conducting to the second two heatsink plates.

Attempt 2: Next I bought Zalman ZM80D-HP with the ZM-OP1 fan. Removing the old heatsink was pretty easy. Looking at the stock heatpipe, there was no thermal compound between it and the second heatsink plates. The Zalman heatsink installation required a bit of patience to line things up nicely. Add in some artic silver and a couple mistakes aligning the pipes/heatsink plates and I got quite the mess!

Results: Idle temps (fanless) dropped to ~60 C. With the ZM-OP1 fan (7V ~2000 RPM) and idle is ~55 C. Gaming WoW at 1024x768 brings the temps to ~65 C. That's a lower than the idle temps on the stock heatsink! Gaming has been stable so far at 1024x178, so I'll probably bump my resolution back to 1280x1024.

Conculsion: Gigabyte's passive video cards are great for non-gamers, but then why buy a 6600GT or higher performance card? For anyone who wants a quiet (or silent) graphics card, save yourself some money and buy something else and replace the stock heatsink/fan.

Twigathy · Post by **Twigathy** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 6:59 am

Wow, I find it incredible that the temperatures you are reporting are so much higher than mine! Perhaps the heatpiping mechanism of the gigabyte passive card is not as effective as it could be, having the intake below the graphics card (Knocking out all the PCI slots, btw) seems to help an awful lot.

Aleksi · Post by **Aleksi** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 7:05 am

In short, the card has serious production line assembly issues. Even if you manage to get a card, that is assembled properly, the red hot heatsink proves the simple fact, that the Gigabyte heatsink is simply too small for these kind of power figures.

schmidtl · Post by **schmidtl** » Thu Jul 28, 2005 10:52 am

I don't have the PCI slots open, I'll have to try that. But from disassembling the old heatsink/heatpipes, I don't see how there's any heat conduction between the heatsink plates. They barely had physical contact, and no thermal compound. Which is consistent with how on back plate (directly connented to the heatpipe) was quite warm and the other plates were not.

SometimesWarrior · Post by **SometimesWarrior** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 6:54 am

I'm surprised these fanless cards get shipped with such sloppy assembly. I can understand that the standard cards would be slap-dash, because they have that whiny fan that is way overkill, but the added expense of a big heatsink is wasted if it's not connected to the core. Then again, if all you have to do is re-assemble the heatsink to get a nice temperature drop, then it's like you have the thrill of installing an aftermarket cooler without any added cost.

Still, it sounds to me like the easiest way for Gigabyte to fix most of the problems is to disable the temperature monitor. Your games will still run artifact-free on the stock heatsink, but you will no longer have anything to worry about.

If you are trying to get a maximum overclock then the temp monitor can help you evaluate the heatsink configuration, but there are factors other than temperature that affect overclocking ability and are beyond your control.

I'm interested in how schmidtl's experiments turn out. I have a few questions about that setup:
1. Is this a video card upgrade on an existing system, or a new system build?
2. Did WoW play fine on your previous video card at 1280x1024?
3. How long did you run the game at 1024x768 and at 1280x1024 on your new card?
4. Did adding the FB123 fix the crashing?
5. Did the ZM80-D fix the crashing?

Oh, and schmidtl... Welcome to SPCR!

scruzbeachbum · Post by **scruzbeachbum** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 7:10 am

I think it's a great design with poor assembly quality control. My temp specs are for WoW at 1152 x 8xx, 72Hz, max quality.

schmidtl · Post by **schmidtl** » Fri Jul 29, 2005 8:02 am

SometimesWarrior, here's a few answers

1. Is this a video card upgrade on an existing system, or a new system build?
New system build, initially used a Sonota, then moved to a P180
2. Did WoW play fine on your previous video card at 1280x1024?
Prior video card was a GeForce2, wouldn't handle it without a lot of graphic details turned off
3. How long did you run the game at 1024x768 and at 1280x1024 on your new card?
Ran about 2+ weeks at 1024x768. It encounted a few lockups and several weird keyboard problems, but I can't conclude that was the video card. It could be the PS. Ran at 1280x1024 for less than a day. It was causing video problems, lock ups, and one reboot.
4. Did adding the FB123 fix the crashing?
nope, didn't see any difference in temperatures either.
5. Did the ZM80-D fix the crashing?
It's only been about 2 days, but my system has been rock solid. I can't run at 1280x1024 yet, waiting to see that the system is truly stable as is.

The system itself has plenty of fans, 1 in back, 1 top, and 1 in the PS/HD tunnel at the bottom. (plus the cpu fan).

I believe the problem is not the design of the heatsinks, it's that there's nothing but bare physical contact between the main plate on the core and the other two.

Experiences with a Gigabyte 6600GT Silentpipe

My 6600GT PCI-E Experience so far