How much should I expect my case temp to rise?

Boomerang Rapido · Post by **Boomerang Rapido** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 12:15 pm

The other day I tried installing an old G400 card in my machine, just to see how much difference a passively cooled card would make in terms of noise. OMG... I couldn't believe the difference. I definately need to do something.

I have a GF4 ti4200, and seing I'm not really in the market for a new card I was thinking of getting the new Zalman heatpipe cooler (ZM80D). But my concern is... how much should I expect my case temps to go up from that? The only ventilation I have apart from the PSU, is 2 80mm exhaust fans at 5 volts.

Anybody have any experiences?

dukla2000 · Post by **dukla2000** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 3:37 pm

If the only thing you are changing is the heatsink on the ti4200 then the case temps wont change. The heat dissipated by your vidcard is not effected by the heatsink - only how efficiently/quietly.

nutball · Post by **nutball** » Sat Jul 10, 2004 11:21 pm

Dukla is correct. Unless your old card had an external ventilation system you neglected to mention, your old card was dumping all its heat into your case. Fit a ZM-80 and it'll dump all the heat into your case. For your case temps should hardly change (from that perspective).

One thing though -- the Zalman is something of a beast, and if you've got a smallish and/or cramped case could well play havoc with your airflow. So that might have an effect on case temps -- if you want to know how much there's only one way to find out (buy one, fit it, and check!).

Boomerang Rapido · Post by **Boomerang Rapido** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 12:23 pm

Ow ok... that makes sense. Thanks guys

And the case is a chieftec dragon something, so it's not like space is a big issue.

Cerb · Post by **Cerb** » Wed Jul 21, 2004 4:44 pm

The case temp often does rise using these coolers. This does not mean it is really getting hotter, just that the air near the sensor happens to be hotter due to this monster of a heatsink altering the airflow and not constantly moving a lot of cool/warm air around.

A dragon, even a mini-mid one, should have plenty of room, so no air flow worries. Just remember, measure three times and test fit four, else that cooler can be a PITA to install.