Passive cooling for ye olde GeForce 256 DDR ? (pics)

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:05 am

Hi there.

I digged out my old GeForce 256 card. I really love this old card. Served me very well until a few years ago.

Im looking for a passive solution for this card.

Id like to keep it from blocking more than 1 PCI slot.

Well, here it is. Its a Creative CT6970.

I was thinking something like the "ghetto" cooling i put on this old GeForce2MX-card.

What are my options here?

Going with a chipset heatsink is the easiest but will it be able to handle the heat in a low airflow environment?

Dont know how much heat the card dissipates.

Thanks in advance.

~Aura

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:13 am

Zalman northbridge coolers would be enough to cool it. No troubles. Geforce 256 doesn't draw that much power. After all its 9 years old 3Dfx destroyer ^^

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:05 pm

Alrighty then.

I'll slap one of these on then.

Have one somewhere. It willl only block one PCI slot.

3Dfx destroyer

Techno Pride · Post by **Techno Pride** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:54 am

I didn;t know those came with DVI connectors. My Creative Geforce 256 DDR had only 1 VGA port.

That said, those old Zalman or Coolermaster northbridge heatsinks are enough.

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:34 am

Techno Pride wrote:I didn;t know those came with DVI connectors. My Creative Geforce 256 DDR had only 1 VGA port.

Quite a few people has commented the DVI port in this card.

"But, but, but.... that card is ancient..... it can't have a DVI connector."

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:46 am

I gave my old Geforce256 DDR to my little bro a while ago, his room is a pigsty and there was so much crap in that case that the fan seized. He ran it passive with the stock HS for about a year until the card just crapped out (probably from thermal wear).

So they can definitely be run passive with a large open heatsink.

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:51 am

jhhoffma wrote:I gave my old Geforce256 DDR to my little bro a while ago, his room is a pigsty and there was so much crap in that case that the fan seized. He ran it passive with the stock HS for about a year until the card just crapped out (probably from thermal wear).

Stories like that are priceless.

Thanks for the info. Now im not the least bit worried with putting a ZM-NB32K on it.

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:41 pm

It's on there.

Here's how it looks.

Yeah ! 1999 baby

It only covers 1 PCI slot.

Vicotnik · Post by **Vicotnik** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:11 pm

Sweet and a very easy installation it seems.

Those Zalman NB sinks are usable in so many ways.

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:17 pm

The installation on the 256 DDR was very easy.

Just used the push-pins as you can see.

Getting the stock heatsink off was a pain though. Had to twist it off with a pipe wrench.

On the Geforce2MX i had to use thermal adhesive.

Zalman NB HS's are very useful indeed.

thejamppa · Post by **thejamppa** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 2:29 pm

That looks sexy ^^

mr. poopyhead · Post by **mr. poopyhead** » Mon Feb 11, 2008 5:36 pm

looks nice...

i did the same thing with my radeon 8500LE... slapped a zalman NB heatsink on it... the pushpins worked perfectly.... easiest heatsink installation EVER!

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:29 am

mr. poopyhead wrote:looks nice...

Thanks.

mr. poopyhead wrote:.... easiest heatsink installation EVER!

So true. Useful but easy.

jhhoffma · Post by **jhhoffma** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:47 am

AuraAllan wrote:Getting the stock heatsink off was a pain though. Had to twist it off with a pipe wrench.

I should have mentioned that to get stock H/S like that off, you need to heat them up quite a bit with a hairdryer to loosen up the adhesive, then twist with even pressure, being careful not to torque the board.

I'm sorry, but too me a big heatsink is like a big set of cans on a pretty lady...nothing sexier.

Or maybe I just revealed a little too much about myself...

AuraAllan · Post by **AuraAllan** » Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:50 am

jhhoffma wrote:
AuraAllan wrote:Getting the stock heatsink off was a pain though. Had to twist it off with a pipe wrench.
I should have mentioned that to get stock H/S like that off, you need to heat them up quite a bit with a hairdryer to loosen up the adhesive, then twist with even pressure, being careful not to torque the board.

No problem. Took the heatsink off a long time ago. Like a year ago or so.
Thanks for the advice. I will probably use it later.

jhhoffma wrote:I'm sorry, but too me a big heatsink is like a big set of cans on a pretty lady...nothing sexier.

Or maybe I just revealed a little too much about myself...

Do I smell geek?