Passive 9600GT, will it be too hot?

Mikae1 · Post by **Mikae1** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 5:31 pm

Sorry for the crappy english, but here goes my questions...
I'm thinking about placing a passively cooled 9600GT in an old Dell Optiplex GX280 (Prescott P4 3.2 Ghz).

I'm afraid that the box it will sit in is not sufficiently ventilated. No intake fan and the only outtake fan is an 80mm fan that takes air from the cpu via an isolated "blower assembly". See:

1 hard drive
2 internal speaker
3 chassis intrusion switch
4 system board
5 padlock ring and security cable slot
6 heat sink and blower assembly
7 power supply
8 floppy drive
9 CD/DVD drive

Here is a pic of what it looks like:

Do you think it'd be possible to use the card with this computer if I put a taped a 80mm fan directly on the card? Would this help as the airflow is almost non existent in this box (the hot air has to go somewhere, preferably not to the cpu)? Also, perhaps I should mention that Dell was nice enough not to put any temp sensors on the CPU, so I will never know if the CPU is running crazy hot.

I will mostly be running Photoshop CS4 (which now utilizes the GPU) and some older games. Perhaps this card is overkill? Should I look for a cheaper (and cooler) passive card, and if so, which?

Also, here are the passive models I can get my hands on. I'd prefer the Gigabyte as I could buy it in store for a good price. Any reports of this one making any of the famous buzzing sounds? It seems like this card is clocked faster too, which I guess is bad for me.

Sparkle GeForce 9600GT Cool-pipe Dual-DVI 512MB
http://prisjakt.nu/produkt.php?p=281021

Leadtek GeForce WinFast PX9600 GT Heatpipe 512MB
http://prisjakt.nu/produkt.php?p=318191

Gigabyte GeForce 9600GT TF Heatpipe Dual-DVI 512MB
http://prisjakt.nu/produkt.php?p=289696

Asus GeForce EN9600GT Silent/HTDI 512MB
http://prisjakt.nu/produkt.php?p=295996

Here's the manual for the GX280:
http://support.euro.dell.com/support/ed ... #wp1051997

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Fri Jan 23, 2009 6:24 pm

The new green edition of the Geforce 9600GT would probably be a nice choice when it is available.

Mikae1 · Post by **Mikae1** » Sat Jan 24, 2009 2:48 am

QuietOC wrote:The new green edition of the Geforce 9600GT would probably be a nice choice when it is available.

Thanks! That one looks excellent (if it will be available passive). The thing is I'm looking for a card now and I guess it will take a while before this thing hits the stores.

Has anybody successfully underclocked the 9600GT with something like RivaTuner? Is it possible and will it affect heat much?

Filias Cupio · Post by **Filias Cupio** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:45 pm

I recently got the Gigabyte fanless 9600GT and it is hopeless - I had to buy a fan to point at it, and it kept malfunctioning and crashing even so. (Perhaps it had got damaged before I got the fan?) Before I got the internal fan, I could only game by opening the side of the computer and pointing a room fan at it. This was in a large case (Antec Solo) with slow Noctura 120mm fan at 12V and a powersupply 120mm fan. I sent it back to the shop, and the replacement lasted less than an hour.

I'm planing to get a 4670 instead, then put a third party fanless heatsink on it, once I've run it long enough to be sure it is working OK.

edh · Post by **edh** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 2:54 am

Mikae1 wrote:Has anybody successfully underclocked the 9600GT with something like RivaTuner? Is it possible and will it affect heat much?

Yes, that will work but on it's own won't help an enormous amount as it'll still run the same voltage. What you need to do is BIOS mod the card with NiBiTor. This would allow you to run a 9600GT with exactly the same frequencies and voltages as a Green Edition if you wanted. It may also be more power efficient as the PCI-E power input comes direct from the PSU rather than having to have gone via the mobo as it will with the Green Edition. So perhaps a BIOS modded 9600GT is actually more energy efficient that a 9600GT Green Edition of the same freq/voltage?

FuturePastNow · Post by **FuturePastNow** » Sun Feb 08, 2009 11:08 am

I think I'd find a 9600GT with a quiet dual-slot cooler for that case. EVGA makes one.

Mikae1 · Post by **Mikae1** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 7:13 am

edh wrote:Yes, that will work but on it's own won't help an enormous amount as it'll still run the same voltage. What you need to do is BIOS mod the card with NiBiTor. This would allow you to run a 9600GT with exactly the same frequencies and voltages as a Green Edition if you wanted. It may also be more power efficient as the PCI-E power input comes direct from the PSU rather than having to have gone via the mobo as it will with the Green Edition. So perhaps a BIOS modded 9600GT is actually more energy efficient that a 9600GT Green Edition of the same freq/voltage?

Perhaps undervolting is a better idea. I've read about NiBiTor. Should this work with all 9600GT cards?

Filias Cupio wrote:I recently got the Gigabyte fanless 9600GT and it is hopeless

I've heard a quite a few people reporting this now. If I recall things right this card should be factory overclocked. I guess overclocking isn't very good idea for a passive card.

edh · Post by **edh** » Mon Feb 09, 2009 8:11 am

Mikae1 wrote:Perhaps undervolting is a better idea. I've read about NiBiTor. Should this work with all 9600GT cards?

Can't say it'll work with all but it probably will do. NiBiTor has three voltage levels automatically available for a 9600GT, 1.0V, 1.05V and 1.1V (the default) IIRC. Frequencies you can modify as required. You might well be able to get a card running at 1.0V stably without even changing the frequency. You would stand a better chance of this with a 55nm card than a 65nm card which are sold as being the same but most now should be 55nm. Lower voltages than 1.0V would require a hardware voltage mod with a resistor and a soldering iron.

The Gigabyte card mentioned does things a little differently. It uses separate 2D/3D speeds and voltages which are done in hardware and not available on other cards.

I think the 9600GT Green Edition sounds like some kind of run-out product before they axe the 9600GT to make way for something else. It's rebranded as environmentally friendly which ticks all kind of boxes for marketing people who like ticking boxes on flipcharts and it's made in a way that will slightly reduce cost so that they can keep the thing going profitably until they replace it with a GTX card, possibly at 40nm.