New Fanless VGA Cooling : Thermaltake Schooner

zouav · Post by **zouav** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 2:12 am

Hi guys !
Thermaltake just released a new fanless VGA Cooling which looks full of promises : the Schooner. The heatsink is pretty big, but what is really new is the two heatpipes which are going outside to an other heatsink for natural convection. This way, there's perhaps a solution for fanless high-end graphic cards ! Photos will be more significant than my poor english

My opinion :
- looks like a toaster to me

- dangerous to have the second heatsink horizontally, would have been much better to have it vertically
- great idea but a dust filter seems necessary

Soon a review / comparaison with VM-101 and Zalman fanless on SPCR ?

It would be just great

burcakb · Post by **burcakb** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:34 am

Interestingly, it might work !!! I've tried their previous one and found it surprisingly good.

Normally I'd be sceptical about the external heatsink being effective, but if you mount this in a 120mm exhaust case, then there should be a fan exhausting right on top of it, creating a negative pressure area and thus pulling air through. It just might work with a high-power card. hmmm.

mathias · Post by **mathias** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 8:42 am

The idea seems great, but I think they've completely screwed up with the details. It looks like the external fins are so packed together, you can't tell where one ends and the next begins, and it's just too damn heavy. And with four heatpipes, it's probably gonna be real expensive.

Since the external heatsink isn't very big, I think it they should have made it with only one heatpipe. That wouldn't work well with that shape, it would require too much unused heatpipe to get to where the second heatpipe would otherwise be, so the fins would have to be rotated 90 degrees, and the heatpipe could either be like this:

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or just this

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if they did that and maybe got rid of one of the internal heatpipes, they could attach both dirrectly to the base.

daba · Post by **daba** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:21 pm

Looking good! According to ThermalTake, this works for both ATi and Nvidia-based cards. This may be just the thing to replace that NV Silencer for 6800 users!

They put the fins and pipes outside of the case to exhaust the heat outside of the case, following the tradition as with their fanless power supply. As a Lian Li V1000 owner, what immediately comes to mind is to flip the rear fan duct/shroud upside down so the exhaust blows upwards, across the fins. This should provide even better cooling without adding an extra fan!

As long as they are compatible with various motherboards, this VGA heatsink may be a winner!

Edit: Anyone know when this will be available?

BigDu21 · Post by **BigDu21** » Wed Dec 15, 2004 10:48 pm

Has anybody had a chance to order/try this with any of the 6800 cards yet?? I've submitted a query to TT's tech support section asking for more detailed specs on the card, including if it's rated to cool a 6800GT, and how it fits w/ mobos. I'll update when/if I get anything back from them.

Mats · Post by **Mats** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 3:07 am

zouav wrote:- dangerous to have the second heatsink horizontally, would have been much better to have it vertically

You get better passive cooling with the horisontal design, but it also makes it look like a handle, some dork might try to lift the PC while holding it...

Lwood · Post by **Lwood** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 11:01 am

I really like this design, I just don't trust ThermalTake to pull it off very well. I also wonder about the impact of the cable on the external heatsink. It's hard to the spacing, but a DVI cable might create a dead spot for airflow.

daba · Post by **daba** » Thu Dec 23, 2004 4:49 am

Any new info on this? ThermalTake customer service hasn't responded to any of my inquiries.