New Asus 6600GT Passive Video Card!
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New Asus 6600GT Passive Video Card!
French website www.clubic.com has pictures of a new Asus video card slated for august release called the EN6600GT Silencer PCI-Express.
Its basically a 6600GT that is passively cooled by a rather intriguing heatsink/heatpipe combo with a small finned section protruding from the side of the main heatsink.
Pictures and info (for you french speakers out there) at :
Clubic
And for those that don't understand french (and those too lazy to babelfish the page) it basically says that after releasing its silent motherboard, Asus now offers a silent video card.
The SilentCool uses a large heatsink, heatpipes and a small module to dissipate heat.
The first card to use this system is the Asus Extreme N6600GT Silencer PCI-Express. It is a model based on a 6600GT and it's expected to be available towards the end of august.
EDIT: typos
Its basically a 6600GT that is passively cooled by a rather intriguing heatsink/heatpipe combo with a small finned section protruding from the side of the main heatsink.
Pictures and info (for you french speakers out there) at :
Clubic
And for those that don't understand french (and those too lazy to babelfish the page) it basically says that after releasing its silent motherboard, Asus now offers a silent video card.
The SilentCool uses a large heatsink, heatpipes and a small module to dissipate heat.
The first card to use this system is the Asus Extreme N6600GT Silencer PCI-Express. It is a model based on a 6600GT and it's expected to be available towards the end of august.
EDIT: typos
I've been looking at the 6600GT's for my next build (dual core athlon), since they provide a good price point/performance, but it really annoys me that none of the stock silent ones have Dual DVI. I have a pair of Dell 1704 FPV monitors, and the digital picture is really sharp and beautiful. Right now it seems like a better move to go with a reserator and the card i want. (course now i have to convince myself to spend the extra money on that).
Actually, PCB is pretty strong. Next time you have a broken computer part, try to split it in half.Varun wrote:I wish they had some bracing on that card, seems like a lot of weight off the side for just a PCB to support. I'm sure Asus has tested it, but if you moved your case and your video card broke in half I bet you'd be upset!
Actually I work with PCBs all the time, I just designed, milled, and soldered a RS232 programming board for an 89C54 microcontroller. PCB is fairly strong but I can still see it cracking over time. I'm sure it would be fine for me since I never move my computer but if people were to transport their computer I think they should remove this card first.
Stock silent dual DVI 6600 not GT though
128MB XFX GEFORCE 6600 PCI-E DUAL DVI
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=200310
Good enough?
128MB XFX GEFORCE 6600 PCI-E DUAL DVI
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductI ... tID=200310
Good enough?
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The weight of the fins and heatpipe that are suspended on that setup couldn't be more than 60 grams, I wouldn't worry about it cracking anything. The pipes themselves would be the weak link, not the PCB. Far more weight hanging on the same mounting bolts if you install a Silencer 6.
I could never use that card in my machine as configured. I have the EN6600GT/TOP, and neither the gap from the video card to the fan on my Freezer64, nor to the VGA duct of the P180 would provide enough space for that raised HS. I can see it working well with a Scythe Ninja in a Sonata II, as long as you are making good airflow from somewhere.
AndyP, there is a vast difference between a 6600 and a 6600GT. Check the VGA charts on THG to see how much closer to a standard 6800 the 6600GT is. I agree with teknerd that the 6600GT is the current breakpoint for price/performance, though with the introduction of the 7800GTX that may change very soon.
I could never use that card in my machine as configured. I have the EN6600GT/TOP, and neither the gap from the video card to the fan on my Freezer64, nor to the VGA duct of the P180 would provide enough space for that raised HS. I can see it working well with a Scythe Ninja in a Sonata II, as long as you are making good airflow from somewhere.
AndyP, there is a vast difference between a 6600 and a 6600GT. Check the VGA charts on THG to see how much closer to a standard 6800 the 6600GT is. I agree with teknerd that the 6600GT is the current breakpoint for price/performance, though with the introduction of the 7800GTX that may change very soon.
Even the big guys are finally getting it--sweet
End of august? If it comes in AGP, I might have to upgrade (or wait a bit, and finally justify an A64 upgrade ). I haven't been feeling the safest in the summer w/ a passive 5900XT. This looks like an excellent solution, and w/o warranty-voiding involved, no less.
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does anyone know what price this card will have?
I have seen a dutch site where it can be preordered for 204€ (250USD) , but that price can be wrong of course
here is a new article with some nice pictures of the rotating heatsink
http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=44135
and here is the card on the asus website (without pictures )
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?mode ... &l2=6&l3=0
edit: I have just got a reply from the store, and they said the price is 204€ (only a slight change is possible due to the dollar currency etc. ) they only ship to the netherlands and belgium though.
has anyone found some early reviews of this card?
I have seen a dutch site where it can be preordered for 204€ (250USD) , but that price can be wrong of course
here is a new article with some nice pictures of the rotating heatsink
http://www.frostytech.com/permalink.cfm?NewsID=44135
and here is the card on the asus website (without pictures )
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?mode ... &l2=6&l3=0
edit: I have just got a reply from the store, and they said the price is 204€ (only a slight change is possible due to the dollar currency etc. ) they only ship to the netherlands and belgium though.
has anyone found some early reviews of this card?
According to matbe, this card is now available in Japan for 27500 yens, which is around $250.89 (USD) based on XETrade's Currency Converter.
(Click on a thumbnail for a close-up)
(Click on a thumbnail for a close-up)
Last edited by Slaugh on Fri Sep 02, 2005 4:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
It's brand new. Also, that's the 256MB model.rei wrote:$250US? why would anyone buy a 6600gt at that price when you could get an X800XL?
"It is equipped with a graphics processor given rhythm GeForce 6600GT with 500 MHz and with 256 Mo of GDDR3 with 1 GHz."
For a 256MB one, around $200 wouldn't be a bad price. Last time I saw Gigabyte's 256MB passive card, it was $200 ($196+$3.50 s&h at Newegg).
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One good reason is ATI's drivers suck. I am never again using an ATI card because I just found it too painful, with their Windows drivers, Linux drivers, and their drivers for their TV capture card. They make good hardware, possibly the best hardware, but it's all for naught due to their horrible software.
I have no problem with the latest Catalyst drivers, but I use the Control Panel version. The Catalyst Control Center stopped working after an update of the .Net framework, so I uninstalled it and I'm using the Control Panel version instead... No problem so far... I think both companies had their troubles with bad drivers in the past. I remember I had to "downgrade" my Detonators to get some games running when I had my GeForce3. ATI is not as bad as it was in the past...CGameProgrammer wrote:One good reason is ATI's drivers suck.
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an idea I'm playing with:
a thermalright xp-90 with a fan sucking air through the CPU-heatsink and blowing it right onto the rotated heatsink of the silencer. Another fan mounted in the sidepanel sucks air through the heatsink and blows the hot air out of the case.
CPU>XP-90>fan>asus HS>fan>outside
Think this is possible and effective?
a thermalright xp-90 with a fan sucking air through the CPU-heatsink and blowing it right onto the rotated heatsink of the silencer. Another fan mounted in the sidepanel sucks air through the heatsink and blows the hot air out of the case.
CPU>XP-90>fan>asus HS>fan>outside
Think this is possible and effective?
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New Gigabyte GV-NX66T256D - passive heatpipe cooler, dual DVI - I've been waiting for this, too.teknerd wrote:I've been looking at the 6600GT's for my next build (dual core athlon), since they provide a good price point/performance, but it really annoys me that none of the stock silent ones have Dual DVI. I have a pair of Dell 1704 FPV monitors, and the digital picture is really sharp and beautiful. Right now it seems like a better move to go with a reserator and the card i want. (course now i have to convince myself to spend the extra money on that).
Someone posted a review of this card in another thread. Just for completeness I'm copying the link here aswell:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=458
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=458
ASUS has provided yet another very competitive, very unique GeForce 6600 GT product. The ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer is undoubtedly the most impressive looking GeForce 6600 GT solution on the market. Although ASUS has strictly followed the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT reference board design, their product is far from generic. The card features a highly modified cooling setup for the GPU which is constructed from copper and aluminum. Not only does this cooling setup do an exceptional job at keeping the graphics card cool, it also allows for quite a bit of overclocking headroom.
The performance of the ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer was slightly faster than that of the previously reviewed Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT. Once again the GeForce 6600 GT proves to be a Doom 3 champion, defeating the Radeon X800 GT with ease. The additional 128MB of memory found on the ASUS card was probably the primary contributing factor that allowed the card to render the few extra frames per second. The fact that this card is not only faster, but is also completely silent is very impressive. With absolutely no active fans the Extreme N6600GT Silencer stress temperature reached 75 degrees with an idle temperature of 51 degrees. However, with just a slight hint of air-flow the stress temperature dropped to just 55 degrees.
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There seems to be more action going on now:
*another review
The temperature of the card was idle at 55-60°C and at load at about 70°C:!:
BUT in the conclusion they say that they asked asus what price this card would be...130$ yeah right
*the idea of placing the heatsink over the cpu (altough my suggested airflow direction will probably be much better )
*another review
The temperature of the card was idle at 55-60°C and at load at about 70°C:!:
BUT in the conclusion they say that they asked asus what price this card would be...130$ yeah right
*the idea of placing the heatsink over the cpu (altough my suggested airflow direction will probably be much better )
I don't know about effective, but at least the height fits, according to this review at ExtremeTech. Picture on second page.kruimeldief wrote:an idea I'm playing with:
a thermalright xp-90 with a fan sucking air through the CPU-heatsink and blowing it right onto the rotated heatsink of the silencer. Another fan mounted in the sidepanel sucks air through the heatsink and blows the hot air out of the case.
CPU>XP-90>fan>asus HS>fan>outside
Think this is possible and effective?
Otherwise review is pretty much useless. It compares it against a 7800GT , and doesn't give temperatures.
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another useless review: 2 silencers in SLI
What makes this a useless review? The fact that you can't have these in a normal SLI setup is something to note.kruimeldief wrote:another useless review: 2 silencers in SLI
Although I think that if you put these copper coolers in an L shape:
Code: Select all
--
# | <- CPU
#--
#
|--------#-----
|--------#####-
The L shaped setup would only be possible with a normal style cooler, a Tower coller would cause problems... Maybe a flipped L like this:
Code: Select all
--
| | <- CPU
--
|--------#####-
|--------#-----
#
#
With a bit of luck:
Code: Select all
--
CPU -> | |
-- #
#
|--------#-----
|--------#####-
Another thing to note is that they didn't do measurements of the heat generated in a tilted setup (like in most tower cases) I suspect most people will use these card in such a way.
Maybe a few things an SPCR review could add