GTX 970 Blower Coolers (EVGA & PNY)

[MEC-777]

I can't believe how small the reference PCB is on a card with this much performance. So cool.

 

Thanks very much @BirdyTheMighty for posting those pics. Very helpful.

[TheProfosist]

I can't believe how small the reference PCB is on a card with this much performance. So cool.

 

Thanks very much @BirdyTheMighty for posting those pics. Very helpful.

was the same was with the 670 which is why im hoping for a ITX version.

[MEC-777]

was the same was with the 670 which is why im hoping for a ITX version.

And the 670 is close to half the performance of the 970.

 

Would be really cool to see and an ITX version and I'm sure it could be done, but cooling would be tricky. The base Zotac 970 is pretty small and from the user reviews I've read, they do run hotter than all the other cards with larger coolers, unsurprisingly. So to make an even smaller cooler would be challenging. 

[TheProfosist]

And the 670 is close to half the performance of the 970.

 

Would be really cool to see and an ITX version and I'm sure it could be done, but cooling would be tricky. The base Zotac 970 is pretty small and from the user reviews I've read, they do run hotter than all the other cards with larger coolers, unsurprisingly. So to make an even smaller cooler would be challenging.

There are ITX version of the 670 and 760 which have higher TDP's so it can be done. Also two 980's and a bit more than twice as powerful as two 670's. I upgraded from 2x 670 FTW's to 2x 980 Superclocked's.

I would expect to have either asus or msi come out with the ITX variant since they have both done one and sapphire doesnt make nvidia cards. With all of those there is basically a block with heat pipes that covers the whole card. I currently have the MSI 760 as minus the fan it was the better offering.

[Snadzies]

That's about as unsexy as you can get.

[Cheddle]

i could check but cbf i got mine today (galax )

i can tell you know for a blower its pretty quite though i'm gonna watercool it oncethe 970 blocks are out

at load ~77c

 

at stock

How does the galax overclock? What affect does an overclock have on fan speed and temps?

I am either going to buy two galax cards or two gainward cards. SLI in a prodigyM means ill be better off with blowers.

[BirdyTheMighty]

How does the galax overclock? What affect does an overclock have on fan speed and temps?

I am either going to buy two galax cards or two gainward cards. SLI in a prodigyM means ill be better off with blowers.

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/227113-galaxy-gtx-970-reference-overclocked/

[MeltingPoint]

Yuck.

[Anusha]

Any idea about the cooler on the Palit card? (link)

 

It seems identical to the one on the PNY card. Are they the same company?

[Bhav]

Yea, Birdy's pictures are why I will never buy a blower cooler. It looks like the same crap that was on the reference 670.

 

Does anyone know why most manufacturers split the vram chips between the front and back of the card on the GTX 970? Its especially annoying on the Gigabyte cards not having half the chips cooled by the massive windforce heatsink.

[Anusha]

Given the low TDP of these new GPUs, would you still think it's a bad idea to do SLI with no gap between the two cards in a Silverstone SG09 case? Maybe addition of two exaust fans to the side would be enough to exhaust the hot air out of the case and stop other components from getting toasted?

[MEC-777]

Given the low TDP of these new GPUs, would you still think it's a bad idea to do SLI with no gap between the two cards in a Silverstone SG09 case? Maybe addition of two exaust fans to the side would be enough to exhaust the hot air out of the case and stop other components from getting toasted?

The blower style cards exhaust most of their hot air out the back - outside the case. So you wouldn't really have to worry about them making other components run warmer or increasing the air temp inside the case. What's more important is that the graphics cards are provided a sufficient amount of fresh air. I'd make sure you have, at the very least, one 120mm intake fan [filtered] blowing directly towards the cards and unobstructed if you can. 

[Bhav]

The custom cooled cards are going to have lower temps even with no spacing in SLI than the blower craps.

[TheProfosist]

The custom cooled cards are going to have lower temps even with no spacing in SLI than the blower craps.

Completely disagree because of how they need to get their air vs blowers.

[Bhav]

Found the PNY here:

 

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/67652-nvidia-gtx-970-sli-performance-review.html

 

 

That actually looks like one of the better blower heatsinks, its a bit larger than the Galax and has a couple of heatpipes.

 

I've also noticed that PNY, Gainward and Palit appear to be using this same PCB due to having the same output ports - 1x DVI, 3x mini DP, 1x mini HDMI. But you need contverter cables to use all those mini ports, so again its nowhere as good as Gigabyte's cards.

[TheProfosist]

Found the PNY here:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/67652-nvidia-gtx-970-sli-performance-review.html

That actually looks like one of the better blower heatsinks, its a bit larger than the Galax and has a couple of heatpipes.

I've also noticed that PNY, Gainward and Palit appear to be using this same PCB due to having the same output ports - 1x DVI, 3x mini DP, 1x mini HDMI. But you need contverter cables to use all those mini ports, so again its nowhere as good as Gigabyte's cards.

That actually looks quite nice. Also I prefer that as it looks like a single slot. When you order cables just get the mini to normal.

[Bhav]

Yea if you want / need a blower cooler, that PNY one is looking tlike the best I've seen so far.

 

IMO it should become mandatory for the manufacturers to show pictures of the coolers used on their cards if the aren't reference, both installed and removed with a picture of the base.

 

I wanted to see my lesser Windforce OC cooler with only 2 heatpipes removed, but I cant bring myself to take them off myself because they are performing perfectly and I dont want to make them worse.

[Anusha]

From where can I confirm that the cooler used by PNY and Palit are the same? PNY is not available here in Japan, but the Palit is. They look similar anyway.

 

These results of the PNY cards in SLI (link) are what I am afraid of. It apparently not only runs warm, it runs louder too.

I wonder if applying CLP or even non-liquid metal thermal paste properly would be of any help. 

 

Aren't there cards with an open air design, which also can pull cool air from the front instead of only top? I can install a couple of more fans on the side panel so maybe I can take care of the heat that is dumped back into the case. I want to stop the top card from suffocating. There would not be a gap in terms of free slots between the two cards in my rig.

[MEC-777]

Most, if not all, blower cards are going to be louder than the dual/triple fan open-air coolers. They're less efficient at moving air over the components and must spin at higher rpms. There isn't really any way around this if you need a blower-style cooler. 

 

The PNY looks like a decent cooler, although the fan looks to be a bit smaller in diameter (just judging by pictures, I could be wrong) which means it'll have to spin faster to maintain adequate air flow. 

 

A more efficient fan design for blower cards would be to use something similar to the compressor wheel of a turbocharger. Something like this:

 

 

Which needs to be used inside a housing like this: 

 

 

This would run quieter and move more air at lower rpms. The tricky part would be not to spin it too fast as this is a compressor wheel - designed to compress air above a certain rpm threshold, at which point the air it's blowing would start to heat up. But below that rpm, it might actually be a very effective and quiet cooler. 

 

Of course another issue is cost. These blower cards are meant to use the reference PCB and to be lower-cost cards (for those who want to run a water block of don't care what their card looks like). Making a more expensive blower card may not sell well - however, if it cools just as well as an open-air design and runs quieter, that may persuade more people to purchase... 

 

For now, we're stuck with what's available and must make due. 

 

 

Just an update from my earlier posts; I ended up buying an HIS IceQ X2 R9-290. So now blower 970 for me. I'm very happy with this 290 though - only paid $285 for it. It runs pretty quiet and stays relatively cool, all things considered. So if you're still interested in seeing what's inside the EVGA 970 blower card, you'll have to wait until someone else cracks one open and posts the pics. 

[CherriePie]

Any idea about the cooler on the Palit card? (link)

 

It seems identical to the one on the PNY card. Are they the same company?

yoohoo, I have a Gainward edition, it's the same considering Palit and Gainward is a same company, same board and cooler. It's temperature is around 60c full load no oc and fan speed 3000RPM. Overclocked +200Mhz (BTW it shows 1600Mhz clock speed in Unigine benchmarks) and it will be around 67c. It's quite noisy but if you have a headset and/or a silent case then it's no matter.