Modding a 8600GT with a stock, fanless Intel heatsink?

[RezidentSeagull]

So I recently fixed up an XFX 8600 GT (the exact same one as my previous post about it here), and the first thing I noticed about it after checking that the display was receiving a working signal was "Wow, this thing is load as all heck!"

 

The entire cooling setup for the GPU is just smaller than a deck of cards pretty much, and that is including the blower fan, which takes up half of that total package. As well, the fan itself plugs into a two-pin header, so I don't think software control is really a possibility.

 

My question, then, is would it be possible to adequately cool a 8600 GT using an Intel heatsink sans fan? And what's the minimum size (i.e. the regular vs. thinner i3 version) that might work here?

 

One thing to note is that the 8600 GT has a TDP of 43 W, whereas an Intel i3 chip from the Haswell/Ivy-/Sandy-Bridge have TDPs from roughly 54 W (i3-4330) to 65 W (i3-2100). The heatsinks SHOULD be sufficient, but at the same time they rely on the fan to actively cool the heatsink.

[AvocadosGuac]

it might work.

 

Make sure you have a decent amount of airflow in your case

[Skiiwee29]

as long as your not gaming on it I would say it should be fine. 

[Skiiwee29]

Just now, Jrock said:

it would work.

 

People use the intel stock heatsink with like 4790k's @ a 90watt tdp.

his idea is just the heatsink, no fan. 

[AvocadosGuac]

Just now, legacy99 said:

his idea is just the heatsink, no fan. 

I just edited my post as i read over that part

[RezidentSeagull]

1 minute ago, Jrock said:

it might work.

 

Make sure you have a decent amount of airflow

Guess this is just one of those "Try it and see what happens" situations. Good suggestion!

1 minute ago, legacy99 said:

as long as your not gaming on it I would say it should be fine. 

No gaming whatsoever for this card, though maybe a Unigine Heaven run just to see how it fares thermally.

[SCHISCHKA]

ok so the 9600GT came with a fanless model so why not give it a go.

You might need to put those small heatsinks with self-adhesive on the various ram and power chips. they only cost a few dollars from rs-online

 

[RezidentSeagull]

Just now, SCHISCHKA said:

ok so the 9600GT came with a fanless model so why not give it a go.

You might need to put those small heatsinks with self-adhesive on the various ram and power chips. they only cost a few dollars from rs-online

 

Good to know! Lends a bit more confidence to the idea for me.

 

The VRM/RAM heatsinks are solid idea, though I may relegate it to a "if convenient" option as they seemingly aren't actively cooled by the original blower cooler anyway, and I suspect that the lower power usage and demand on the card will make it less necessary compared to a more powerful graphics card.

[SCHISCHKA]

2 minutes ago, RezidentSeagull said:

Good to know! Lends a bit more confidence to the idea for me.

 

The VRM/RAM heatsinks are solid idea, though I may relegate it to a "if convenient" option as they seemingly aren't actively cooled by the original blower cooler anyway, and I suspect that the lower power usage and demand on the card will make it less necessary compared to a more powerful graphics card.

does yours use PCIe power or additional 6-pin power? because i think all silent cards have not used 6-pin power. Anyway you know the TDP and the ratings of the various cooler options, and its an old card so i think youll be fine experimenting

[RezidentSeagull]

2 minutes ago, SCHISCHKA said:

does yours use PCIe power or additional 6-pin power? because i think all silent cards have not used 6-pin power. Anyway you know the TDP and the ratings of the various cooler options, and its an old card so i think youll be fine experimenting

Mine doesn't have any PCIe power connectors; it's powered only from the PCIe slot.

 

And yeah, it's really just a card I happen to have that works. It would suck if it broke, but it's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

 

Though I, as most people would, prefer that it continued to live a happy, not-broken existence.

[flibberdipper]

Honestly I'd try to grab some kind of 65 or 95 watt AMD cooler if at all possible (assuming of course you really wanna go ham). Not sure if they'd fit without dremeling, but it's worth a shot in my book.

[crzyces]

I've been pulling apart old rigs looking for a decent case to mod/beat up for a Nuka Cola PC build someone mentioned earlier today. I found an old Pentium 2 heatsink/fan (made by cooler master that would probably work perfect on a card like that. The fan is tiny and near silent, though the heat sink is a monster but very lite w/ a 3 pin connector. It would work perfect on a card like that. Looks pretty darn cool too. Heh, I wish I had a place to mount it! anyway, see if you have an old rig in the basement or something, never know what you'll find inside. Anyone need 4 256 ssd sticks ;^) .

[RezidentSeagull]

3 minutes ago, tmcclelland455 said:

Honestly I'd try to grab some kind of 65 or 95 watt AMD cooler if at all possible (assuming of course you really wanna go ham). Not sure if they'd fit without dremeling, but it's worth a shot in my book.

I do have an AM3+ stock cooler (heatpipes and copper base plate; booyah) that would be perfect for a overkill solution. But, I think the card might break its back trying to carry something like that.

 

At any rate, I'm going to aim for a small solution if I can in order to reduce the overall footprint of the card.

 

I did consider the AM1 stock cooler as a possibility though

[flibberdipper]

Just now, RezidentSeagull said:

I do have an AM3+ stock cooler (heatpipes and copper base plate; booyah) that would be perfect for a overkill solution. But, I think the card might break its back trying to carry something like that.

 

At any rate, I'm going to aim for a small solution if I can in order to reduce the overall footprint of the card.

 

I did consider the AM1 stock cooler as a possibility though

Something I did with one of the old-school massive aluminum AMD coolers was tie it down normally and then do a cross pattern with more twist ties across the card and then onto an expansion slot thumbscrew. Did pretty well, honestly.

[RezidentSeagull]

3 minutes ago, crzyces said:

I've been pulling apart old rigs looking for a decent case to mod/beat up for a Nuka Cola PC build someone mentioned earlier today. I found an old Pentium 2 heatsink/fan (made by cooler master that would probably work perfect on a card like that. The fan is tiny and near silent, though the heat sink is a monster but very lite w/ a 3 pin connector. It would work perfect on a card like that. Looks pretty darn cool too. Heh, I wish I had a place to mount it! anyway, see if you have an old rig in the basement or something, never know what you'll find inside. Anyone need 4 256 ssd sticks ;^) .

Haha, oddly enough, I actually DID have an old computer some time ago with a heatsink for an Athlon XP. Pretty neat aluminum heatsink, though a tad big for my goals. Still have the parts though, juuuuust in case the right opportunity comes up!