
Originally Posted by
kalniel
Passive cards still require airflow, so you've potentially got just as much noise as an active card - more if it means you now have to run a fan at the front of a case that you didn't have to before.
But they are another option that lets you decide where you want fans and which fans to have - a well designed case could have a sound proofed front for example, while drawing air in from somewhere else and using an exhausting slow fan to ensure good airflow over the passive fins.
As a gamer, if silence was important I would spend the outlay on getting the best active cooler I could, as I reckon they can be made quiet and they're simply more efficient in terms of noise than having to cool a gaming card with case fans instead. Or go watercooling, which is kind of saying the same thing - heat is transferred to a large, rear HSF.