GTX670 Fan bodge

[DDY]

In short, the reference cooler on the GTX670 is crap, it's too noisy. I want to avoid ruining the warranty and spending money on a third party cooling solution, so how's this for an idea;

Pull off the heat sink shroud, disconnect existing blower fan and strap a 120mm fan on the heat sink.



What could possibly go wrong?

Apart from it not fitting in my Sugo SG06 of course, I'm going to move my gear in to a larger case (with plenty of cooling) as I contemplate getting rid of the SG06 for another SFF rig.

Adequate cooling? What do you reckon?

[GoNz0]

done it before and it works fine

[kalniel]

You lose a bit of cooling for the VRM, but probably still get enough - these aren't the 1900xt cards

[DDY]

Well, it's done. It's quiet now but it's hitting 80°C and turbo boost pulls back a bit, but it did that with the stock cooler so nothing lost.



EDIT: 80°C on full load of course.

[CountStex]

I've noticed the noise too, should have gotten myself the TwinFrozor version.. on the other hand thins might be the push I need to go water.

[scaryjim]

Well, it's done. It's quiet now but it's hitting 80°C ...

Love it 80°C shouldn't be a problem on a modern card, should it? My stock 8800GTX used to hit 84...

Don't suppose there's any way you can rig the fan to blow diagonally towards the back of the case slightly? Might help clear some of the hot air out of the way...

[hesham1516]

Out of interest, have you tried flipping the fan around and testing the performance that way?

Doubt it will make a huge difference since it will be facing downwards, but may be worth a try.

[CountStex]

Love it 80°C shouldn't be a problem on a modern card, should it? My stock 8800GTX used to hit 84...

Don't suppose there's any way you can rig the fan to blow diagonally towards the back of the case slightly? Might help clear some of the hot air out of the way...

Throttling on the 670s kicks in at 70 C I believe.

[DDY]

By default the GPU core is 'turbo boosted' i.e. overclocked automatically with a few added milivolts if the GPU core temp is below 80°C, once the card hits 80°C the turbo slows down a bit or turns off completely if it's still too hot. The GPU will of course throttle by underclocking if the temp is still too high.

But now I've got a AC Mono Plus on it, runs at 60°C on full load with max turbo. Although one observation I can make having run the card silently for a while is the ridiculously loud coil whine

Love it 80°C shouldn't be a problem on a modern card, should it? My stock 8800GTX used to hit 84...

Don't suppose there's any way you can rig the fan to blow diagonally towards the back of the case slightly? Might help clear some of the hot air out of the way...

I had a 120mm fan on the side of my case blowing air on to the graphics card, the card still hit 80°C but automatically ran at higher clocks - again, the card will push it self as hard as possible until it hits 80°C, so the temp will hover at about 80°C.

Out of interest, have you tried flipping the fan around and testing the performance that way?

Doubt it will make a huge difference since it will be facing downwards, but may be worth a try.

I haven't tried unfortunately, can't do it now because I've got the AC Mono on it.

[CountStex]

I've read it's at 70C, then 80C, then 85C and lastly at 95C but maybe that guide was wrong? I have my overclocked fan profile set to Ger it to stay at 68C or less, hence the noise.

[DDY]

I've read it's at 70C, then 80C, then 85C and lastly at 95C but maybe that guide was wrong? I have my overclocked fan profile set to Ger it to stay at 68C or less, hence the noise.

Actually, I think you're right. I now seem to recall there being three levels of turbo, the one I had at 80°C and falling back to are respectively the second and first levels. Third being the one I get now at 60°C.

[CountStex]

I only just picked up my 670 two days ago so I'm still green but reading up as fast as I can. This turbo thing sure makes tweeking a more complex set of variables!

[scaryjim]

... now I've got a AC Mono Plus on it ....

Who needs a warranty, after all

Surprised that the thermal limit on peak turbo is so low though - must mean there's a fair few people (who've stuck them in bog standard cases with little ventilation) who simply aren't getting full value out of their cards...

[CountStex]

Indeed. I knocked my side fans (2x120) down to minimum yesterday and the GPU jumped to 70 as soon as I started playing. Back on full that dropped to 60. Ventilation is a must for these it seems. Of course the drop at 70 isn't massive I think, but for optimal performance....

[GoNz0]

i wonder what the 7 series cards will be like, i see drivers for a laptop version so it wont be long