7800 GTX cooling solution

[Rajveer]

I recently brought a new computer with a 7800 GTX graphics card. Being the "enthusiast" I am (impatient person who wants to run BF2 at best FPS really!) I'm interest in overclocking without burning out my investment! I ordered a new PC P&P PSU yesterday and saw an option for a "Buss-Cool" for cheap, reading some info about it I thought why not, if I cannot use it on my GFX I can use it on another PCI device!

So I just wanted to know, would anybody advice using such a device on my GPU? The 7800 heatsink blows air away from it downwards, so blowing air towards the heatsink may just be blowing hot air back on it...any thoughts?

[Darthtanion]

Re: 7800 GTX cooling solution

Do you have a link to this "buss-cool"? If it is a PCI slot cooler, it won't do much for you since it will mess up a good airflow pattern (assuming you have your case set up properly).

[Rajveer]

Re: 7800 GTX cooling solution

Sure, here's the link

http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=VBP

Actually I think this is a good time to check my cooling setup. I have a CoolerMaster WaveMaster case with 2 80mm fans at the front for air intake (come with it) and have swapped the back air-expelling 80mm fan for my ThermalTake X-Blower. I have a ThermalRight XP-90C heatsink with a TEMPORARY Vantec ThermoFlow fan. Motherboard is an Abit AW8-MAX so it has its own Silent OTES cooling.

Now the whole case seems fairly cool, however the graphics card generates alot of heat so the space underneath the gfx (no PCI cards so its empty space) seems fairly hot. I'm worried the air expelled by the gfx stays there as there is nothing to push it from underneath the card.

[Darthtanion]

Re: 7800 GTX cooling solution

Have you tried tossing a thermal probe into this "dead space" and seeing the temperatures? With the case you have and the cooling setup you're running, it shouldn't be too bad. And while the video board will put out a lot of heat, you'd do better with an aftermarket GPU cooler for that board (or even water cooling if you have the desire to go that route) than a slot cooler.

The main problem with slot coolers is that they disrupt the normal flow of air through the case, causing a lot of turbulence. A good case (like you have) brings in cool air from the lower/front portion of the enclosure and sends it out the upper/rear area. This allows a sufficient flow of air to help keep everything cool while still letting nature to help out since heat naturally rises. When you throw a slot cooler into the mix, it redirects your airflow pattern, which isn;t a good thing since the design mentioned above has been shown many times to be the optimal way to direct the airflow.

[Rajveer]

Re: 7800 GTX cooling solution

Cool, thank you VERY much for your time, you've been very helpful! I don't think there is an after market cooling solution for the 7800, but reading from what you've said the PCI fans are a definate no!

Readings from Abit's UGuru show that the load temperature of the motherboard is around 40-42 degrees C, whilst the idle temperature stands at around 34-35C. Not sure if this is good or if on-board temperature mnitors are too reliable however