Do passively cooled components rely on case fans to help cool?

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afex54

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Sep 21, 2014
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Im mounting my GPU externally, its a passively cooled one but Im wondering if It relies on mild airflow generated by the case fans to pull the hot air away from the cooling fins?
on the other hand maybe an external mount could improve cooling since outside has an overall lower ambient temperature?
Im just not sure.
could someone shed some light on this?
its a Dell Optiplex 755
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD5670
 
Solution
norseman4


Theoretically, a passively cooled component can rely simply on convection, meaning that hot air rises allowing cooler air to come in from the bottom of the device. This does work on the Sapphire card, but don't try and work the card too hard since it will get hot, throttle back, and start throwing artifacts.

Anything that can help move air over the passive heat-sink is very well appreciated by the card, though.

I had [strike]that card[/strike] [a passively cooled 7750], as well as a massive passive CPU heatsink on my current machine. The CPU is still passively cooled, but I had to replace the GPU. (Sold it to a friend for his HTPC build)
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g1abhi

g1abhi

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NO passive cooling means , The fans will kick in at force after the temperature are high. Actiive cooling means , fans will kick in as soon as it detects heating over stock temperatures.
 
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norseman4

norseman4

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Theoretically, a passively cooled component can rely simply on convection, meaning that hot air rises allowing cooler air to come in from the bottom of the device. This does work on the Sapphire card, but don't try and work the card too hard since it will get hot, throttle back, and start throwing artifacts.

Anything that can help move air over the passive heat-sink is very well appreciated by the card, though.

I had [strike]that card[/strike] [a passively cooled 7750], as well as a massive passive CPU heatsink on my current machine. The CPU is still passively cooled, but I had to replace the GPU. (Sold it to a friend for his HTPC build)
 
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Solution
faalin

faalin

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Feb 22, 2012
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Passively cooled normally means there is no fan on the card, so it relies on air movement inside the case to help cool it. I'm guessing your more mod savvy if your ok mounting the card outside so you should be able to mount a small fan to help blow air across the card.

I would be careful mounting the card externally from the case. its more susceptible to being damaged then being inside your case.
 
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beegmouse

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1st two posts very wrong.

Passive = No fans/No forced air movement,
Active = built in forced air movement.

Hot air rises

Passive components rely on natural air flow based on this fact and are built on the premise of low airflow and low ambient temperature.

Locking passive components in an unventilated box causes problems as the box temperature heats up so a case fan is reccommended.

Using it externally, will not require additional airflow.
 
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g1abhi

g1abhi

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Ah ok , I see , my explanation is actually intended for laptops only. My fault
 
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afex54

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thank you this is exactly what I was asking and thats a perfect answer.
If it is runs bit too hot under pressure I have some fans that I could mount on it

 
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afex54

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also a very good and informative answer :)
 
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