Help Choosing Graphics Card Type

Shaheer1400

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Jan 24, 2015
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Hello, I built a PC a few years ago and it tends to run a little warm. It was fine with a 750ti, but now that I'm upgrading, I am worried about heat with a new GPU.

AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core
Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX
Team Elite 8GB
Sansung 850 EVO 500gb SSD
Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB
EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card
Corsair CX 500W
BitFenix Prodigy M Arctic White MicroATX Mini Tower Case

It lags behind on 1080p gaming and for Black Friday I purchased an XFX RX 470 for $155.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150776&ignorebbr=1

The 750ti didn't take very much power to run, and temps were always fine. I am worried that with a small case like the Prodigy M, that this type of cooling on a more powerful GPU may not be good.

Newegg has free returns, so I was wondering if I should purchase this GPU instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129323&ignorebbr=1

It is a blower style card, which after reading around a little, people say is better for smaller builds, that don't have good airflow. I am worried that with the XFX card too much heat will build up in the case.

However, the XFX Card is arriving in a few days, and I wanted to know is it worth going through and returning it for a blower style 470, the specs look the same and I think the only difference with both cards is the cooling, and other aesthetics.

What would be the pros and cons of the different cooling styles of the cards, in a small case that doesn't have the best airflow?
 
Solution
Blower style cards run hotter, but expel all their heat out the back. Open air card run cooler but spew their hot air everywhere. If you have all the case fans you can installed, this wont be a problem.
A bit more on cooling, I recommend a positive pressure case, this way all the hot air can also escape though all the small cracks that are in any case. To get positive pressure, in your case, I'd go with rear exhaust, bottom intake, and top intake. No need to worry about a +pressure fan curve this way because more fans are putting air in that are putting air out.

Ne0Wolf7

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Jun 23, 2016
1,262
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5,960
Blower style cards run hotter, but expel all their heat out the back. Open air card run cooler but spew their hot air everywhere. If you have all the case fans you can installed, this wont be a problem.
A bit more on cooling, I recommend a positive pressure case, this way all the hot air can also escape though all the small cracks that are in any case. To get positive pressure, in your case, I'd go with rear exhaust, bottom intake, and top intake. No need to worry about a +pressure fan curve this way because more fans are putting air in that are putting air out.
 
Solution