Heatsink vs Fan for GPU Cooling

[cpres]

Is there anything in particular I should look for in building a system when trying to choose a video card that has a heatsink or a fan for cooling purposes?

I know the heatsink will be much quieter, but what type of fan cooling with the case will you need to make sure it does not overheat? I am not a hardcore gamer, and I have no intentions to overclock anything at all so is this going to make any difference.

Thoughts, feedback, opinions? Thanks.

 

[clue69less]

Is there anything in particular I should look for in building a system when trying to choose a video card that has a heatsink or a fan for cooling purposes?

I know the heatsink will be much quieter, but what type of fan cooling with the case will you need to make sure it does not overheat? I am not a hardcore gamer, and I have no intentions to overclock anything at all so is this going to make any difference.

Search the video card section for a recent thread and article about a passive GPU cooler. Personally, I like the idea of venting the heat out the back of the case like with the ATI 1800s and 1900s, but they are a bit noisy. Not OC'ing does make a big difference because hot GPUs get seriously hot when OC'ed.

 

[waylander]

Do you really need it that quiet? If so then look for something with a bigger fan on the video card that way they can rotate slower while moving the same amount of air and will be quiet.

 

[cpres]

One thing I did notice after doing that search...the heatsink cards are wider, therefore taking up more space and cutting down on the available PCI slots you can use.

Is this standard?

I guess the question is how loud are these cards really, and with everything else in the case will it make a difference?

 

[cpres]

To add some additional info (and hopefully get some feedback)

I am looking at either the MSI or EVGA Video Cards:

EVGA GeForce 7600 GS (Active or Passive Cooled)

or

MSI NX7600GS-T2D256E / MSI NX7600GS-T2D256EH.

These will be placed in the Thermaltake Armor Jr. VC3000BWS with the DFI NF4 SLI Infinity.

The questions are the following:

1) Will there be any issues with the passive vs active cooling in this case?
2) If I do decide to go SLI will I be losing one of my PCI slots having the passive cooling GPU installed?

 

[clue69less]

Will there be any issues with the passive vs active cooling in this case?

None in particular I can think of. If you use the DFI audio, you may need to trim the rear fan to fit.

If I do decide to go SLI will I be losing one of my PCI slots having the passive cooling GPU installed?

With SLI, you'll lose two! Mobo makers need to adjust to the reality of hot-running GPUs that need two slots.