8800GT Aftermarket Cooling Options

According to this Chinese review:
http://translate.google.com/transl [...] n%26sa%3DG
It shows 3 options:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835109135

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835887009
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835887006

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118011

Which (if any) would be a workable solution?

I saw that too, thanks. Too big in my case.
The reason I was asking was that the other day on Newegg (before it was pulled) it listed an Evga clocked at 700/2000mhz and fanless. I thought it was a typo but made me curious if it will be offered as such so you then can add your own cooling solution. The stock cooling doesn't look like it will hold up with anything more than the reference clocks (600/1800).

Its an enourmous option.

With the fan it still takes up 2 1/2 slots.

Having to add an additional cooling option would defeat the purpose of the price/performance factor. I don't my card to presumably be $250 + $60 for cooling, I want my card to be $250 solid. I am very much hoping that stock cooling is fine, especially the un-factory OCed versions(as I will most likely nag myself one of those).

This one is definitely rubbish. 72 degrees Celsius and 73 dB stinks...

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1210/1

Does anybody know for sure that the Thermalright HR-03 works with the 8800 GT? If it does, that's a $310 dual-slot solution that gives almost the same performance as a $500 8800 GTX. It will sell really well


Edit: maybe I should be more optimistic. The review was about an MSI card. eVGA and BFG make better coolers than MSI or others for their 8800 GTX, so maybe they'll come up with cooler/quieter 8800 GT cards too.

aevm all these cards are made by foxconn and are reference design aside from a few OC's.

Actual brand made cards arrive later on.

Well, Don't forget the card reviewed was OC'd about 10%.

Most likely the reference cooler may be better suited for Stock Settings. We may need to find out when cards with non-reference coolers show up.

I didn't really think the sound would be that bad, but I looked up what 75 db is equal to in real life terms. The website I went to said it sounds like loud singing from 3 feet away. OUCH.

Exactly my thoughts, with the exception of a magnificent gain in performence I never understood why people would buy a certain more price friendly part, overclock it then spend more money on cooling for the gain, aka might as well have bought the slightly more expensive part at stock speeds with the same effect. There is the exceptions though, that old old duron 1.8, the old intel D 2 core, and presently the E2180, and the black +5000. Other than that I really think OC is nothing more than bragging rights. What good is it to 'save money by OC your current parts' when ya have to spend more money to keep it working. Just my 2 cents but nobody like pennies.

Just a quick note about Anand's SLI benchies, those were for 2 SLI-optimized games so mileage will vary depending on the game. But damn, impressive results!

You're right, of course. But, you know, until now SLI meant $1200 bucks for video cards, few people were interested, and game developers didn't care that much about supporting SLI. That will change now, with 2 fantastic cards at $500 together. Also, I hear the next chipset from nVidia will allow 3 cards

There's another review at THG. This review shows the 8800 GT making 2 dB less noise than the 8800 GTX. Now I really don't know who to believe. If THG is right then yeah, I wouldn't bother with an aftermarket cooler.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/1 [...] e_8800_gt/

BTW, NCIX has the card for US$240 including a Quake Wars copy.

I'm also thinking we're going to be hearing about tri or even quad SLI, especially since AMD just said they're going to have it. On the NCIX forums, the admin said:

"Not only that, there are upcoming announcements which will make the GTX/Ultra THE product for super high end users. The product will remain the same as what's shipping now, but the ecosystem will change."

"I've said all I can say on the subject.
You'll have to wait... but if you're a "super-duper--money-is-no-object-power-user", the GTX/Ultra is still the way to go."

I bolded "ecosystem" because I think that's the important word trasnlating to chipset Time will tell!

EDIT: link to the forum post http://forum.ncix.com/forums/index [...] &subpage=1

Ah, many thanks for the clarification. So, the 8800 GT runs at 86 Celsius at load, according to these guys. Another review said 72 and another said 90. I wish they'd make up their mind. Different levels of overclocking and different manufacturers explain some differences, but from 72 to 90, that's a bit too much IMO.

If anyone has an Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 they can be modified to fit 8800gt etc. It's cheap and I'm sure there are lots of NV5s out there on 6 series cards.

Essentially you just have to cut about 5mm off the plastic exhaust using a hacksaw. Some of the copper heatsink extending over the RAM is not quite aligned but its pretty good IMHO by the time the heat pads are fitted.

The only thing to look out for is the crystal oscillator near the GPU. If its a full size plated through hole "metal can" it can foul the copper heatsink. I have two 8800gt's one had a surface mount crystal the other a plated through hole one. If you have the plated through hole one use a sharp stanley/craft knife to cut a small amount of copper off the heatsink to provide clearance. Be careful its easy to slip and cut yourself.
The fan plastic connector socket may also be smaller but you can remove the plastic plug off the stock cooler and fit it to the NV5 fan wires.

I saw both my cards reduce their idle temps by 9°C (down to 45°C with 25°C ambient room). I haven't tested load temps but usually load temps differ considerably more. I did run the counterstrike "video card stress test" over and over and it only got to 54°C!

I hope this helps people, I know my two 8800gt PCs are now almost silent and overclock nicely (my XFX card was one that was 100% fan speed and was like a tornado).

Cheers