Fastest Nvidia to Run Passively

[jaydub868]

What's the fastest Nvidia card that can be reasonably run with passive cooling provided by an Accelero or HR-03. Upright case, but airflow would best be described as moderate (silent PC bias). I would like to occasionally do some gaming, but gaming will probably account for no more than 1% of uptime. Mainly used for high definition video playback/recording. The motherboard is an asus x48 with intel quad core q9650. The main reason for going Nvidia would be for better integration with the pure video decoder. Otherwise I would go with an ATI HD4850. Any thoughts?

 

[halister_one]

I think running passively is pointless when you can have a fan running silently. Any small air flow is exponentially better than having no air flow at all.

That being said, probably a 9600GT might be able to pull it off. If you're a casual gamer, perhaps the 9600GSO.

 

[mactronix]

I think a 9600GT is the highest spec i have seen with passive cooling.

mactronix

 

[Guest]

yeah

although you can buy a card and then get an aftermarket hs

i have a 4870 with a hr-03 and its dead silent... even with a fan.... just got to make sure you get a quiet fan if you decide to put a fan on it

 

[random1283]

9800GTX+ with its 55nm process you can run it with the stock fan off.
So get a HR-03 GT or Accellero with a low DB fan ie. 10-15 db 30cfm

 

[geofelt]

Do some research at www.silentpcreview.com
They reviewed the asus en9600GT silent, for example:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article821-page1.html

 

[shaundwm]

4870x2 crossfirex can be run passivly....





















so long as you pass half a tonne/second of liquid nitrogen over it