GeForce 6800 GT Fan

it pulls.

This is a very good question in fact a leadtech 6800 GT has a leadteck designed copper heatsink and fan. The fan pulls cooler case air that is guided by the plastic cover toward heatsink fins to dissipate core heat. The Dell secondary auxiliary PCI blower, blows additionally cooled air around the graphics card slot aiding the GT's ability to keep its core cool. Some would argue that this is redundant since the Geforce spec calls for just the heatsink and fan combo as all the cooling the card needs.

The reason I think this is such a good question is if the 6800 GT pulls air over the  heatsink how is this additionally heated air from the heatsink fins exhausted from the case?

I know how the Radeon X850 XT or PE does it. The fan draws heat from the heatsink aided by the plastic cover then exhaust it from the case through the second PCI slot opening. If you stick your hand back there when the card is under load you can feel the temperature rise in the exhaust air. I can say that my system idles at 43-45 degree's C. and under load is about the High 60's but i cannot tell you if this system works other than to say that when there is perceivable heat coming out of the PCI exhaust slot the bottom front where case exhaust air comes out remains cool to the touch. This cool exhaust air may be due to the Dell auxiliary blower fan I installed helping to keep case temperatures low. 

Well, my GTO runs at 60C idle and 80C at load.  I want to get those temps down and am considering a couple things.  I had the card out tonight and was looking at the fan assembly (and how it contacts the GPU and memory).  I am debating about replacing it with a Zalman VF700-Cu and applying some arctic silver grease in the process.  I am assuming the GTO has a similar board configuration as the GT so the Zalman should work fine.  Sounds like most people have very high temps with this card anyway.

Which way does this fan blow:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=120565&Sku=V13-4200

Blazin-

 

I just bought the GeForce 6800 GT, 256 MB, but realized when I got it home and opened by Dimension 8300 case that the power supply on that model is only 250 watts.  Did you have any power supply issues?  When I installed the card, there was a high pitched tone that continued until I frantically pulled the main power cord to shut it down.  The folks at nVidia help desk told me it was because I did not have enough power.  Furthermore, Dell tells me the highest power supply they will allow (and still keep a warranty) is 350 watts.  Since the GeForce 6800 recommends 300 watts for the card alone (all of which comes from the motherboard), how did you get yours to work and still have power for any other components?  Will the motherboard for the Dimension 8300 even carry 300 watts to the GeForce 6800?

 

Thanks! 

Hi,
Did you tell the NVIDIA help desk about your PSU before they gave you their diagnosis? Most times they are as helpful as a trained monkey and will repeat what you say. Did you check the connection of the card? Was it all the way plugged in to the AGP slot? Maybe the cards fan is tweaked? I would have to see and/or hear the problem to really be able to help you. If it turns out it is your PSU you can go here to upgrade your PSU:

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/selector/dell.htm

I did not have a problem with my GT. My computer came with the 305 Watt PSU. The 250 Watt PSU should work for the GT. I have seen many postings saying people have done it. The GT and your CPU combined use less than 200 Watts. You have to consider everything else you have hooked up to your computer. Everything draws power.

I have my GT overclocked to Ultra speeds. I installed an after market cooling system for the GT (NV Silencer 5 Rev.2). And I added a couple other fans to circulate the air better. My GT's GPU core temperature idles at 53C. Peak game play does not go higher than 73C. And that’s when there are a ton of visuals. Before I did anything my card idled at about 70C because of the poor 8300 case design (No airflow).


blazin1

That means 300 Watts total. The GT itself uses around 80 Watts I think.

Thanks for the great input.  I am new to this video card upgrade thing.  One more question.....When the video card says it recommends a 300 watt power supply, does that mean an additional/incremental 300 watts (e.g., current 250 watt + 300 watt = 550 watt), or is that what they recommend the total wattage should be for the power supply (i.e., 300 watts)?

Thanks again!!