Silent PC fanatic and redditor revocases has been displaying off a really attention-grabbing AMD Radeon RX 6400 modification (h/t FanlessTech). The modification work meant chucking away the inventory energetic cooler, exactly machining a 3 mm copper chilly plate and mount (masking each GPU and reminiscence), after which fixing on an Arctic Accelero S1 passive cooler (discontinued). In testing, the undertaking was a powerful success, with the GPU working at only a smidgeon over 50 levels Celsius underneath load – however we’ve to ask, is that this passive resolution overkill?
Passive PC techniques have a powerful following, as silence is golden. Nonetheless, to chill greater efficiency PC elements a passive cooler would possibly typically begin to dominate your construct. Now we have seen this with some current implementations of passive coolers and circumstances. To be honest, we wouldn’t put revocases’ RX 6400 mod into this class, although.
The Radeon RX 6400 is a 54W graphics card, so doesn’t current a strenuous problem for passive cooling know-how. As a substitute let’s imagine the low TGP makes the cardboard a snug goal for a modest passive cooling adaptation. In revocases’ shared photographs you possibly can see that the passively cooled (ex)low-profile Radeon ran at a greater than snug common GPU temperature of 54 levels Celsius (sizzling spot 60) when underneath full load. Sadly, off-the-peg selections for passive GPU coolers are extremely restricted or we might recommend utilizing a smaller one.
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Within the photographs, the RX 6400 PCB is completely dwarfed by the Arctic Accelero S1, and would possibly look considerably foolish outdoors of the context of a PC. Nonetheless, in November final yr we reported on the Intel Arc A380 (>75W) being cooled by the identical Arctic Accelero S1. Within the visible context of a whole passive construct that card regarded affordable – it was put in subsequent to a Noctua NH-P1 cooled CPU.
Contemplating issues from one other angle, a commercially produced passive card just like the Palit GeForce GTX 1650 KalmX appears to be like nicely proportioned at 138 x 178 x 38 mm, and the GPU will peek at round 80 levels Celsius underneath load. The Palit isn’t a large amount smaller than the Arctic Accelero S1 cooler at 138 x 215 x 33 mm (however you must add the cardboard which can add additional bulk).
We hope that the nice effectivity beneficial properties touted for the most recent AMD and Nvidia graphics architectures signifies that some extra compact passive commercially out there graphics playing cards hit the market. Graphics card makers could possibly be attracted by the passive premium that silent PC fans would possibly pay for one thing extra performant than the likes of the RX 6400, Arc A380, or GTX 1650.