Blower coolers

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Smitty2k1

Gawd
Joined
May 31, 2005
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Hi all - SFF PC user here. I've currently got a GTX 780 in an Ncase M1. The GTX 780 is the stock nVidia design (I guess they call those "FE" these days) and is a blower style cooler to keep the heat out of the rest of the case.

I no longer have a 1080p (well, 1200p 16x10) monitor and my 1400p ultrawide is starting to push the 780 to the limit. Therefore, I'm looking to upgrade my card, probably to a Vega 56 because I've got a freesync monitor and it fits in my case and should be good with my current power supply... the Vega 56 is a 210W TDP card and my current GTX 780 is a 250W TDP card.

Anyways, everyone seems to complain about blower coolers these days, but I don't find my GTX 780 all that bad. I believe when the GTX 780 first came out it got a lot of praise for having a pretty good blower style cooler, and it seems like nVidia has kept the general design principles in their most recent generation of blower coolers (900 series,1000 series).

Does anyone have any input on an older nVidia blower cooler vs. the newer Vega blower coolers in terms of noise and performance? Most reviews I read are really just comparing Vega to the 1000 series cards.
 
It really depends on your case layout and airflow. With a regular mid-atx style case you have really good airflow and an open air cooler will be quieter than a blower. This is the most common layout so most people prefer open air coolers. I see a lot of SFF users getting blower style coolers because their case doesn't have great airflow and the cooler is an extra exhaust fan getting rid of hot air.

In your case a blower would get fresh air from below and exhaust the hot air right out of the case. If you had a regular card it would also get fresh air from below but then the hot air would stay in the case longer since it appears the case has no exhaust fans.
 
I'd say it depends on what kind of climate you live it. I had a blower style GTX 670 & that thing sounded like a Harrier taking off, but I live in Texas and the summer's are brutal. I have heard people complain about the Vega coolers being very loud.
 
Not sure about the 780, but I have a Titan X Pascal in a SFF case and the fan is close to a jet engine when things get hot. At least with my custom fan profile, at default it's quiet but also not effective.

I also have Vega 64 and the fan noise is still load, but noticeably less than the Titan (with similar fan profiles). Both seem to be effective, and I can usually stay around 70 - 75C with full GPU usage.
 
Is the water cooled Vega 64 out of the question for you? That might fit the bill for everything you're looking for unless the price is too big a factor.
 
I would get the hybrid water cooled version and mod that sucker to fit on one of the side exhaust fans on the N1.
 
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