New Video card question

[Larry_OHF]

I have had a GeForce 6600 (256MB) for about a year now. The fan is going bad in it and I was thinking of just removing the fan and the exaust fan I have setting right under the card being enough to keep it cool, but then I had another idea. From what I hear, the Radeon 3650 (512MB) is the best AGP on the market, and sells for under $100. Tom's Hardware has a comparison chart that places the Radeon three tiers higher from the NVidia, which they say is worth the upgrade for performance sake.

I am running a Pentium 4, 2.6GHz and a 430Watt power.

Oh...by the way, I think the one I would get is at Intrex, and it looks different than the others I have seen online. The ones I've seen elsewhere have fans, but the guy at Intrex says this one is fanless?...and looks like it has a huge radiator on the card across the whole of the card. It is more expensive than the others.

Do I care to upgrade or if I don't what do you think about me using my current setup to cool the card instead of buying a replacement for the card itself?

[Ilander]

The Radeon 3850 is the highest performing AGP card...but yes, actually, the 3650 or the 3850 would be my recommended cards for you, upgrading from a 6600...

A 2600XT wouldn't be bad either, as they're the pretty much the same as a 3670.

[Larry_OHF]

Thanks for the clarification, Ilander. I missed that in my searches. I've decided to try and use what I have to see if it will work first, before putting any money into the thing. I have such an old system, and I really would like to not put even $100 more into it. This is what I've done.

Larry's Testing Time!

I have removed the fan but replaced the heat sink for heat dispersion. Then I placed my exaust fan right up against that heatsink. I don't have a way to know what the temp. is at on the card, but the system heat is as low as ever (with my new processor and an application of Arctic Silver 5). I coated the two heat spreaders on the card with Arctic Silver as well. I suppose that only some Undermountain gaming will let me know for sure if this idea is going to work. If the visual goes out...then I guess It's time to buy a new card .

I'll keep everyone updated on how it's running. For fun, I decided to upload this photo to show what I did.

[Larry_OHF]

Results for my test:

I just got out of EfU, after taking about an hour to play, and I had no trouble with the graphics. In fact, my system was running 4 degrees cooler than yesterday when I was playing! I think I'll leave it as is for now.

[Harkoliar]

thats great work Larry. Sure looks big though

[ElfBane]

Well, one thing about video cards and overheating, you will certainly be able to "see" the results of overheating!

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

Good move Larry!
I know my PC is 5.5-6 years old and I have the 6200OC in there. I won't put any more into it now. If someone gave me something better that they no longer needed, would be the only exception.

[Ilander]

Good solution, Larry.

The fans on those things...well, while the chips may stand the test of time, the fans don't. I wish there was a much more standardized graphics-fan option!

I've had two fans die on me, and I know two other people that have had gpu fans die...and, it's true, you really can see the results.