Passively Cooled NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti - any leads

[Patrick]

What I am looking for (Google skills failed me): A passively cooled dual slot NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Why: I want to put it in servers and work on machine learning. The GTX 980 Ti 6GB is relatively cheap.

The issue: There are 1-3 fan active variants, but no passive ones in a standard reference design cooler size. If I use a reference cooler I am going to have giant PSU and chassis fans pushing fan front to rear and the reference cooler would be pushing heat out of the front of the chassis.

Any ideas here?

 

[Keljian]

If you have enough case airflow, this may work: https://www.arctic.ac/worldwide_en/accelero-s3.html

 

[pgh5278]

Patrick, may not fully answer Your question, recently built a new system for my son, using a
Asrock X99E ITX/ac
MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti Lightning 6GB , in a
Thermaltake Core X1 ITX
Seasonic 650 platinum ( maybe 750)
This card per website requires 250W at max use. The actual cooler is very large / ( Tall, thick and long) and heavy, about 140mm high and 55 mm thick ( slightly more than 2 slots) spent a lot of time choosing a quiet card, this card doesn't start the fans during normal use and moderate gaming. In fact it looks like it may use less than the older less powerful card it replaced.
However your use will it max the card out in normal use. Perhaps a workstation type chassis may be better?

 

[Patrick]

Sorry guys - let me offer a picture to describe the use case:

 

[Keljian]

Is that 1 or 2u?

Remember if you are running two you are going to be wanting to dissipate 500w there alone..

 

[Patrick]

These are GPU blades so 10x blades in 7U.

I know about the power consumption. These are in the data center and there are 4x 3kW power supplies in the chassis.

 

[Keljian]

Oh it isn't the power which is the issue, it's the heat! Dissipating 500w in a pizza box is going to be interesting.

Current thought is closed loop water cooling. Passive 250w sinks are going to probably be too big.

One potential option if you have sufficient airflow is the gigabyte wind force cards, their coolers can apparently handle 600w dissipation with 3 fans going full out, you'd think given sufficient through airflow they could handle 250w without fans, just have to remove the fans/shroud

 

[T_Minus]

These are GPU blades so 10x blades in 7U.

I know about the power consumption. These are in the data center and there are 4x 3kW power supplies in the chassis.

Oh it isn't the power which is the issue, it's the heat! Dissipating 500w in a pizza box is going to be interesting.

Current thought is closed loop water cooling. Passive 250w sinks are going to probably be too big.

One potential option if you have sufficient airflow is the gigabyte wind force cards, their coolers can apparently handle 600w dissipation with 3 fans going full out, you'd think given sufficient through airflow they could handle 250w without fans, just have to remove the fans/shroud

I believe @Patrick is saying they're made for the heat, and power, etc...

 

[Keljian]

Oh I read that- just he is trying to fit consumer cards to an enterprise application, which is going to present challenges.

Consumer cards aren't designed for that density.

 

[azev]

maybe you could get a reference card, take all the plastic cowling and fan off to make it work ??

 

[gigatexal]

Yeah if it gets enough air from the screaming delta fans take the plastic shroud off and throw some heat sinks on it and see if that works.

 

[legopc]

maybe you could get a reference card, take all the plastic cowling and fan off to make it work ??

This would be the best solution. its is often no that difficult to remove the top shroud from the heatspreader and just screw the heatsink back on without the shroud.

 

[Jon Massey]

Any "passive" design is going to be aimed at desktop cases with poor airflow. Any 1U or blade server is going to have high FTB airflow through and if, as per your photo, all the incoming airflow is forced over the heatsink (provided it's design for airflow along the length of the card) you'll be alright just taking the fan out IMHO.

If you look for one with a blower fan like this EVGA - Products - EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti SC GAMING - 06G-P4-4992-KR then you're probably going to have better airflow. Unfortunately it seems like the trend is for an increasing number of DVI/DP connectors on the backplate which means the second slot isn't entirely dedicated to exhaust (or inlet in your case) any more.

 

[Patriot]

That is not The problem... Your problem is how to power the gfx card.

Teslas have them off the end of the card not the side, servers are setup for this... consumer cards are typically off the side, though some have them off the rear.

 

[Aluminum]

980tis with anything but dual slot desktop-oriented coolers do not exist outside of custom waterblocks etc, and all the 'passive' server cards just means they expect the chassis to provide high airflow from noisy screaming fans. Another thing is many of the gamer cards are outside the reference pci dimensions, with larger pcbs, "2.5+ slots" and protruding heatsink parts etc. I have an evga classy 980ti that is monstrously big.

I would look into possibly reversing the airflow of either the server or a consumer card. Given that blowers often don't work the same in reverse, reversing the rest of the server is probably a lot easier/safer.

Ideally get a regular case though...

 

[William]

Will a K40 fit in that ?

 

[Patrick]

@William - I think it would.

@Aluminum I think the reference coolers are a best bet. A different case is not an option as we have to review the blade servers.

@Patriot - good point especially as these use custom size power cables.

 

[zeynel]

whats about , buying a stock 980Ti and installing a separate VGA cooler like ZalmanVF1000 , without the FAN ?

 

[helsyeah]

Is there a passive cooler for a Tesla M40 or Quadro m6000? If so, there is a chance it will fit a 980ti since they have a similar GPU.

 

[Patrick]

I just ordered a real Tesla.