Silent videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

Evgenie Rudometov

Rudometov@rudometov.com

Applying firm solutions of cooling of the high-powered semiconductor chips, providing usage of several heat sinks and thermal handsets, company Gigabyte has released completely silent videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

Modern high-powered computers demand the adequate videocards which basis is made by powerful geometry processors (GPU). These units on level teploobrazovanija frequently do not concede to the high colleagues – to PC central processor units (CPU).

For support of correct operation of the videocards created on the basis of such GPU, cooling powerful tools are required. Last are usually presented by the "cooler" specially developed under everyone videocard consisting of the heat sink, installed and fixed on GPU, and also powerful fan intensively blowing in the given heat sink. At all simplicity and efficiency there is for such systems one serious disadvantage: they represent a powerful source of acoustic noise.

However thanks to application of current technologies variants of cooling systems and without fans are possible. As an example of one of such solutions it is possible to result videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H created on the basis of rather powerful GPU  — NVIDIAGeForce 8600 GTS.

Package and key parametres Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

Fig. 1. A package of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

Into package structure enter: a packing box; videocard GigabyteGV-NX86S256H created on the basis of video chip NVIDIAGeForce 8600 GTS, cables and adapters, the documentation in English, CD-ROM with the software.

Key parametres of videocard GigabyteGV-NX86S256H are resulted in Table 1.

Table 1. Key parametres of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

Units and subsystems	Parametres
The geometry processor	NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS
The hooking up interface	PCI Express x16
Size of a video memory, Mb	256
Width the bus of a video memory, bit	128
Video memory type	GDDRIII 16Mx32
D-SUB	Yes (through the adapter)
TV-OUT	Yes
DVI	Yes (DVI-I)
VIVO	No
MultiView	Yes

The minimum system requirements necessary for correct operation of a videocard, are presented in Table 2.

Table 2. The minimum system requirements

Units and subsystems	Parametres
The central processor unit	Intel of Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon
The hooking up interface	PCI Express x16
Size of dynamic storage, Mb	128 (2048 or more – for bolshej productivity)
The optical drive for installation ON	CD-ROM or DVD-ROM
The operating system	OS Windows Vista, Windows XP with SP2, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows 2000
Power supply unit, W	450

The videocard supports Direct  10 and OpenGL  2.0, processing techniques PureVidio and SLI. For the organisation of pattern SLI two maps GigabyteGV-NX86S256H, and also the motherboard with two PCIExpess x16 slots are required, SLIbridge connector and it is recommended to use a power supply unit power of 1000 W and above.

Features of construction Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

Widespread resources of cooling of the high-powered video chips, consisting of the heat sink and the fan, generate, as is known, considerable acoustic noise. The given noise is the negative factor. With it implementators of all computer components, forced to use traditional coolers try to struggle.

However there are also the alternative variants which are not providing usages of fans. For example, maintenance of the video chip of a temperature mode necessary for correct operation can be reached by means of the several compact heat sinks jointed by special heat-conducting handsets. Such handsets have received the name thermal (Heat Pipe).

For the first time the idea of application for transmission of heat of pipes with a high thermal conduction has been offered in 1942. However only the last years they began to use intensively in coolers of monolithic microcircuits. And as it has appeared, on efficiency thermal handsets many times over exceed possibilities of continuous copper cores of equal diameter with them.

The principle of operation of thermal handsets is grounded on thermophysics of transformation of the liquids concluded in hollow handsets, vehicles of transmission of thermal energy playing a role.

Specially picked up liquid under the influence of heat derivated, for example, from operation graphics or central processor units passes in a gaseous state. Thus at the expense of transformation heat considerable quantity, for example warmth of steam formation for water is swallowed very much makes 539 calories on each gramme.

In a vaporous state the liquid reaches the cold end of the thermal handset jointed to the heat sink, disseminating heat. At the expense of cooling the liquid in a thermal handset is condensed, giving heat to a handset, and from it and to the heat sink. At this stage warmth of steam formation comes back back through the heat sink in environing air environment (a Fig. 2).

Fig. 2. A principle of operation of a thermal handset

It is necessary to mark, that the internal surface of the hollow metal handset playing a role thermal, is coated by special capillary-porous substance. skondensirovavshajasja the liquid at the expense of forces of surface-tension through the given porous substance gets again to hot area.

At this stage the cycle is ended to repeat again and again. It also ensures functioning of the thermal pump which role is fulfilled by the described thermal handset handling thermal energy from the protected semiconducting unit to the heat sink.

It is necessary to mark, that such handset is capable to handle thermal energy in considerable quantities and with a high speed. It is necessary to pick up correctly only a liquid or mixture of liquids that steam formation occurred in a demanded band of temperatures taking into account pressure in the shorted space of a handset. Usually the temperature range which is required for correct operation of semiconducting units and is installed for thermal handsets, makes from 20 to 100 °s.

For cooling both GPU, and CPU as a working liquid can use water (a band of an operating temperature from 30 to 200 °s) or acetone (a band of an operating temperature from 0 to 120 °s). As a substance of a thermal handset, as a rule, use copper, but the steel can be applied and aluminium, and even. As to the capillary-porous substance applied in thermal handsets it should be enough melkoporistym for improvement of capillary effect. However designers should consider, that too melkoporistaja the structure can interfere with liquid penetration. It is necessary to mark, that the choice of the given substance depends both on a liquid, and from an operating temperature, and from total length of a thermal handset.

Usage of thermal handsets allows to create constructions from the several heat sinks jointed together. Such construction is arranged optimally on a surface of a videocard for the purpose of effective dispersion of heat taking into account existing air streams. She allows to support a necessary thermal functional mode of semiconducting accessories of a videocard at complete absence of acoustic noise.

Such construction has been taken as a principle systems of cooling of video chip NVIDIAGeForce 8600 GTS videocards Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H. The method of cooling by means of the given construction consisting of several heat sinks and thermal handsets, has been named by experts Gigabyte processing technique Silent-Pipe.

Appearance of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H is resulted in a Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Appearance of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

In a construction of this videocard the cooling system with the thermal handsets described above jointing heat sinks is used. Appearance of the given system is presented in a Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Cooling system of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

The turned out video subsystem is completely silent, that raises its attractiveness among potential users.

The specified construction of cooling well functions in an open system unit. However its efficiency essentially raises in case of usage of streams of air, obrazuemyh at the expense of existing case fans. Thus sucked in cold air cools videocard heat sinks, transiting at first through slices of the heat sink allocated for ports, and further – through slices of the heat sink installed on GPU (a Fig. 5). Thermal handsets carry out thermal link between the given heat sinks, providing alignment of temperatures. In addition to operation of the given construction the part of an air stream cools a videocard underside. It is helped substantially by a stream from a processor cooler.

Fig. 5. The main air streams linked to videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H

It is necessary to mark, that efficiency Silent-Pipe in system unit correctly designed and supplied with case fans is high enough. Operational testing of described videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H testifies to it in tank Foxconn.

Absence in a construction of a videocard of the local fan provides complete noiselessness of its operation. But, as it has been shown above, efficiency of the described system of cooling depends on presence of the air streams which main share is formed by case fans. And these fans are acoustic noise sources. As a result the impression that there was a substitution of one source on another can be added.

However it is necessary to consider, that tendency to minimisation of the sizes of a videocard forces designers to apply the fan of the small sizes in local system of cooling. For support corresponding considerable teploobrazovaniju GPU an air stream the given fan should have rather high rotating speed.

The cooling problem becomes complicated also that traditional ways of lowering of temperature of heat sink GPU are linked to moving of internal, warm streams of air. As a result it is necessary to increase even more a rotating speed of the fan of a videocard, and it becomes a powerful source of the acoustic noise which maximum of intensity, by the way, is in a band of sharp response of a human ear.

Case fans have considerably bolshy diameter. For derivation of necessary streams of air they have essentially smaller rotating speed in comparison with the videocard fan, as provides smaller level of acoustic noise. Considering that streams of external, rather cold air participate in videocard cooling, the rotating speed of case fans is not high. All it also explains expediency of usage of the described system of cooling.

As to productivity of the specified videocard it has been estimated in the course of testing.

Productivity

Pattern of the system used in testing of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H:

·         the Motherboard of Intel D975XBX (a chip set i975X),

·         the Processor of Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (Conroe, Dual Core, 65 nanometers, 2,93 GHz, the bus — 1066 MHz, L2  — 4 Mb),

·         Dynamic storage DDR2 667, two Apacer units on 1 Gbyte, two channels,

·         Videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H (chip NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GTS, bus PCI Express x16),

·         Hard disk drive Seagate in 7200.10 size of 750 Gbytes,

·         OC Operating system Windows 2003 Enterprise Server.

The performance level of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H is characterised by the numerical data resulted in table 3 and on fig. 6. As the standard the videocard created on the basis of chip Ati Radeon X600 has been selected. This map made by company ASUSTeK, was among leaders only several years ago.

Table 3. Results of performance of the test 3DMark05

Videocard	Results
GV-NX86S256H	11721
Ati Radeon X600	2293

Fig. 6. Results of performance of the test 3DMark05

The cited data do not require remarks and testify to high efficiency of videocard Gigabyte GV-NX86S256H.

In summary it is possible to recommend the given map to a wide range of the users aspiring to silent, rather high-powered systems.

Videocard GV-NX86S256H has been given by the Moscow office of company Gigabyte