# Radeon HD 6850 Goes Fanless



## vickybat (Aug 9, 2011)

Powercolor has done the unthinkable. The world's first midrange gpu that is passively cooled.. Yeah, the powercolor scs3 6850 does not have a fan but a triple slot heatsink for cooling.

To achieve thermal limits, powercolor hasn't sacrificed performance which means
the scs3 6850 comes with standard 6850 clocks. 

*i51.tinypic.com/idsjtl.jpg

*i51.tinypic.com/257m355.jpg

Read on for more info:

*Source*


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## doomgiver (Aug 9, 2011)

they are crazy!!!
what if we are raving lunatics who want to oc our gpu's by 30%??? thats a sure-fire way to make radioactive slag out of your rig


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## Ishu Gupta (Aug 9, 2011)

Temps are too high on load. Much better with a fan though (Fanless? )
Price is high too.


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## Omi (Aug 9, 2011)

NSI - Not safe for India


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## doomgiver (Aug 9, 2011)

yea... Omi, nice post count


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## asingh (Aug 9, 2011)

Looks bad.


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## coderunknown (Aug 10, 2011)

3 slot passive cooled midrange card that runs hot. whom are they targeting with this card? HTPC gamers with trunk size cabinets?

quote from TH: 


> Thus, it is our opinion that this card should not be operated in a silent PC enclosure without active cooling.



so, whats the use of going fanless if cabby have fans?


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## tkin (Aug 10, 2011)

Hmm, nice looking heater, now we can prepare food while we play, awesome.

Serious note: Absolutely not for Indian climate(except maybe extreme northern states).


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## coderunknown (Aug 10, 2011)

tkin said:


> Hmm, nice looking heater, now we can prepare food while we play, awesome.



yup. its time to replace the ageing XFX Electric Stove Edition with MSI powercolor Microwave Grill Edition 

Gigabyte, Sapphire. these 2 players have (HOT) HD*770 fanless cards. MSI powercolor jump ahead of them with the fastest (& HOTTEST) fanless card.


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## tkin (Aug 10, 2011)

Sam said:


> yup. its time to replace the ageing XFX Electric Stove Edition with MSI Microwave Grill Edition
> 
> Gigabyte, Sapphire & Powercolor. these 3 players have (HOT) HD*770 fanless cards. MSI jump ahead of them with the fastest (& HOTTEST) fanless card.


You mean powercolor right? MSI has NO fanless 6850 afaik....


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## Chaitanya (Aug 10, 2011)

okay now what do manufacturers expect?? 

Should people operate their PC inside refrigerator or @ antarctic?? 

I say it is funny & stupid...


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## vickybat (Aug 10, 2011)

Sam said:


> yup. its time to replace the ageing XFX Electric Stove Edition with MSI Microwave Grill Edition
> 
> Gigabyte, Sapphire & Powercolor. these 3 players have (HOT) HD*770 fanless cards. MSI jump ahead of them with the fastest (& HOTTEST) fanless card.



That's a powercolor card* sam*. MSI does not have any fanless design.

The heatsink of 6850 scs3 is actually topnotch but the lack of a fan takes away all the accolades that it deserves. Yeah the card gets extremely hot and that too in an open test bench.

But in a closed case with a good side intake fan, temps fall but still considered hot for a 6850 core. If powercolor would have added a fan along with the passive cooler, we could have had a winner.

But this card is meant to be this way and definitely not suited for indian conditions.


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## coderunknown (Aug 10, 2011)

vickybat said:


> That's a powercolor card* sam*. MSI does not have any fanless design.



 never read 2 thread at same time. you end with a mess of mixed content. thanks for pointing. corrected.


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## Zangetsu (Aug 10, 2011)

what advantage this card has without fans???meaningless


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## Cilus (Aug 10, 2011)

The price of the card is $215, which is again a lot higher than the standard HD 6850, retailing around $185-$200. 
In this design only when an External fan has been added then it becomes the most silent and cool of all the cards tested in Tomshardware. So I don't think it is a wise buy.


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## Skud (Aug 10, 2011)

Still it's good to see some innovations, as long as newer GPUs are not coming. 

Also good to know is that these GPUs can actually withstand higher temps.

*media.bestofmicro.com/G/0/301248/original/a_temperatur_case_en.png




> Mounting the card into a small cube case is first and foremost a question of whether it will fit at all. But even in such a small chassis the card benefits from airflow, however minimal, and doesn’t shut down or crash, even at simulated full load. The larger the case volume and the faster the airflow, the better this card is cooled, naturally.


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## doomgiver (Aug 12, 2011)

do one thing : add a fan as the TH guys have done. i mean, a straight 40 degree drop in temperature.... wtf were these guys smoking when they decided to forego the fan??? even a el cheapo one would have made this card a 'cooler master' (pun intended).

seriously, instead of busting a nut on increasing passive efficiency by over 9000%, they should have stuck on a nice fan and advertised it as the coolest running gpu in its category. would have turned more heads that way


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## d6bmg (Aug 12, 2011)

This is next gen cooling system


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## Skud (Aug 12, 2011)

It's a show off basically.


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## sumonpathak (Aug 12, 2011)

nice card to test my delta


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## ico (Aug 12, 2011)

not of much use. lol.

Just a fancy thing.


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## coderunknown (Aug 12, 2011)

doomgiver said:


> do one thing : add a fan as the TH guys have done. i mean, a straight 40 degree drop in temperature.... wtf were these guys smoking when they decided to forego the fan??? even a el cheapo one would have made this card a 'cooler master' (pun intended).
> 
> seriously, instead of busting a nut on increasing passive efficiency by over 9000%, they should have stuck on a nice fan and advertised it as the coolest running gpu in its category. would have turned more heads that way



they wanted to show the world that HD6850 can be passive cooled. and they achieved it. now who cares about the temperature. anyway not many will get this overpriced useless oven + GPU. it can't even bake a cake also.


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## vickybat (Aug 12, 2011)

^^ Exactly. You figured it out correctly.


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## d6bmg (Aug 12, 2011)

Sam said:


> they wanted to show the world that HD6850 can be passive cooled. and they achieved it. now who cares about the temperature. anyway not many will get this overpriced useless oven + GPU. it can't even bake a cake also.





But if you think like this: who would want to buy i7-2600k with that stock cooler, that even help to while cooking?


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## coderunknown (Aug 13, 2011)

d6bmg said:


> But if you think like this: who would want to buy i7-2600k with that stock cooler, that even help to while cooking?



for i7 2600k @ stock speed the bundled cooler is enough. for overclock, spend ~2k more. but what will you do with this GPU? pay extra to get an overheating crap? then your brain strikes & you decide to install a GPU cooler = more cash spent. in the end, neither you get a fully functional GPU (replacing the cooler may void warranty) nor a overclockable beast like the unlocked proccy


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## tkin (Aug 13, 2011)

Sam said:


> for i7 2600k @ stock speed the bundled cooler is enough. for overclock, spend ~2k more. but what will you do with this GPU? pay extra to get an overheating crap? then your brain strikes & you decide to install a GPU cooler = more cash spent. in the end, neither you get a fully functional GPU (replacing the cooler may void warranty) nor a overclockable beast like the unlocked proccy


i7 2600k will not run with stock cooler(it'll run at 70c+ under moderate loads), so its really not a good option. I tested this first hand.


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## Skud (Aug 13, 2011)

I guess i7 2600k and this 6850 together can put the "mighty" FX5800 Ultra to shame.


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