8600GTS Idea, Tell me, would this work and is it a good idea?

[Trace]

I was thinking..I know it's amazing...anyway, I know 8500'scome with passive cooler's but what if I found an 8600 with a passive cooler. If I were to put say an 80MM fan on it, would I be able to overclock it better then say This.
Or would I not get as good of performance. Right now, I'm looking to pick up that card as a replacement to my 8400GS.

Any thoughts on whether that is a good idea are appreciated.

Thanks,
Trace

[billygoat333]

I have a MSI 8600 gts with a heatsink on it, with a fan blowing directly on the heatsink. keeps it nice and cool. probably not as good as wc'ing, but i have noticed a difference having the fan vs. not having the fan on the hs. it makes it about 5-6 degrees cooler.

[crenn]

It's possible that it will work, but whether it would work better, I'm not sure. It could take up more slots for one.

The other reason is most stock cooling can be massively improved just by replacing the TIM with a good thermal paste.

[Trace]

How would I go about taking the heatsink off? I tried a little bit on my 8400 but I didn't want to break anything

Also, My 8400 Get's up to about 68*C when I'm using it, is this something I should be worried about?

[crenn]

During use, my graphics card gets upto 67c on heavy load. Personally I wouldn't get worried. As for getting the heatsink off, it depends on your card. Normally it's either screws or a couple of push pins.

[J-Roc]

My 8600gts was reaching over 80c with the stock cooler. WCing has brought it way down. Stay clear of passive cooling for higher end cards like the 8600.

Also, you best option for a big overclock is to volt mod with a pencil. Now, i've not yet tried this and i cant really overclock my 8600 more than xfx did. 720/1090 seems to be the top out region, It can go a little higer but when i say little i mean little!