Graphics cards with passive cooling

Passive (heatsink)

— passive cooling is called, which is carried out only due to natural heat transfer, without forced heat removal. In video cards, radiators are used for such cooling — characteristic designs in the form of a set of metal plates. This design is directly adjacent to the cooled components, taking heat from them; and a specially selected shape of the plates allows you to effectively dissipate excess energy in the surrounding air. To increase efficiency, radiators can be supplemented with heat pipes — closed tubes with a special heat-conducting liquid inside.

The main advantage of passive cooling is the almost complete absence of noise. In addition, such systems are very reliable and durable (there is practically nothing to fail in them), and their operation does not require additional power. On the other hand, in terms of overall efficiency, radiators are significantly inferior to coolers, not to mention water blocks. However this disadvantage can be compensated (at least partially) by increasing the working area — that is, the size and number of plates; but this, in turn, leads to a significant increase in the dimensions and weight of the entire graphics card. Therefore, nowadays, this type of cooling is used quite rarely, and mainly in entry-level solutions with low performance (and, accordingly, heat dissipation).