ASRock, the global leading manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, mini PCs, and gaming monitors, today launched the first passive series graphics cards -- ASRock AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX Passive 24 GB and ASRock AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT Passive 20 GB graphics cards.

ASRock Radeon RX 7900 Passive series graphics cards are powered by the AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX and Radeon RX 7900 XT GPUs. Both of these two cards are supporting multi-GPU collaborative computing, and designed for multi-card parallel computing for better performance. ASRock AMD Radeon RX 7900 Passive series graphics cards are featuring a VAPOR-CHAMBER heatsink, efficiency aluminum cooling fins with v-shaped cutting. Furthermore, thanks to the single horizontal 12V-2x6 power connector, to install couple of ASRock AMD Radeon RX 7900 Passive series graphics cards become much easily due to less power cords.

Palit Microsystems Ltd., a leading graphics card manufacturer, proudly announces the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB KalmX and StormX Series graphics cards. The GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB GPU is built with the powerful graphics performance of the NVIDIA Ampere architecture. It offers dedicated 2nd gen RT Cores and 3rd gen Tensor Cores, new streaming multiprocessors, and high-speed G6 memory to tackle the latest games.

GeForce RTX 3050 6 GB KalmX: Passive Cooling. Silent Gaming
Introducing the Palit GeForce RTX 3050 KalmX, where silence meets performance in perfect harmony. The KalmX series, renowned for its ingenious fan-less design, redefines your gaming experience. With its passive cooling system, this graphics card operates silently, making it ideal for both gaming and multimedia applications. Available on shelves today—2nd February 2024.

A Reddit user has shared their experience of passively cooling an AMD Ryzen 9 7950X, with some modifications to the setup. Using the Streacom DB4 passively cooled case, the user u/AromaticImpress7778 pulled off cooling a processor with 16 cores and 32 threads with a TDP of 170 Watts. Interestingly, the Streacom DB4 case rates CPU support for only 65 Watts, meaning some modifications were in place. To support the high-TDP CPU, the user used two of the one-kilogram copper bars and attached them to the case. Heat is transferred to the two one-kilogram blocks using the case's default plate and an additional 233-gram copper plate for the CPU and motherboard. These big copper blocks are not soldered to the case, but instead, the user puts Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut liquid metal between copper parts and Arctic MX-6 between the case and copper.

To cool the AMD Ryzen 9 7950X and MSI B650I board, accompanied by HDPlex GaN 250 W and 64 GB of memory, the system did well enough for a passive build. After running the system at full load, the CPU reached 95 degrees Celsius for CCD1 and 95 degrees Celsius for CCD2. The external panels of the Streacom DB4 case were getting 50C to 60C of heat. Additionally, the user noted that the usage of this system will be more relaxed, as it will not run under full load for a prolonged period. Regarding the system's total weight, the entire build weighs around 13 KG, with 4.4 KG of that being only copper. The case weighs 7.5 KG, and the other parts weigh about one kilogram.

Gigabyte has already announced several new X570S motherboards which all feature passive cooling thanks to the upgraded chipset. These motherboards were all on the larger size so it is good to see that Gigabyte is also planning to update their Mini-ITX X570I Aorus Pro Wifi with the new chipset. The X570SI Aorus Pro AX removes the chipset cooling fan found on the old model and increases VRM cooling with a new heatsink. The motherboard will retain all the features of the original including Wifi 6 with the product name change simply for cohesiveness.

ARCTIC, today introduces two new semi-passive case fans. A special 0-decibel mode enables completely silent operation when power is not needed. The P12 PWM PST 0 dB fans are available in two different variants, with analog RGB lighting as well as digital A-RGB. Clever feature for silence lovers: The new semi-passive case fans switch to passive mode when the PWM signal falls below 10 %. This allows silent operation at low load while guaranteeing the highest performance when needed.

At full speed, the hydrodynamic sleeve bearing and the new, rubberized contact surfaces reduce noise levels to a minimum. Plus, form has been considered as well as function: twelve RGB LEDs and a transparent rotor provide even, rich illumination. Thanks to high static pressure, the P12 PWM PST 0 dB fans guarantee efficient cooling, even with increased air resistance. An integrated Y-splitter for fan and RGB connection also make them easy to combine.

AMD introduced their X570 chipset back in July 2019 to coincide with the launch of Ryzen 3000 processors. The X570 chipset consumed more power than previous chipsets and required a dedicated cooling fan on most boards which were often noisy or unreliable. AMD appears to be preparing an updated more efficient X570S silent chipset with passive cooling. Gigabyte has recently submitted eight new motherboards to the EEC which appear to feature the new chipset. The specific models submitted include the AORUS MASTER, AORUS ELITE AX, AORUS ELITE, AORUS PRO AX, AERO G, and GAMING X. It remains to be seen if all of these models make it to market and whether or not other manufacturers are preparing new boards.

The NVIDIA RTX 3080 is a 320 W TDP card making it impractical for conventional contained passive cooling solutions. Commercial passively cooled cards such as the GTX 1050 Ti, and GTX 1650 Ti all come in with a TDP of less than 100 W and even then require large heatsinks. Mical Wong, the founder of Turemetal a company specializing in passively cooled computers has managed to create a passively cooled PC with an RTX 3080 and Ryzen 5 5600X. The PC features the companies flagship Turemetal UP10 case.

The system booted but was unusable at stock settings with the RTX 3080 quickly overwhelming the cooling system when running at 100%. The GPU reached 87 degrees Celsius within minutes when running Furmark with a total system power draw of 410 W. The Turemetal UP10 is only officially rated for 300 W system cooling so the fact that this worked at all is quite impressive. With some CPU, and GPU configuration and power limiting, it would appear feasible to create such a system assuming you could afford it.

Noctua has recently updated their 2021 product roadmap pushing a number of products back one quarter including their passive CPU cooler. The passive CPU cooler, black NF-A12x25 fans, black NH-U12A, and NH-U12A heatsinks have all been delayed from Q1 2021 to Q2 2021 the only product which remains on track for a Q1 2021 release is the redux line CPU cooler. The release of white Noctua fans has also been pushed from Q2 2021 until Q3 2021, products expected to release in Q3 and Q4 2021 remain on track. These new delays are likely due to the return of COVID-19 lockdowns and are only estimates which are subject to change.

Noctua revealed their prototype passive cooler at Computex 2019 it weighed in at 1.5 kg and could dissipate 120 W passively or 180 W with quiet case fans. The prototype included mounting for both AM4 and LGA 115x sockets with the cooler able to keep an Intel i9-9900K cool under load. Noctua has been working towards releasing a commercial passive cooler in Q1 2021. This new cooler has recently been pictured by @FanlessTech and is reportedly about to enter mass production. Noctua is likely to announce more information about this new cooler in the coming months.

High-end processors such as the Intel Core i9-10900 usually requires a hefty cooler, usually equipped with high-speed fans, but Akasa's new Maxwell Pro fanless Mini-ITX case can tame the beast, all whilst producing nothing but silence. The Comet Lake Core i9 comes with ten cores and twenty threads; and a max turbo frequency of 5.2 GHz, making it one of the most powerful processors on the market. Our tests have shown its impressive benchmark scores whilst being passively cooled in the Maxwell Pro, making it perfect for assisting the processor in activities such as content creation and 4K video. The case is a high-performance fanless case that can handle up to 65 W TDP, and can adequately maintain temperatures around 80°C.

In Cinebench R20, a multi-core stress test program, we achieved exceptional multithreaded scores of 4010, with an average core frequency of 3.1 GHz. Temperatures averaged at a cool 78°C, and never went over 91°C. These results show the excellent cooling power of the passive case, able to tame the mighty Core i9 10900.

Akasa, the maker of all kinds of cooling solutions, storage accessories, and cases, today launched a new type of case. Called the Gem, the case is a passively cooled design made for Raspberry Pi 4 in mind. Featuring a unique design that reminds of a gem, the case got its name from it. The case is made from 100% aluminium and its body is sturdy and provides efficient heat dissipation ensures the system runs optimally, even under a heavy workload. The case has an L shaped block that connects the parts that generate heat with an external shell. It covers the SoC and power management integrated circuit, which is a rare design decision. The other block is covering the USB controller. The case features precision cutouts so every bit of I/O is accessible including GPIO, microSD, Ethernet, USB, camera, and display connectors. You can purchase the case here for approximately $40.

Cooler Master, a popular maker of computer peripherals, has today launched a Kickstarter campaign for its latest project - a Raspberry Pi 4 case. Called the Pi Case 40, it is made from 100% aluminium and provides passive cooling to the Pi chip. Designed exclusively for Raspberry Pi 4, the case has precise port cutouts so every port is accessible. The case has a hatch on the side for GPIO cutout, however, the use of HATs is prevented as it gets blocked. The case is capable of providing sufficient cooling to the chip, and the design files are open source. With the purchase, you get the VESA mounting adapter so you can attach the case to anything with a VESA mount. If you sign up for the waitlist now, you get a 25% off discount, however, exact pricing is unknown.

MSI rolled out a full-height, passive-cooled GeForce GT 1030 graphics card. The MSI GT 1030 2GH OC features a large, 2 slots-thick monoblock aluminium heatsink cooling the GPU and memory. Armed with 2 GB of memory, it features factory-overclocked speeds of 1265 MHz core, 1518 MHz GPU Boost, and an untouched 6.00 GHz (GDDR5-effective) memory. With a typical board power of 30W, the card relies on the PCI-Express bus for all its power. Based on the GP108 silicon, the GeForce GT 1030 features 384 CUDA cores, 24 TMUs, 16 ROPs, and 64-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, holding 2 GB of memory.

Heatpipe cooling expert Calyos unveiled a passive-cooling kit for the Thermaltake Core P3 chassis. The kit mounts on to the panel bolts of the Core P3, and is an elaborate passive cooling heatsink, from which two sets of heat pipes make their way out. One of these mount on to the CPU (supports all modern socket types), and the other to a graphics card. The kit can handle thermal loads of up to 100W TDP for the CPU, and up to 180W TDP for the graphics card. That's enough cooling for a machine with a Core i7-6700K processor, and a GeForce GTX 1080 graphics card. Calyos will unveil this kit at its 2017 International CES booth.

Raijintek unveiled its first liquid cooler that works without a prime-mover for the coolant (i.e. no pump). Further, its radiator lacks fans (i.e. no power, no noise). This closed-loop cooler works in the same principle as a heat pipe, with a combination of convention and phase-change doing the heavy lifting of heat-transfer. Heat from the source (your CPU) causes the special coolant to change phase to vapor, move to the heat-exchanger (radiator), where it condenses back to liquid, and flows back down to the block. We saw this contraption in action, and we can tell you that it works. It is ready for the real-world. Raijintek spent vast amounts of R&D budget developing this technology, and has patented it in most markets. We could see the first products based on this technology very soon.

Thermalright is working on a massive new CPU heatsink, so massive, that it won't leave much room to strap a fan on. Pictured below, the new HR-22 is [intended to be] a passive CPU cooler with a large aluminum fin heat dissipation area, to which heat from the base is conveyed by eight 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat pipes. Should you decide to use fans, with a rectangle fin profile, the cooler appears to allow you to strap 140~120 mm fans on its longer sides, and 80 mm fans on its shorter ones.

Thermalright is calling the HR-22 its next masterpiece. Said the company in its Facebook post, "Thermalright's signature model the HR-02, has turn the impossible to possible and shown the world the power of passive cooling. Now we introduce to you our next masterpiece, the HR-22." The new cooler is slated for 2013, we expect the company to use CES (early-January) as its launchpad.

Perhaps the fastest silent graphics card in the making, PowerColor's new HD 6850 SCS3 finally taken shape, and will launch soon. The card was spotted first in November 2010, but has since undergone many little changes, particularly with its PCB and components. The card is designed to draw power from one 6-pin power connector, and run the GPU at reference speeds, while relying entirely on a massive heatsink to cool it. The heatsink uses five copper heat pipes to draw heat directly from the GPU, and through the large aluminum fin array. The HD 6850 features 960 stream processors, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface.

PowerColor is readying the first AMD Radeon HD 6850 graphics card that features a passive cooler, a completely silent cooling solution. The company is currently evaluating a new design that makes use of a large GPU heatsink featuring an aluminum fin array that ensures the card occupies just two expansion slots, while adding surface area by propagating to the top of the card, in an L-shape. The heatsink uses no less than five heat pipes to convey heat to the fins. PowerColor's card will be branded under the company's "SCS3" line of silent graphics cards. Based on the 40 nm "Barts" silicon, the AMD Radeon HD 6850 features 960 stream processors, and 1 GB of GDDR5 memory over a 256-bit wide memory interface. Availability and pricing is unknown as the design is yet to be finalized.

SPARKLE Computer Co., Ltd., the professional VGA card manufacturer and supplier, today announced the SPARKLE GeForce GT 220 1GB DDR2 Passive Graphics Card- with low power and passive cooling design, it brings excellent 3D performance and silent working environment to mainstream users.

Taking the power consumption and performance increase into account, the SPARKLE GeForce GT 220 1GB DDR2 Passive Graphics Card feature 40nm chip process from TSMC and exclusive power-saving technology from SPARKLE. The advanced 40nm process significantly reduces the power consumption and GPU core temperature, making them to be low power and energy-saving products and protecting our environments. Compared with the ordinary GT220 which sell in the market, the SPARKLE GeForce GT 220 1GB DDR2 Passive Graphics Card can save 20% power consumption during full loading mode.

We also dropped by the Chieftec booth and they have some nice enclosures on display. The most interesting one is the ITX case with large heatsinks on both sides, which are attached to heatpipes. These in turn cool the CPU and chipset of an Atom ION board. Due to the inability to accommodate the different board layouts, Chieftec will be offering these cases to OEMs who will then also receive a custom cooling solution to fit the mainboard they are using. The case also features a Soundgraph VFD and slot for a slim-line optical drive. We were also witness to a computer case which dispenses beer when needed. What else could you ask for?

Apparently there is still a huge number of AGP users that want to upgrade their graphics, yet are not willing to invest in a new system with PCI-Express support. PowerColor has listened to those requests and has now announced the PowerColor HD 4670 AGP PCS which is going to be the fastest card available for this dying interface.The cornerstone specs are 1 GB GDDR3, 128 bit memory interface, 750 MHz core, 800 MHz memory.

Barely months into being an ATI add-in board partner, XFX refuses to be a newbie to the scene. After starting off the proceedings with non-reference designs for most of its initial product lineup, XFX adds yet another of its own designs to its small yet formidable ATI Radeon HD 4000 series: a passive-cooled design for an HD 4650 model.

Pictured by ATI-Forum at the ongoing CeBIT event, the XFX Radeon HD 4650 silent keeps up with XFX' black and red colour scheme. The PCB stays black, so does the heatsink over the GPU. Two heatpipes convey heat from the heatsink to a dense array of aluminum fins at the back of the card. One can expect reference clock-speeds for the card, considering its USP mainly is its silent cooling, and not exactly its cooling efficiency to aid overclocking. XFX may announce this card shortly.

First reported to Fudzilla, US online retailers, Newegg.com and Directron.com, have listed a passively cooled 9800GT based graphics card from BFG. Although there has been no official announcement, it has now also appeared on the companies own website named as the 9800 GT 512MB PCIe 2.0 with ThermoIntelligence Passive Cooling Solution. With a part number of BFGE98512GTHE, the card sports a quad heatpipe cooler mounted on the back of the card, as is usually found with most passive cooling solutions, though BFG seems to have done away with any memory and voltage regulator cooling. The card has no factory overclock so runs at the reference clocks of 600 MHz on the core, 1500 MHz on the shaders and a memory clock of 1800 MHz. Despite the card being sold as passively cooled, it is interesting to note that BFG has stated in the card's system requirements, "System chassis intake airflow greater than or equal to 25 CFM being directed towards the graphics card." Current pricing puts the card in at around $160 (US) with what would appear to be immediate availability.