Would it be possible to mod a Geforce FX 5950 ultra with that big blower style cooler into a single slot card with a newer more efficient cooler and are such coolers still available?
Probably not, unless you made a bracket or adapter for it.
You might get a cheap China replacement one that has mounting compatibility for it, but I'm not sure how well it does with for example VRAM cooling.
Side note : I'm using NV Silencer 4 on my 5950 Ultra.
With modding, almost anything is possible.
Looks to me like you could mod a Quadro 4000 cooler to fit the FX 5950. Might have to add some extra mounting holes on the cooler to match up with the ones on the card but it might work.
Probably also need some copper spacers for cooling the RAM From pictures it is not perfectly clear to me if thermal transfer pads would work by themselves or not.
Also might be able to make a Thermalright Spitfire cooler fit as well.
wrote:Would it be possible to mod a Geforce FX 5950 ultra with that big blower style cooler into a single slot card with a newer more efficient cooler and are such coolers still available?
Well I have an OEM 5950U that is single slot to start with. I can post a photo if you like.
k6-3+ 400 / s3 virge DX+voodoo1 / awe32(32mb)
via c3 866 / s3 savage4+voodoo2 sli / audigy1+awe64(8mb)
athlon xp 3200+ / voodoo5 5500 / diamond mx300
pentium4 3400 / geforce fx5950U / audigy2 ZS
core2duo E8500 / radeon HD5850 / x-fi titanium
Someone locally is offering me one of those Geforce FX 5950 ultra cards for 40 euros and the cooler just looked so big for a retro pc and I thought it must be very noisy for a retro pc, so I decided to ask about options here before buying.
Is that NV silencer 4 also a dual slot?
I saw in pictures that there are some cards that are just one slot like asus V9980 Ultra, so I thought a single slot should be possible. Just cutting the back bracket in half and putting a smaller more efficient cooler there, but perhaps it is not that simple because of the hole placements on the board.
into a single slot card
You can use coolers from some Geforce 5900XT or GeForce 6800 for example. Memory does not require additional cooling.
I must be some kind of standard: the anonymous gangbanger of the 21st century.
wrote:into a single slot card
You can use coolers from some Geforce 5900XT or GeForce 6800 for example. Memory does not require additional cooling.
Would 7800GS or 8800GT cooler work or too new?
Also anyone knows how loud the original blower style cooler in fx 5950 ultra actually is?
I just finished installing NV silencer 4. unfortunately the card does not fit in the system anymore because there is just so much metal on the other side of the card too with this cooler. Sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose.
I had already removed the hard drive cage from the case and moved the hard drive to the same cage as floppy drive is, but with the metal on the other side too, it does not help with this.
Mine used some variant of the Zalman VF700 (it came pre-installed with this cooler when I bought it second hand) and it worked pretty well (but it could not run FEAR 🤣).
What case are you using?
I personally wouldn't want to skimp on the case, as I prefer to use ones with lots of space. It helps on the cooling department as well.
I also wouldn't skimp on the VGA cooler and just stick the best cooling solution on it, even if it costs me a PCI slot.
wrote:Mine used some variant of the Zalman VF700 (it came pre-installed with this cooler when I bought it second hand) and it worked p […]
Mine used some variant of the Zalman VF700 (it came pre-installed with this cooler when I bought it second hand) and it worked pretty well (but it could not run FEAR 🤣).
What case are you using?
I personally wouldn't want to skimp on the case, as I prefer to use ones with lots of space. It helps on the cooling department as well.
I also wouldn't skimp on the VGA cooler and just stick the best cooling solution on it, even if it costs me a PCI slot.
I don't know model of the case, but it is close to period correct antec tower case from early 2000s. I already ordered and installed 2 new noctua case fans to keep it cool. I don't mind loosing a pci slot, It is only that ridiculous backplate of that cooler that makes it not fit there. I doubt the ram really needs a backplate like that. I installed that cooler on the card because I didn't want my P3 retro system sound loud like a hair dryer like it did with the original cooler. I know a P3 doesn't need the Geforce FX card, but I wanted a nvidia card and don't have many options right now.
