Reply 20 of 31, by Anonymous Coward
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- l33t
I'm not aware of any mainstream VGA chips (as in the graphics standard, not the umbrella term for all graphics adapters) which *required* heatsinks for normal operation. The Olivetti Mach32 cards must have been in systems that had really poor ventilation for the OEM to feel a heatsink was necessary.
I think the heatsink on the Cardex was likely stuck on there by an end user. In the late 90s it became trendy to stick heatsinks on everything, especially if you were trying to overclock your hand me down 486 to "Pentium" level performance.
Heatsinks on consumer level graphics cards weren't really a thing until 3D cards came around. I didn't get a 3D card until 1999, so the first one I personally know of was the Voodoo3 2000/3000. I remember my i740 had one too. From what I've seen, I don't believe many voodoo1 or voodoo2s had them from the factory...and no idea about early Nvidia products. From what I can tell Riva 128[ZX] normally didn't have one, but sometimes did...so probably not required by the IC manufacturer. I think the TNT/TNT2 was when heatsink became common on Nvidia cards, especially depending on which flavour you had. The first Nvidia card I owned was a GeForce2 GTS, and it had *active* cooling...the first card I owned with a fan. The Voodoo3-3000 probably should have had a fan from the factory, but for some reason didn't.
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