"Cold" Vanta \ VOGONS

"Cold" Vanta

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First post, by Ydee

Posted on 2021-09-07, 09:47

Ydee Offline

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I was surprised that the recently purchased Vanta (along with the PC) also runs in a load with a lukewarm radiator.
I remember my first TNT2 M64 from PowerColor, which had a hot (larger) radiator in 2D. Upon closer inspection of the Vanta, it was suddenly clear - the radiator is glued to two spots of glue with a large gap between it and the GPU. Is the radiator an afterthought or was this sloppy a solution out of production?

Reply 1 of 7, by retardware

Posted on 2021-09-07, 10:04

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It doesn't even have the fastening springs common with Nvidia graphics cards.
The holes for the springs seem to be lacking either.

On the other hand, there seems to be a fan connector.
Strange card! Probably a very cheapo generic one.

Reply 2 of 7, by BitWrangler

Posted on 2021-09-07, 13:54

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I've got a couple of Vantas where the heatsink is 404...

... not found, they didn't come with one.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 3 of 7, by Con 2 botones

Posted on 2021-09-07, 14:18

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I had the idea that the "Tnt2 M64" and the "Vanta", besides having both a 64bit bus, are not exactly the same card (the former outperforming the latter)...

All the Vantas I´ve come across have no heatsink. The opposite happens with the M64.

Reply 4 of 7, by konc

Posted on 2021-09-07, 15:16

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Con 2 botones wrote on 2021-09-07, 14:18:

I had the idea that the "Tnt2 M64" and the "Vanta", besides having both a 64bit bus, are not exactly the same card (the former outperforming the latter)...

I believe you are correct, well, depending on how one interprets "same card".
From what I remember the Vanta was 16MB and both core and memory were clocked lower. The M64 was an OK budget card, the Vanta more like the first TNT in fill rate.

Reply 5 of 7, by retardware

Posted on 2021-09-07, 22:50

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I have only one Vanta left for my collection, the others went into the electronics trash long ago.

Jaton 3DForce B-16.

When you look closely, the thermal pad isn't really well centered on the chip.
At least, better than nothing.

Reply 6 of 7, by ODwilly

Posted on 2021-09-08, 03:52

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I had a low profile 8mb Compaq Vanta that had no heatsink and even had a compaq sticker on the die. Came in a matx 800mhz Duron Presario tower my buddy used to play Runescape on that I ended up with.

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 7 of 7, by Ydee

Posted on 2021-09-08, 07:43

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Thank you for the opinions, I cut off the radiator and it's really a manufacturing solution. There's a thermosticker on the radiator, but it wasn't pressed properly and so it didn't fully reach.
The Vanta is a lightweight version of the TNT2 M64 - it should have a maximum of 16 MB of memory and supposedly slower RAMDAC. But this one has 60ns memory chips, so maybe it could go to full TNT2 (PRO) frequencies, if the graphics chip allows. Then it will want a better radiator and use the connector for the fan.

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