While OEM GTS had passively cooled models, it's not good for GPU chip longevity, unless it's significantly bigger.

might be ok if you have a fan blowing on the card and a bigger heatsink.

But if the MX came with passive heating, why would the GeForce 2 need a fan? Isnt it practically the same card?
Also the stock heatsink and fan of the GTS are really nothing special, the heatsink feels like it was made from plastic and the fan is tiny.

smullyoz wrote on 2023-06-08, 02:40:

But if the MX came with passive heating, why would the GeForce 2 need a fan? Isnt it practically the same card?

No. Both GF2 and GF2MX have same structure size, but the GF2 has a bigger die and double performance of the MX.
So expect the GF2 to have a bigger power dissipation.

I have a graphics card (Geforce 2 GTS) cooled only by a heatsink, it looks like this

I'd look for a cheap card with a large heatsink, preferrably higher TDP than the GTS and use that.

Something like the FX5200 for example.

Edit.
But pay attention to the caps on the GTS. it limits the size of the heatsink you can use.

I’d probably just get a generic 40mm (or 50mm if the heatsink is 50x50) and screw it directly to the new heatsink. That kind of heatsink you can usually slightly bend a few fins to give enough purchase to some screws.

I’d not risk running it passively personally, old hardware isn’t getting easier to find, so keeping kit in a working condition by being kind to it makes sense IMO.

Geforce 256 consumes just under 20W, 2 GTS slightly below 10W and 2 MX 5-ish watts.
At 10W you'll want active cooling if there isn't a fan nearby blowing into that heatsink.

I don't have any advice that I feel very strongly about. I have active cooling on my Hercules 3D Prophet II and the air that comes off it is room temperature. The card just doesn't get hot. It wouldn't surprise me if passive cooling is fine on it. Power consumption of a Geforce 2 is supposed to be in the ball park of Voodoo 3s, which often(?) had passive cooling.

Yes but the Voodoo 3 ran very hot and often had a pretty big heatsink. I would just ensure you have at least a case fan blowing over it (e.g from the front).

You can feel how much these cards really heating up under load by just touching PCB under the chip area. Or just observe discoloration, if it's green/blue PCB.

There is basically no reason not to actively cool these cards if easily possible, just to help them survive longer.

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-06-08, 06:14:

I'd look for a cheap card with a large heatsink, preferrably higher TDP than the GTS and use that. […]
Show full quote

I'd look for a cheap card with a large heatsink, preferrably higher TDP than the GTS and use that.

Something like the FX5200 for example.

Edit.
But pay attention to the caps on the GTS. it limits the size of the heatsink you can use.

Unfortunately these are still $50+ on ebay. But the heatsink look like it will fit the GTS.

smullyoz wrote on 2023-06-11, 23:29:

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-06-08, 06:14:

I'd look for a cheap card with a large heatsink, preferrably higher TDP than the GTS and use that. […]
Show full quote

I'd look for a cheap card with a large heatsink, preferrably higher TDP than the GTS and use that.

Something like the FX5200 for example.

Edit.
But pay attention to the caps on the GTS. it limits the size of the heatsink you can use.

Unfortunately these are still $50+ on ebay. But the heatsink look like it will fit the GTS.

Good thing ebay is neither the only nor the best place to buy these. Look up some local trading sites, you'll find some between $5-10. These are the TNT2-M64 and Trio64V of the early-2000s.

Geforce 256 consumes just under 20W, 2 GTS slightly below 10W and 2 MX 5-ish watts.

Are we sure about it? I was expecting the GTS gpu at the default clocks to consume more watts than that while the classic MX gpu ran cool but as soon as clocks were higher it needed that heatsink for sure.
Anyway in that time most were using thin heatsink and bad fans, I imagine for costs reason and probably weight on the GPU/PCB design. Also not the greatest time in heat management if we look at the Rage 128 Pro thin heatsink and fast fan, the Geforce 256 gpu heatsinks usually equally bad, the Voodoo3 chip ones, the Hercules Kyro2 "heatsink" design and its fan etc..

I have a GF2 GTS which didn't have a heatsink and with a passive heatsink from some radeon 9250 or 9550 (similar to the OP's purple card's heatsink) was not enough and it caused artifacts.
But you can get nice active heatsinks from china for about 4$ that work perfectly.

Problem is the slot for the fan power on the card is that little three pin thing. The ones from your photo won't work.
When googling the fan part # i found a fan replacement but that's $40 with shipping and ill still have to use the original heatsink which is pretty crappy.

Any other video cards besides the GTS use that 3 pin power?

Is the 3rd pin (sense/control) absolutely needed? Depending on the connector/terminal type, it could possibly be as easy as to just disconnect/unlatch and re-insert the wires from 2-pin connector into their corresponding places on the 3-pin connector. Or if not, just solder them correctly.

If I remember correctly, cards on ASUS Deluxe PCBs can actually control RPM of the fan via SpeedFan and also have GPU thermal sensor.