Taking The GeForce 8600 GT Apart

The cooler was secured to the card by just four spring-loaded screws. So, it was really easy to remove the cooler. With the cooler removed, you can see that this is a very simple card design with the GPU flanked by four memory chips.

Here's a closer look at the G84 GPU. Compared to the G80 GPU, this is a very small chip.

The Cooler

The cooler uses a simple aluminium heatsink with a blower fan attached on one end and a shroud to direct the air flow. The blower fan draws air not only from above but also from below. The cool air is then funneled past the fins of the aluminium heatsink. The hot air is then exhausted towards the bracket.

Of course, since this is a single-slot card, there are no vents for the hot air to exit from the case. So, it gets recirculated within the case. Fortunately, the NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT does not produce a great deal of heat.

The cooler is powered by a single Protechnic Magic 50x10mm fan placed to the right side of the cooler. According to Protechnic Electric's specifications, the MGT5012XC-W10 is a very high-speed fan with two ball bearings and a power output of 2.28W.

This fan spins at 6,200 RPM and is rated with an air flow of 13.61 CFM or 0.386 CMM. It has a noise level of only 36.5 dBA and comes with automatic restart and locked current protection features.