Why not sell w/o heatsink?

[Babrbarossa]

I wish that high end video cards could be bought without a heatsink. The heatsinks on those 8800 GTs/x cards must add about 75 dollars to the price- Manufacturers should consider a bare bones models for use with aftermarket cooling with a limited warranty, and knock a 100 or so bucks off the price.

If companies are trying to win over the enthusiast for our marketing help, they should woo us with products like that-

[Deathspawner]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

The heatsinks on those 8800 GTs/x cards must add about 75 dollars to the price

And I wonder how much good they do, since my 8800GTX runs at 80C idle. It's a good idea, but it won't happen because of warranty purposes.

[Babrbarossa]

wow! that's hot even for a GTX.

I wonder if there's some way that they could limit the warranty to get around being responsible for boneheads toasting them because they didn't install the cooling properly.

You're right, though- marketing enthusiast hardware can be a real liability in the warranty department- I think that's part (i said part) of the evga's problem with the 680i - they've made a product that has some crazy features and they've encouraged people to use them, and now every idiot with 250 bucks is doing all kinds of messed up things with these boards. I have a feeling an awful lot of those people moaining on their message board are responsible for their own problems.

[enaberif]

High end video cards without a cooler is like driving a ferrair running 87 octane, its just not a smart idea.

[Deathspawner]

Originally Posted by Babrbarossa

evga's problem with the 680i - they've made a product that has some crazy features and they've encouraged people to use them, and now every idiot with 250 bucks is doing all kinds of messed up things with these boards. I have a feeling an awful lot of those people moaining on their message board are responsible for their own problems.

It's a fine line. Put out an enthusiast motherboard that actually fits in that class, or limit the overclocking potential and risk losing sales? Even with their RMAs... they should still be in money.

It reminds me when a few memory companies complained when DFI first released their M2R/G board with 3.0v memory capabilities. In that case, the memory companies are somewhat stuck. They limit the voltage in their warranty, but it's difficult to tell how much voltage the modules were actually fed when they were killed.

[Babrbarossa]

Originally Posted by enaberif

High end video cards without a cooler is like driving a ferrair running 87 octane, its just not a smart idea.

More like running a ferarri with sugar in the gas tank- I wasn't suggesting running it without cooling- I was saying I'd like to see them sold without stock cooling so that we can put our own cooling on them like watercooling.

[sswilson]

The card wouldn't be on the market for a day before some idiot plugged it into his system without adding cooling.

As much as I think this is a good idea.... ain't ever gonna happen!!!

Yeah personally I have no desire whatsoever for stock cooling solutions for video cards. That said though, I don't think they add much in terms of cost to the card. Maybe $25 tops.

[Babrbarossa]

I was thinking 75 bucks might be high, but those 8800 coolers are so elaborate.

[Beermaster]

Is the cooling on the 8800 really that bad? should i really consider changing out the stock solution