Coolers
MSI GeForce GTX 660 TwinFrozr OC Edition
MSI's TwinFrozr cooling system was thoroughly studied in one of our reviews. It proved to be very efficient, noisy, and good for overclockers.
Here we have a large copper heatsink with heatpipes, all nickel-plated. Above is a plastic cover with a pair of fans. The memory chips have no cooling. The power transistors boast a metal plate heatsink.
This TwinFrozr is the quietest of all the TwinFrozrs we've ever seen. Its top fan speed keeps at the nice 1500 rpm. The minimum speed is about 1000 rpm, so the noise dissolves in other noises the enclosure makes.
MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC Power Edition
As in many other graphics cards, here MSI used a Cyclone cooling system by Zalman. The single, large, high-quality fan is mounted between a pair of arc-like heatsinks combined with central heatpipes. There is also a round heatsink under the fan. As in the TwinFrozr, all the parts are made of copper alloy. The memory chips and power transistors have no cooling.
The top fan speed is 1100 rpm, so the card isn't noisier than the rest of the PC.
MSI GeForce GTX 650 OC Power Edition
This low-range graphics adapter features MSI's new hybrid cooling system. By default, it consists of a single central heatsink with a special cover, which includes one fan. If you need extra cooling, you can move the cover along the heatsink and place the second fan closer to the connectors on the back. Also, you can mount the second fan onto the first to increase the airflow. However, in this case the adapter will take an extra slot. In fact, this much cooling isn't required for a low-range GeForce GTX 650.
The memory chips and the power transistor have no individual cooling, they're cooled by the main heatsink.
The graphics card makes some noise, the fan speed being 1500 rpm. Whether one or two fans are installed, it makes no substantial difference.
Temperature monitoring results
We measured temperatures using the EVGA PrecisionX utility.
MSI GeForce GTX 660 TwinFrozr OC Edition
MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC Power Edition
MSI GeForce GTX 650 OC Power Edition (single fan)
MSI GeForce GTX 650 OC Power Edition (two fans)
After working non-stop for 6 hours, the hottest card was MSI GeForce GTX 660 TwinFrozr OC Edition, measuring just 62°C. MSI GeForce GTX 650 Ti OC Power Edition was colder due to the excellent Zalman cooling system. As for the Transthermal cooler of MSI GeForce GTX 650 OC Power Edition, it was really an overkill, especially with two fans. In fact, the second fan made little difference to both temperature and noise.
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