HD 3870 Active or passive cooling

[rudie75]

For my pc i'm getting next saturday i'm getting 2 HD 3870's from Sapphire.

I'm either getting the "toxic", wich has active cooling and is overclocked. (GPU 800mhz, memory 2400mhz).

The other one is the "Ultimate", wich has passive cooling and is the standerd speed. (775mhz, 2250mhz).

I,m wondering wich cooling solution is more effective.

[stinger608]

The active is always the better way to go!!!
The reason that the passive cooled video card is running at stock speeds, is at overclocked speeds heat is a serious issue.
I would go with the cards that have the fans

[gvblake22]

Personally, I would choose the active card, but get a better aftermarket passive cooler like the Accelero S1. I have an Accelero S1 on my X1950Pro running passively and it works great and the price is right too. That way if you don't like loud whine of the little fan on the stock cooler then you can just opt for the Accelero S1 and get a silent cooling system.

Between those two you listed, the "Toxic" one is obviously going to perform a little better because of the faster clock speeds. But in the end, there really won't be much of a noticeable difference unless you are benchmarking.