Radeon HD 6850 & 6870 reviews...

[Sam_oslo]

open coolers give you better noise to temp ratio, if you can get the hot air out some other way.

just simple pros and cons

That can be true, if you can get the hot air out without more fans/noise. That's a big IF.

There is fine line here. That hot air will get sucked in and heat up your GPU too, so how can you be so sure that your GPU will run cooler/quieter?. What you can say for sure is: it will damage the CO-headroom for all other components, and this means you need more fans/noise.

The whole discussion started by, why can't they find a better design to eliminate disadvantages of dumping the hot air inside. So, your point is valid, but how do you get that hot air out of your case without more fans/noise? Wasn't it better if those stupid coolers could somehow dump it out by themselves?