This has been a good one -- it is about 4 or 5 years old.
root@suzdesk:/# lspci -v | grep -A14 VGA
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GT200 [GeForce GTX 260] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: eVga.com. Corp. Device 1257
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
Memory at e2000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
Memory at e0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=32M]
I/O ports at 2000 [size=128]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [68] MSI: Enable- Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [78] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Virtual Channel
Capabilities: [128] Power Budgeting <?>
Capabilities: [600] Vendor Specific Information: ID=0001 Rev=1 Len=024 <?>
Kernel driver in use: nvidia
root@suzdesk:/# apt-cache policy nvidia-glx
nvidia-glx:
Installed: 319.17-0.siduction.0
Candidate: 319.17-0.siduction.0
Version table:
*** 319.17-0.siduction.0 0
100 http://packages.siduction.org/experimental/ unstable/non-free amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
304.88-2 0
500 http://http.debian.net/debian/ unstable/non-free amd64 Packages
I don't remember any more whether it is passively-cooled -- I think it has a built-in fan.
Previously I had a GT9600 -- it is still running in a Windows box somewhere. It was definitely passively cooled and had no problem with Debian Linux.