The best Silent gfx card?

ChazHurst · 27 Jul 2008 at 21:13

hi guys i'm looking to downgrade (!!!) from my 8800GTX to something that makes little or no noise. Can anyone tell me what the best solution would be? Or does anyone know if the next gen or later incarnations of this generation of cards will have a silent option?

thanks in advance

mishima · 27 Jul 2008 at 21:16

Why don't you just get this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...Thermalright HR-03-PLUS (8800 GTX) VGA Cooler

ChazHurst · 27 Jul 2008 at 21:20

oh yeah hadn't noticed that... but it does say "Out of Stock" and "No ETA"

If i can get one from elsewhere, how easy are those to fit?

mishima · 27 Jul 2008 at 21:23

Hm, I'm sure theres probably another cooler. Is this something you urgently need? I would check back in a week, and if still "Not ETA" then send OcUK a webnote!

ACESHIGH · 27 Jul 2008 at 22:29

Perhaps... Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT "Ultimate Edition" 512MB GDDR4

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=56&subid=416

Tetras · 27 Jul 2008 at 22:35

Perhaps... Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT "Ultimate Edition" 512MB GDDR4

Anyone who buys this watch out, the bulk of the cooler is carried on the back of the card so it might collide with the mobo northbridge making it impossible to fit.

ChazHurst · 27 Jul 2008 at 23:45

that looks cool, I'll give it a look (and check the dimensions inside my case!)

AbsenceJam · 28 Jul 2008 at 00:33

Just get an after market cooler, either one that you can use passively or one with a fan and run it at 5v or 7v.

MikeHunt79 · 28 Jul 2008 at 01:47

mishima said:
Why don't you just get this - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...Thermalright HR-03-PLUS (8800 GTX) VGA Cooler

Accellero S1 is better.

HighlandeR · 28 Jul 2008 at 07:37

Imo just like the above posters have mentioned, there frankly aint no such thing as a silent high end graphics card your better off buying something impressive along the lines of Nvidia 8800/260 or 280 range or ATI 4800 series+ and simply whacking on a lovely silent cooler yourself.

Its frankly the only quicker/easier option not many manufacturers are doing that and if they are they are charging a lot more money.

psychas · 28 Jul 2008 at 07:40

powercolor making silent 4850

Misiowiec · 28 Jul 2008 at 09:23

MikeHunt79 said:
Accellero S1 is better.

Exactly, get the Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 and a quiet 120 mm fan such as the Scythe S-FLEX 800RPM (my first choice, but it's out or stock) or Noctua NF-S12 800RPM (which is just as good, really) and save yourself buying a new card. Make sure the cooler is working at it's best by applying some Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound and make sure the supplied RAM heatsinks stay put using the Akasa AK-TT12-80 Thermal Adhesive Tape. Also make sure you have some cable-ties handy to attach the fan to the heatsink. All in all you're looking at 15-30 minutes of work depending on experience and the result will be... silence.

I never use the stock coolers on either CPU or GPU but always get a quiet aftermarket cooler which, apart from being near-silent, cools considerably better. If you're interested in quiet computing you can find a wealth of information over at SPCR.

ChazHurst · 28 Jul 2008 at 14:16

thanks guys, I think I'm going to take some time to make my entire PC silent(ish) now replacing all the stock fans on the case and the CPU heatsink/fan aswell.

bloodline76 · 28 Jul 2008 at 14:25

ChazHurst said:
hi guys i'm looking to downgrade (!!!) from my 8800GTX to something that makes little or no noise. Can anyone tell me what the best solution would be? Or does anyone know if the next gen or later incarnations of this generation of cards will have a silent option?

thanks in advance

Onboard would be the most silent

Misiowiec · 28 Jul 2008 at 14:29

ChazHurst said:
thanks guys, I think I'm going to take some time to make my entire PC silent(ish) now replacing all the stock fans on the case and the CPU heatsink/fan aswell.

Good for you! It will be worth it, trust me

Let us know how it went when you're done.

sWiZzLe · 28 Jul 2008 at 16:20

This is very good: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2758

Ive got 2 of these now, bought one for a media centre and so impressed with it i bought another last week to replace my shuttle. I put *ahem* 8gb of mem on it (i have my reasons) and an energy efficient 2.9Ghz dual core cpu. When i turned it on the first time, i handnt connected the led and thought it hadnt turned on :eek:

Very very VERY quiet

The onboard fx card will play TF2 and CSS no problems

HeX · 28 Jul 2008 at 16:26

You can get passive 9600GT's as well.

Gigabyte GV-NX96T512HP

Teaf · 28 Jul 2008 at 16:30

4850 with a S1 + Xilence Red Wing?

ChazHurst · 29 Jul 2008 at 10:01

sWiZzLe said:
This is very good: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/Motherboard/Products_Overview.aspx?ProductID=2758

Ive got 2 of these now, bought one for a media centre and so impressed with it i bought another last week to replace my shuttle. I put *ahem* 8gb of mem on it (i have my reasons) and an energy efficient 2.9Ghz dual core cpu. When i turned it on the first time, i handnt connected the led and thought it hadnt turned on Very very VERY quiet

The onboard fx card will play TF2 and CSS no problems

well my Striker II Formula doesn't have any fans on it whatsoever just a huge load of heat sinks so it's totally silent until the fans on the case CPU and graphics card fire up!!

hbunny · 29 Jul 2008 at 10:19

God, those RAM heatsinks with the Accelero S1. I tried (in vain) to make them stick with the supplied glue - it had all the sticking power of saliva. Every time I turned the PC upright I'd hear, "thunk" as they fell off down the back of the case.

Some conducting epoxy did the trick - those suckers are never coming off now!