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GTX 280 noise/power/temp compared to 8800GTS

Dutch Guy

Dutch Guy

Dutch Guy

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Last week I replaced my 8800GTS-640 with a MSI 280GTX Super OC and I was a little nervous that it would be a lot noisier than my 8800GTS.

But to my surprise the GTX 280 is actually quieter and cooler at idle than my 8800GTS and also uses 30W less, fanspeed is at 40% which is ~1300rpm.

At load the fan is a bit louder but the temp is also lower than the 8800GTS at 87C max running Furmark when my 8800GTS would his that temp running any game and the GTX 280 is already running at 702/1404/2300Mhz

So far I am very impressed by the card and I have some overclocking to do as well.
 
Thanks. I was going to ask this exact question as I was thinking about upgrading my 8800GTS-512 to a GTX 260/280/285 and I was not certain about noise. I have a very quiet system and the 8800 is effectively silent at both idle and load.
Anybody else have a comparative view after upgrading?
 
boosfuk said:
Thanks. I was going to ask this exact question as I was thinking about upgrading my 8800GTS-512 to a GTX 260/280/285 and I was not certain about noise. I have a very quiet system and the 8800 is effectively silent at both idle and load.
Anybody else have a comparative view after upgrading?
Click to expand...
A GTX 280 is anything but silent at load, let that be clear, but as soon as you exit a game the fan dops to 40%/1300rpm and is very quiet.
 
Dutch Guy said:
A GTX 280 is anything but silent at load, let that be clear, but as soon as you exit a game the fan dops to 40%/1300rpm and is very quiet.
Click to expand...

I doubt its as noisey as my 2900XT under load. I swear that thing is a sounds like a hoover when going full pelt.
 
Under full load my 280 is very loud, though in normal gaming it is quieter than my 8800gts, but probably only because it's not being maxxed out due to other bottlenecks and the fact I run with vsync on most stuff.
 
Im shocked that a GTX280 would use less power then a GTS640meg.

Maybe at idle which you have said. It be nice to see the results at full load what the GTS used. Somehow i would think it should be less.
 
muppetkiller said:
Im shocked that a GTX280 would use less power then a GTS640meg.

Maybe at idle which you have said. It be nice to see the results at full load what the GTS used. Somehow i would think it should be less.
Click to expand...

Why are you shocked ? Usually later cards are more efficient as the technology advances despite being more powerful. I'd be shocked if it was worse.
 
muppetkiller said:
Im shocked that a GTX280 would use less power then a GTS640meg.

Maybe at idle which you have said. It be nice to see the results at full load what the GTS used. Somehow i would think it should be less.
Click to expand...
At idle it uses 30W less on my system (I did have my 8800GTS overclocked to 648/2000Mhz)

At load it uses way more power than a 8800GTS which isn't surprising at all.
 
Plug a second monitor in and you'll find it suddenly starts magically using 35-37w more power at idle. A bug of the GTX 280.

Your GTS was the older 80nm design so it's not surprising it was power hungry. The more modern 65nm 512mb models were a lot more efficient.
 
I was supprised at how noisy the 280GTX is, I upragraded from a 7800GTX (almost silent), and there is a huge difference. The 280 is easily the lousest thing in my case.

And in game my 280 reaches 78-82C
 
Dutch Guy said:
Maybe when using two monitors the GTX stays locked at 3D speeds? (and voltages)
Click to expand...

Quite possibly, but you'll find that your 8800 card doesn't do it.

Nvidia made a big thing about the power gating the GTX200 series can do, but obviously forgot to mention the rise in power with a second monitor connected. And it just has to be connected too, not even doing anything...
 
muppetkiller said:
Im shocked that a GTX280 would use less power then a GTS640meg.
Click to expand...
G80 based GTS (and GTX) is very hungry idler.
G92 based GTS512 is lot better at that.

But under load GTX280 draws something like 70-80% more power than either of those. (~180W peak)
 
Think I'll stay with my 8800GTS 512 as a quiet system is imperative for me. This card never seems to ramp up no matter how hard it is being taxed. A quiet system while gaming at 1680 res & no AA is preferable to being able to run at 1920+AA etc. but with fan noise.
Acceptable fan noise is a very subjective thing and I'd rather not risk £200+ on something I might not be able to live with.
 
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