Best NVIDIA card to buy at the moment?

Raikiri · 9 May 2010 at 21:02

Your 4890 is too hot and loud so you're buying a Fermi based card?

I hate to point out the error in your logic, but the Fermi cards aren't exactly quiet.

AdladUK · 9 May 2010 at 21:32

Oh

So what's the quietest solution at the moment then please? The 5850?

mattjd · 9 May 2010 at 21:38

Fermi cards arnt that loud. Its only when the fan goes over 80ish%.

Rroff · 9 May 2010 at 21:39

jigger said:
Not in the real world it cant.

I think the the best Nvidia card would would be a used gtx285 from the bay. Personally I would just sound deaden your case and wait until Nvidia refresh.

What? it will put up a good fight against the 4890 - sure it won't beat it overall but it will make it work for the advantage the 260 is often only 10% slower probably 15% overall.

jorzeh · 9 May 2010 at 21:45

AdladUK said:
Hi,

Since my ATI 4890 sounds like a vacuum cleaner and pretty much constantly runs hot, I've decided I'm going back to NVIDIA. However looking around it seems the only viable in stock option (without spending crazy monies) is the 260 GTX. Is that right? Everything else seems to be out of stock.

My ideal price point is £200. Any advice would be most appreciated. Thank you

A 5850 with a Nvidia badge on it.

Raikiri · 9 May 2010 at 21:46

mattjd said:
Fermi cards arnt that loud. Its only when the fan goes over 80ish%.

I seem to have very different definition of loud to most people on here, but at idle (40-44%) I would say it's quite loud.

I have my 5870 so it only goes up to 36% and it is 'loud', it's only what I would consider quiet <25%.

AdladUK said:
Oh

So what's the quietest solution at the moment then please? The 5850?

The Asus CuCore 5850 is pretty decent, as is the MSI Twin Frozr and both have quieter after market coolers as standard.

mrix · 9 May 2010 at 22:57

re:

I hate to point out the error in your logic, but the Fermi cards aren't exactly quiet.

I have a 480 and its not loud at all :confused:

Even when playing Battlefield bad company its quiet.
I think they only become loud when stressing them through benchmarking programs.

But general gaming no problems at all this end

Most of the noise comments are silly really as most PC fans are far more noisy lol
Cheers
mrix

MeMeMeMe · 10 May 2010 at 00:50

Raikiri said:
Your 4890 is too hot and loud so you're buying a Fermi based card?

I hate to point out the error in your logic, but the Fermi cards aren't exactly quiet.

Ik now the fermi cards are really loud by comparison to 5800s - every reviewer has commented on it. But videos like that are a bit pointless since we don't know what his volume is set at and our volume may be set differently. What we need to see is the same reviewer do both Fermi and 5800 series cards, in the same video - maybe one after the another, or cutting between them - so we can hear the real difference.

Rroff · 10 May 2010 at 01:03

I dunno why people get so upset about the noise - its not _that_ bad and if it really bothers you theres plenty of high end aftermarket GPU coolers.

RavenXXX2 · 10 May 2010 at 01:08

MeMeMeMe said:
Ik now the fermi cards are really loud by comparison to 5800s - every reviewer has commented on it. But videos like that are a bit pointless since we don't know what his volume is set at and our volume may be set differently. What we need to see is the same reviewer do both Fermi and 5800 series cards, in the same video - maybe one after the another, or cutting between them - so we can hear the real difference.

Basically every review has stated the fermi cards are loud under load, this is a fact, they are loud because they get very hot, this generation of ATI card do not run anyway near as hot as fermi, as such they don't need the increased fan speed to keep them cool.

liquidex · 10 May 2010 at 02:55

Some people like getting the most performance out of their pcs. Some like making them as quiet as possible. Everyone has their own niche.

Nelly · 10 May 2010 at 03:42

Get an Asus 5850, clock it past 5870 speeds, cheapest worthwhile option in my opinion.

£248.99 inc Vat. http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-225-AS

arc@css · 10 May 2010 at 06:49

It's unlikely that a higher end card will not produce a reasonable level of noise so after market coolers or water cooling look increasingly as the best and necessary alternative for some folk.

That or earphones are a must!

Raikiri · 10 May 2010 at 09:26

mrix said:
I have a 480 and its not loud at all
Even when playing Battlefield bad company its quiet.
I think they only become loud when stressing them through benchmarking programs.

As I mentioned, half of this forum seem to have been deafened by Delta fans. If it's not silent (i.e., can't be heard from 3 feet away) then it's too loud

My PC is too loud right now, I plan on fixing that.

mrix said:
But general gaming no problems at all this end
Most of the noise comments are silly really as most PC fans are far more noisy lol

Mine aren't. My 5870, which is quieter than a Fermi card is by far the loudest thing in my PC.

liquidex said:
Some people like getting the most performance out of their pcs. Some like making them as quiet as possible. Everyone has their own niche.

Clocked Q6600, clocked 5870... mine's pretty fast, the challenge is getting both quiet and fast

Jezcentral · 10 May 2010 at 09:40

If the noise from your 4890 is that bad, I'd get a third party cooler. Here's one that is only £11, and has been praised by Custom PC.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-047-AK

Grab some MX-3 thermal compound and you are good to go:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=TH-002-AR

Mr Krugga · 10 May 2010 at 09:59

Rroff said:
What? it will put up a good fight against the 4890 - sure it won't beat it overall but it will make it work for the advantage the 260 is often only 10% slower probably 15% overall.

Wow. This way Radeon 5850 puts up a good fight against 5870 - £85 difference
5850 then puts up a great fight against 470GTX - £75 difference
5870 puts up a good fight against 480GTX - £135 difference

This logic ain't good because 260GTX is more likely on pair with 4870, isn't it?

An aftermarket cooler is the way to go. This Akasa AK-VC03-BLUV or Zalman VF-1000 would suit you well.

el Kuarlos · 10 May 2010 at 10:06

From what you say, I would also suggest grabbing the best air cooler money can buy, you are a bit stuck with that card right now, there isnt really a 'vaule' upgrade path there.

VoG · 10 May 2010 at 10:23

mrix said:
I have a 480 and its not loud at all
Even when playing Battlefield bad company its quiet.
I think they only become loud when stressing them through benchmarking programs.

i have a 480 & i find it loud, my cpu is watercooled on a quad rad, the fans are on a fan controller as are my case fans. the 480 sticks out like a sore thumb as a consequence, ive managed to get it to 85C & climbing with the fan speed at 70% & climbing during a prolonged session of BFBC2, but i tend to game at a min of 1600x1200 with all the bells & whistles maxed out. for me, the 480 is the shreiking monster sat in the corner.

on the plus side, i ordered a waterblock for it this morning, can't think why...

AdladUK · 14 May 2010 at 17:15

Not sure if anyones interested in an update, but I decided to splash out and buy the new 470.

This thing is freakin' awesome. Maxes out every game on ultra and I'm not exaggerating when I say it's whisper quiet. I was expecting it to be quite loud, but it's not at all. Compared to the 4890 it's as though it isn't even running.

Very pleased. Well worth the 300 quid

Rroff · 14 May 2010 at 17:20

Mr Krugga said:
Wow. This way Radeon 5850 puts up a good fight against 5870 - £85 difference
5850 then puts up a great fight against 470GTX - £75 difference
5870 puts up a good fight against 480GTX - £135 difference

This logic ain't good because 260GTX is more likely on pair with 4870, isn't it?

An aftermarket cooler is the way to go. This Akasa AK-VC03-BLUV or Zalman VF-1000 would suit you well.

Compared to their product position relative to the pecking order - its putting up a good fight - with the 4890 ostensibly the high end of that generation performance lineup and the GTX260 the low end of that gen. performance lineup. Yet there are quite a good number of times the GTX260 can exceed the 4890 performance - you can't say the same for the 5850 v 5870.

The GTX260 is generally a bit ahead of the 4870.